Writing to spec – you’ve heard the term. It means writing what the publisher wants. Can you do it? In our new feature – Make-A-Story™, we ask you to create a story with these elements. The story can be set in any time frame, any length, must adhere to our...
My husband and I have experienced an event that was sitcom worthy. Often we sit around and laugh about the mass exodus from Florida that occurred with the near hit of the monster hurricane, Floyd. We left town with three cars, two in-laws, two sons, and five animals...
Writing to spec – you’ve heard the term. It means writing what the publisher wants. Can you do it? In our new feature – Make-A-Story™, we ask you to create a story with these elements. The story can be set in any time frame, any length, must adhere to our...
We all have our little darlings, words, lines, scenes, chapters, that we love. Then a critique partner or an editor comes along and slashes a line right through them. Feedback is provided, such as: episodic, redundant, doesn’t have anything to do with the story, takes...
Writing to spec – you’ve heard the term. It means writing what the publisher wants. Can you do it? In our new feature – Make-A-Story™, we ask you to create a story with these elements. The story can be set in any time frame, any length, must adhere to our...
Editing for word count can be the most freeing experiences an author can endure. Yes, we hate to think that even one word in our carefully crafted prose can be tossed away without a thought. We wonder how in the word tightening a sentence can make it zing, but it...
A few weeks ago I committed to speaking to a book club in Texas. But I faced a problem. I live just north of Dallas...
There is a video game I like to play. Throughout the game, you are given choices to carry things with you, to tell the truth or not, to treat others with respect or treat them poorly, to learn new skills, to teach others, to save people with words or actions from...
Writing to spec – you’ve heard the term. It means writing what the publisher wants. Can you do it? In our new feature – Make-A-Story™, we ask you to create a story with these elements. The story can be set in any time frame, any length, must adhere to our...
Ten Commandments of Writing 1. When thou knowest not the spelling of a word, thou shalt look it up. 2. Thou shalt edit each manuscript before submitting. Yea verily, thou shalt put chapter ten before chapter eleven. 3. Before thou speakest ill of the comments of thy...
