Last week I challenged myself to buckle down and get some editing done. Of course fate promptly laughed in my face. First the good news. I did make some (small) amounts of progress towards my goal of having my current manuscript edited (for the second time) by April 12. First and foremost: I had a… Continue reading Progress Despite Being Sick
I’ll be honest, I haven’t been writing or editing for the last month. A lot of “life stuff” has been happening, which is a handy excuse, but more to the point I have a bad case of the “I don’t wanna’s”. What I have been doing well is procrastinating. I finished one TV series (Primeval)… Continue reading Procrastination and Deadlines
Have you ever had a book hangover? Picture this: you’re reading along, frantically flipping page after page, immersed in a story of someone else’s life and problems. You can’t wait to see what happens on the next page or in the next chapter. You read faster and faster, needing to know how it ends. How… Continue reading On Escapism
It happens to us all, dear reader. This past week, life has most definitely gotten in the way. My day job has kept me busy, and my personal life went nuts too. We’ve had a house sitting on the market (empty) for eight months. We had a very early offer which fell through the day… Continue reading Life Gets In The Way
The advice to “write what you know” makes sense on surface. If you know a lot about something you’ll theoretically describe it and write about it with more authenticity and realism. On the other hand, the advice seems so limiting. What if you don’t “know” anything all that interesting? What if, like so many people,… Continue reading Write What You Know
I enjoy writing. I know there are many writers out there that say they “don’t enjoy writing, but they enjoy having written.” I’m not one of those writers. Brainstorming a new story idea and then turning that idea into words on paper are my favorite parts of the author life. I don’t like revising. Revising… Continue reading Doing What I Want vs. Doing What Must Be Done
I have been writing for a long time (fifteen years or so, I think…?). For the majority of that time, I’ve done it almost exclusively for myself, not allowing more than a select few people to read what I wrote, and even those few haven’t read all of my books. In the semi-recent past (about… Continue reading On Utter Exhaustion
In early December I submitted a manuscript to a publisher. Just yesterday, I received an email stating that the publisher was not currently interested in my manuscript. I have to admit this was expected as, even though I’ve been writing for a long time, I’m new at attempting to get published. I’m sure I still… Continue reading On Rejection
For Christmas a few weeks ago, I received the book “Romancing the Beat” by Gwen Hayes*. The book was on my Amazon wish list, and I was happy to get it. Last weekend, I took the book out to read it, which took a surprisingly short amount of time. Like many craft or self-improvement books,… Continue reading Plotting for a Pantser
I’m a relative newcomer to submitting to writing contests. I entered one last fall, and received my feedback and results in December. Just last week, I submitted to my second, the Golden Heart competition. The Golden Heart is a competition put on by Romance Writers of America (RWA) for unpublished authors. It’s the last year… Continue reading Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone
