Please join me for this inspirational conversation with Christian Romance Author Rebecca Lange, who is about to release her eleventh...

Barbie cannot live on her perfect body alone. She needs fashionable clothes; a big house; a car with room to haul all of her friends around;

We all want to have a unique voice, but no one wants to be known as a wordy writer. When your writing is wordy, you risk giving your...

I know you’ve heard this many times before, but if you want to excel at your craft, READ, READ, READ, and WRITE, WRITE, WRITE . Then...

All too often, and not only when critiquing a manuscript or editing for one of my clients but also when I’m simply reading a book for...

Tales of “writing rules” follow us everywhere, from our creative writing classes to critique groups and writing groups to workshops,...

One of the most repeated and misunderstood writing advice quotes comes from Mark Twain, who said, “Write what you know.” So, if you misinterpreted this as I did once upon a time, you’re not alone. Mr. Twain wasn’t referring to professions, events, people, etc. What he meant by that is digging deep and exploring your emotions. And let’s face it, you can’t bring authenticity to your writing without allowing yourself to be vulnerable. As writers, we spend way too much time in ou

And no, I'm not talking about dinner and a movie. What I’m talking about here is whether putting the year or some specific true event in the timeline of your contemporary fiction story is a good idea. When this subject came up during a workshop, it struck me that a blog post might be in order, as I believe there are several points to be made. The experts recommend that we not date our contemporary fiction. Why? Because, in most cases, by not doing so, we allow the story to re

The great Mickey Spillane once said, “Nobody reads a book to get to the middle.” Well, duh. But really, think about that. Isn’t the...

Have you ever been told your story is lacking? Perhaps the one telling you something is missing is the voice inside your head. You know...

Because just like everything in life, not all editors are the same and just because that editor your friend is using has been great for...

Traditional vs. Indie Publishing Follow Your Dreams & Follow Your Path

Have you ever been told your head-hopping is a problem, and you just can’t understand why? You like the way your prose reads and don’t want to change it? After all, Susan can’t understand how she came to be running so late, and the reader simply needs to know what she’s thinking, even though we’re right in the middle of a heated argument between Prudence and Paul! Paul thinks Prudence is being a little too free with her wares and wants her to go home and change out of that sl

Don’t Look Now, But Your Book is Being Judged By Its Cover. And that includes both the front and back.

No matter where you live on this Earth, I imagine your world is somewhat different from what it was a year ago, and also somewhat different from those who live elsewhere, whether they live in the next town over or in another country. However, time and location are not the only things that make up the world around us. Yet, for many writers, when they hear the words “world building” in reference to writing, they immediately think that aspect only applies to fantasy or science f

Avoid Those Small Leaks Because They Ultimately Lead to Major Cracks Ever read a story that had tiny leaks in its plotline? Those seemingly small plot points that are anything but inconsequential and have you saying, “Hmm…” You’re then immediately pulled out of the story, and flipping back pages or even chapters, trying to find the spot where you—the reader—must have obviously screwed up. You must have simply read it wrong, or you don't correctly remember what you read. Then

Oh, the visuals! Now, some of you may have heard me talk about this before, but visuals are more important than you can imagine. Without...

I see post after post on various Facebook pages discussing traditional publishing versus self-publishing, but no one talks about the indepen

As Bob Dylan told us way back in the early sixties, “the times they are a-changin’” and boy are they ever. We’re in the 21st century now, a

Many of the aspiring authors I run into have done little research in the area of publishing. If you ask me, I’d say this is because they are