by Jill Williamson | Apr 3, 2019 | Brainstorming, Characters
It’s spring break here, so I’m off today to the beach with my family. I’ve been working terribly hard on a Tenth Anniversary of By Darkness Hid surprise. Alas, I didn’t get it done before the little beach trip, so it will launch (hopefully)...
by Stephanie Morrill | Apr 1, 2019 | Author Life, Guest Posts, Writing Life
Taylor Bennett is a dandelion-wishing, world-traveling lover of books, words, and stories. Based in the PNW, she dreams of seeing the world and writing stories set in unique locations. Although she dreams of traveling to many different places, her favorite destination...
by Shannon Dittemore | Mar 29, 2019 | Author Life, Reading, Writing, Writing Life
Do you ever think about how you got to where you are right now? I’m an introspective person, so I chew on stuff like this a lot. Lately, I’ve been thinking about my time in publishing and how it was I decided to pursue storytelling as a career. I’ve...
by Jill Williamson | Mar 27, 2019 | Author Life, Encouragement, First Drafts, Goals, Writing Life
The weeks following my last report have been down, word-count wise. I’ve been working more hours than I thought I would, and I just haven’t been able to reach my 7500 words per week goal. I’ve been close, though, in the 6000s each time. I’m...
by Stephanie Morrill | Mar 25, 2019 | Mailbag, Plot
Today’s fantastic question comes from Fiona, who says: I’ve gotten some feedback that some events in my novel are too big of a coincidence and that the plot feels unnaturally lucky or unlucky to have happened to a character. That made me wonder: what makes...
by Shannon Dittemore | Mar 22, 2019 | Writing
You guys are catching me in a funny place. I just finished an edit on my latest manuscript and I’m feeling all sorts of strange about telling folks how to write books. Writing books is hard. As I went through my manuscript, I found many, many places where I broke the...
by Jill Williamson | Mar 20, 2019 | Self-Publishing, Writing a Series
You all send in so many great questions, we thought it might be fun to start answering them on the blog, because let’s face it. If you have a question, odds are someone else has the same question. So, looking at some of the incoming emails, I thought this...
by Stephanie Morrill | Mar 19, 2019 | Writing
Hi, writers! I’m a guest today on Seekerville, which is a great writing website that’s been around since I was a pre-published writer. Their archives are a gold mine of good writing advice, and today I’m talking about 2 Questions To Ask To Be Sure...
by Stephanie Morrill | Mar 18, 2019 | Getting Feedback On Your Writing, Learning from Other Authors, The Craft of Writing, Writing, Writing Life
Confession: I dread when I’m asked about author voice at writing conferences. I always trip all over my words, and I usually find myself talking in circles. My answer is always convoluted with so many half-baked thoughts that I’m sure I’ve never...
by Shannon Dittemore | Mar 15, 2019 | Writing Exercise
It’s FRIDAY, you guys! To celebrate the end of the week and to exercise our writing muscles, let’s play a game. Here’s how it works: Below, you’ll find a chart with three columns: Character, Setting, and Trait. Your mission, should you choose...
