Category Archives: Writing Craft

Social Media for the Genre-Conflicted, Part 1

Posted on May 13, 2013 by

In a previous post, I described how my husband and I designed my new website to encompass all three of the genres I’m published in–science fiction (YA), romance, and mystery. I have a great landing page that directs visitors to … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Promotion & Marketing, The Writing Life, Writing Craft | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New Website! A Solution for the Genre-Conflicted

Posted on May 6, 2013 by

So what do you do to promote yourself when your published work spans three genres (romance, speculative fiction, mystery) and two markets (adult and young adult)? This wasn’t a huge issue when I initially sold my first YA science fiction … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, The Writing Life, Writing Craft | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Horse of a Different Color and How Writing Matures

Posted on April 29, 2013 by

I’m lucky enough to own a beautiful mare named Belle. She’s half-Andalusian and half-Morgan, and a gorgeous gray. She just turned 16 a couple weeks ago. If you don’t know horses, you might not realize that 1) most of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Cats Horses and Other Pets, Strongly Held Beliefs, The Writing Life, Writing Craft | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

10 Must-Do’s for Manuscript Revision

Posted on April 21, 2013 by

A little over a week ago, I turned in Book 3 of the Tankborn trilogy. A few weeks ago in this blog post, I gave tips on how to finish your novel, suggesting among other things to turn off your … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, The Writing Life, Writing Craft | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

OnFireFiction, or Creating a Creative Cooperative

Posted on April 2, 2013 by

In October 2012, I attended the annual conference of Novelists, Inc, one of the alphabet soup of writer’s groups (SCBWI, SFWA, MWA, and SinC) to which I belong. As I mentioned in this blog post, one of the hottest topics … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Conference Wisdom, The Writing Life, Writing Craft | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

A Literary Schlep–4…er…5 Tips on Finishing Your Novel

Posted on March 26, 2013 by

I flew from DC to Northern California today. I bring this up because I was contemplating how odd it is that at 6am this morning (3am PST), I was heading off in my rental car to Dulles Airport, and at … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, The Writing Life, Writing Craft | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

5 Proven Ways to Wake Up the Draggy Bits in Your Novel

Posted on March 19, 2013 by

We’ve all been there. You’re at point A in your story. You can clearly visualize your destination: point B, when that next Wow moment happens. Point B is one of those scenes you’ve been looking forward to writing since you … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, The Writing Life, Writing Craft | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Get Out that Broom (or a Shop Vac) to Tidy Up Your Writing

Posted on March 13, 2013 by

This week on YA Highway, Road Trip Wednesday asks, What do you hope to “clean out” from your writing? What habits/tropes/words, etc do you want to eliminate? Before I even clean anything out of my writing, I’d like to clean … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, The Writing Life, Writing Craft | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Give Your Story Its Head? Or Keep it on a Tight Rein?

Posted on March 11, 2013 by

I am a horse person. Maybe better to say I am horse-obsessed. If I’m fast-forwarding past the commercials in a DVRed TV show, I’ll hit pause if I see a horse (gotta love those Budweiser Clydesdales). When I’m out driving … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Cats Horses and Other Pets, The Writing Life, Writing Craft | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Avoid the “Empty Calories” of Extraneous Scenes

Posted on March 9, 2013 by

I am an absolute nut for Junior Mints. I admittedly eat far too many of them in the course of the day, and then have to compensate for the indulgence with daily exercise. My passion for the sweet, minty, chocolate-coated … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Old Memories, Strongly Held Beliefs, The Writing Life, Writing Craft | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment