How to Sift those Book Ideas

Yes, we writers are adept at coming up with great story ideas. In fact, our imagination is inundated with them! But, of course, all of them cannot (and should not) translate into a final manuscript. So how do we narrow them down to something worthy of our labor? Well, I don't have a one-size-fits-all answer,…

Writers: Stay Positive

Every now and then I have one of those days when I feel like saying 'what's the use?' even though I've been told countless times that the writing slog can be just that. You learn the craft and experiment. You read and take in knowledge. You interact with other writers. You learn from your mistakes…

Write Your Book Like a Movie

I don't think there is a person on the reading planet who has not read the smash hit YA novel, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. It's her debut YA and the sales and buzz has been bonkers. It's one of those rare phenomenons we only read about and wonder about because, let's face,…

Agents Need Love Too

In today's blog I want to take some time out to thank all the agents I have ever interacted with on this writing journey. While none of them represent me, I think it's important to acknowledge their influence on my progress and the let them know I truly appreciate the time they took to inch…

Author Mentor Match: The Skinny

Most of you know that my manuscript was chosen by a mentor as part of the agented-author project Author Mentor Match #authormentormatch, the brainchild of Alexa Donne. The short of it: it's a group of generous authors who are already repped and choose to volunteer their time and talents to shepherd unpubbed manuscripts through the…

Twitter Pitch Parties: What’s the fuss about?

Pitch parties on Twitter have been around for a long time and although they were fun to follow, I stayed in the sidelines, mainly because I was not ready to jump in, but mostly because I was not sure whether they had any real worth. Then people started getting exposure, knowledge and agents... So I…

Uncovering the Past

I wanted to take a moment to explain the photos that will appear on my blog from time to time. One thing you should know about me is that I am a huge fan of the past - particularly the 1900-1945. In my writing I want to explore the experiences of those who lived during…

Paying Dues

It's been several years since I started this blog (and others) and today I have decided to consolidate and upgrade based on my current experience. I've paid my dues. Now don't take this the wrong way, I still have lots to learn in the traditional pub game, but I can say that I've also paid…

What I learned from NaNoWriMo

For some crazy reason, my first attempt to pub this blog failed; guess WordPress is having their issues... Anyway, I wanted to share what I learned from my introductory nano experience==2016 is my first year at this. I hesitated in past years because I either missed the start of the month or had more pressing…

Voice is Everything

So today I want to talk about voice. We hear it so much as authors. Voice. The book 'just has to have it', the agents say. But you might ask, 'what is it exactly? Don't all characters have a voice, after all, they are talking?' True, but just having a character talk is not voice.…