Straight talk from the sisters about blood, sweat and ink
Day two of the blogging A – Z Challenge. I’m excited about the letter B because it gives me a chance to blog on something I’m passionate about: boy readers. People will tell you this small human is more elusive than unicorn and twice as ornery about reading, but as the mom of two tween …
Continue reading “Books and Boys”
I am not a clear surface person. I have images all over my house, pictures my kids drew cover the fridge, and photos of family and friends dot the walls. I enjoy being surrounded by these pictures, all happy reminders of good times. However, when I need to work, or I’m feeling a touch of …
Continue reading “Brain Triggers: Use Visuals”
Yesterday, March 20th, was the first day of spring. It might not look like spring where you are. Heather just mentioned having 100 consecutive days of snow in Toronto, and posted some fetching photos of herself in a snowsuit on Twitter. I, on the other hand, live in California. I know I’m better off than …
Continue reading “Friday Inspiration: Spring!”
Villains come in as many shapes and sizes as their hero counterparts. The best pairs complement each other. The protagonist’s strengths and virtues contrast against the antagonist’s negative traits. When you take this relationship down to the most basic level, villains all want something and that something is going to cause havoc for the protagonist …
Continue reading “Casting Call: 3 Villains, It’s Good to be Bad”
I’m taking a break this week from my Brain Triggers series and returning to the ever-popular Casting Call series. Today I have four characters, each selected from my strange bedfellows category. For the most part these characters fall into a romantic subgroup. Twisted though they may be, these common archetypes work for characters of either …
Continue reading “Casting Call: 4 Archetypes of Lovers With Baggage”
As part of my ongoing series on using brain triggers, today I’m looking at ways we can all use sounds to improve our writing. If you want to learn more about brain triggers and how they work, you might want to head back to my last post, Be a Better Writer, Use Brain Triggers. I’m …
Continue reading “Brain Triggers Part II: Sounds”
Our brains are remarkable machines capable of sorting and storing information we don’t even realize is in there. It’s being able to recall this data that trips most of us up. We can all think of a time we felt a fierce emotion. We know the feeling is perfect for our current writing project. We …
Continue reading “Be a Better Writer: Use Brain Triggers”
As February ends, the last days of winter smother us. They wear us down, planting within us a keen desire for change, any change, anything to bring light into the darkness of the season. For some of us, snow lingers thickly around our ankles and spring is still an anticipated treat, too far away to …
Continue reading “What We’re Reading For The Dark Days of Winter”
Love! Is there a more powerful force in the universe? As writers, we often need to tap into our deepest emotions, dredging for the painful, as well as the pleasant. Love manages to deliver both extremes. Devastating breakups. Giddy whirlwind infatuations. Love eludes, entangles, and enriches our lives like no other human condition. Today for …
Continue reading “Friday Inspiration: Five Romantic Treats for Valentine’s Day”
Now that I’ve written several manuscripts and restored a number of classic cars, I can tell you the emotional stages of each process are nearly identical. I know that may sound hard to believe, so for those lacking the car restoration experience allow me to elaborate. Passion: No one would begin a project that sucks …
Continue reading “The 11 Emotional Stages of Writing A Novel: It’s Just Like Restoring a Car”