All right, you’re feeling ready to start your novel. You’ve got your characters. You’ve got your plot. Now comes the next big question. Where does your story take place? When does your story take place? These two questions are crucial for creating the settings in which and with which your …
Recent Blog Posts
Writing
What’s Holding You Back?
Is something holding you back from pursuing your dreams? My dream is to be the best writer I can be. Yet there are days when that seems so far away, I want to give up. I’ve learned that when this happens, the major factor behind it is fear. Fear I …
The End
You’ve typed “The End” on your manuscript. You’ve had it critiqued and edited. You’ve polished it until is shines like a new car. You send it off with great hopes and even greater trepidation to prospective agents and publishers. And now you wait for their response. But, what do you …
Newest Release: Riverbend Reunion
Riverbend Reunion, the third book in the Riverbend Saga series is available on Amazon. The past has a way of catching up with you… Michael and Rachel have everything to look forward to and no reason to look back, or so they thought. In the midst of the newlyweds’ trials …
What’s your biggest struggle as a writer?
This is a question with as many possible answers as there are writers. Some struggle with finding time to write. Some with aspects of the craft like dialogue or characterization. For others it might be show, don’t tell. And what on God’s green planet is the difference between lie and …
5 Tips for NANOWRIMO
We’re a week into NANO for this year. How’s it going for you? Are you hitting the target of 1,667 words per day? Or are you feeling so far behind you’re ready to quit? Please don’t. NANO has value. Maybe not for every writer, but for many of us it’s …
What Is Your Hero Pursuing?
We’ve all heard story is about conflict and tension. And that is definitely true. Stories about happy people living in Happy Valley don’t excite readers. Frankly, they can be boring. The story becomes a story when something disrupts the status quo. As John LeCarré once said, “The cat sat on …
Honor the Craft
James Scott Bell recently posted a blog called Don’t Ever Mail It In where he wrote about the attitude that we’ve reached a certain point in our writing where we don’t have to improve. What struck me most is his definition of a real writer. It’s someone who honors the …
Using My Writing Mistakes
One of the issues I see writers struggle with is the idea they make writing mistakes. A day’s worth of writing is tossed because, in our judgment, it stinks. The characters are dull. The dialogue is boring. The plot twists aren’t working. There’s no tension, no conflict. Recently I spent …
Are you a pantser or an outliner?
Are you a pantser or an outliner? This question seems to get asked whenever two or more writers come together. Implied in the phrasing is that it’s an either or proposition. And if you disagree, the other person is obviously wrong. Outliners are viewed as control freaks who sacrifice creative …