Say hello to today’s guest blogger, Ann Everett who offers us advice on something that can often be an Achilles’ heel even for published writers… Overwriting: This is a mistake all new writers make. They over explain either through description or action. Heck, in first drafts, I still do it. Here are some examples: Gus pulled his gun belt tight…
Category: Author Interviews
Researching Your Book-One Author’s Discovery
Today Angela Drake is back with us and sharing what she found while researching her novel and gives us a tour of its location (which might be a good spot for some R and R from writing)- Years ago when I started AN OZARKS CHRISTMAS, I knew the story had to be set in Eureka Springs. As…
Why I Write Romance
Let’s say hello to today’s guest blogger, Dora Bramden who tells us why she’s a romance writer… As a child I loved reading fairy stories and magical worlds like the Narnia books. Kings and queens and ordinary girls becoming princesses spirited me away from a sometimes difficult life of illness. Escaping into a book was…
A Romance Author’s way to Deal with Life, Illness and All That Other Stuff
Say hello to today’s guest blogger, romance author, Mageela Troche… Ernest Hemingway said, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” When you are chronically ill, writing can feel exactly like that. I suffer from Fibromyalgia. If you have never heard of this disease, it is a…
The Pros and Cons of the Writing Life
Madeline McEwan is back with another humorous post about what it means to be a writer (and her sketches)… Terminology Pro and Con – This idiom is taken from the Latin: pro for “for” and con for “against.” Pro and Ant – [do not muddle with Pro and Con] Protagonist [hero] – the main character in a…
Creating Characters Who Matter
Welcome to today’s guest blogger, Merrilee Robson whose post focuses on the characters we create… A magazine editor recently commented that a secondary character in one of my short stories didn’t seem very upset about the death of another character. My first reaction was, “Well, of course she’s upset. Her best friend just died!” But…
Come on Pantsers, Let’s Unite
Today’s guest blogger is J.J. DiBenedetto, he’s a pantser or is he? There are as many different ways to write a novel as there are writers, but I want to speak up for those of us who don’t outline, who don’t plot out in detail, who discover the story as it goes along. Yes, I’m…
Is Writing a Pain in the Butt?
Let’s welcome back Viviana MacKade who’s blog post touches upon a delicate matter… We writers are always talking about the emotional issues laced with who, and what, we are. Borderline bipolar (I just discovered a study whose results were shocking: 8 out of 10 writers are, or lean into, bipolar disorders. Duh!), inclined to overthink pretty much everything,…
Trust Me-An Interview with Hank Phillippi Ryan
I mentioned in last week’s Ramblings that I’d be posting an interview with someone who I think is one of the nicest people in the writing business. Many years ago, I had a blog spot on a writing site where I interviewed authors. I was new, didn’t have any real connections in the business but…
Food For Thought
Say hello to Kryssie Fortune, today’s guest blogger, who proves an added bonus to writing a book is researching it…yes, you never know what you’ll uncover… We all love a good meal, Britain’s Prince Regent – later George IV –more than most. The press pilloried the Prince Regent for his obesity and huge appetite. When researching…