Recent Blog Posts

The Leader

Leadership is tough work. It may look easy to the outsider but to the person in charge, challenges compete with, and sometimes threaten, success. Leading a writers critique group is one of the hardest yet most rewarding places to be. Hardest because at times it feels like you’re herding wet …

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The Query

  This week, my good writing buddy, Diane Bohannan, joins us to share her insights into writing an awesome query letter. Diane lives in North Texas with her husband and three kids. She focuses on YA fantasy and science fiction. She is the most enthusiastic encourager I have ever met. Enjoy! …

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The Critique Group Part 2

Okay. You’ve made the plunge and decided to join a critique group. What should you expect? One is respect for each of us as a person and as a group. Be on time at the beginning and at the end. Respect each other as people and as colleagues striving to be …

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The Dreaded Critique Group – Part 1

You’re about to submit your writing to a critique group for the first time. You haven’t felt this nervous since your first job interview. Or the time you proposed to your spouse. Or the time Old Aunt Mary visited and the dog was using the sweater she knitted you as …

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Patience, NOW

There is a scene in Star Wars, Episode IV, where Luke is attacking the Death Star, about to drop a bombdown a chute to the core of the weapon. His wing commander tells him, “Wait for it. Wait for it. Did you know the Lord tells us basically the same …

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Creating Time

Okay. So you’ve made the decision you are a writer, or a golfer, a concert violinist, a lawyer. Whatever your heart’s desire is. And you’re ready to take the next step: making time to become the best you can be. And you stop, stumped, scratching your head. “How do I do …

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Why Do I Keep Writing?

I began this blog a little over five years ago. My first post titled Why Do I Write. Click Here Now, so many years later—although they seem to have flown by—I ask myself why do I keep writing? In the face of rejections and in the crazy world of publishing …

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Failing My Way to Success

Another rejection. The email glares at me. The words of the magazine editor are a thousand pinpricks. “Doesn’t meet the theme of our issue.” This came right after an agent responded to a query with “not interested.” Which came after several no responses at all from other agents and a publisher …

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What Keeps Us Going?

Earlier today I was preparing a topic for an online discussion group. The topic asked about moments when readers told us our writing affected their lives. Over my years of writing I’ve received many compliments about my stories and my characters, about how my fiction entertained and sometimes presented stuff …

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