Straight talk from the sisters about blood, sweat and ink
Tomorrow Thanksgiving will arrive in the United States and I’m reminded of all the good things the season adds to my life. It brings my family flying in from far-flung corners. It means a pan of fresh hulled walnut meats and crisp apples is bubbling in a cinnamon sugar bath inside my oven. It creates …
Continue reading “3 Wishes of an Unsatisfied Reader”
I’ve written some sweet romances, but I found I prefer my romance a bit stronger. For whatever reason, I just happen to love writing about sex. Maybe because in real life I love it, too. Back in June, I wrote an initial piece about the romance genre. As recently as August, Sister Caryn considered why …
Continue reading “Romancing the Genre: That “Guilty Little Pleasure””
Almost every writer I know is managing about five hundred tasks at once. They range from day jobs and planning the family dinner to running a blog or two. Mix in a collaborative project with another writer or clients, add in some revisions on one book, research on a new book, and submitting or navigating …
Continue reading “5 Reasons Why Writers Need Trello”
Writing is a relatively new game to me, so I’m learning lessons I probably should have learned earlier. Here’s one I picked up recently: “Finish one project before you start another or you’ll get confused. You’ll lose control. It won’t make sense if you jump around. Stay on top of it. Push, push, push. Go A …
Continue reading “Rebel Writer – Good Girl Gone Bad”
This week a writer friend suggested that I blog about the writer’s age-old enemy: procrastination. Thing is, I don’t procrastinate anymore. I don’t avoid writing by doing other things. I have set times to write and I stick to my schedule, but… sometimes I still get nothing written. How come? What’s my problem? A few …
Continue reading “4 Tips to Beat Mental Procrastination”
Microsoft Word or Pages works well for a manuscript – you have all the features you need and you know the program. Fair enough. But…if you want something you can manipulate faster, keep track of, highlight on a sidebar to investigate later, plan like index cards on a corkboard, and be able to bring …
Continue reading “Why I Love Scrivener”
This is the next installment in my series on Fiction as Art. The other night, my writing workshop instructor handed out a reading assignment on crafting dialogue. Ho-Hum, I thought, I know how to write dialogue. But buried near the end of this article came a golden little nugget that blew me away. Paraphrasing the …
Continue reading “Imagination and the Unconscious: The Neuroscience of Creativity”
Created in the 1980s. Picked up by business in the 1990s. But still largely unknown among the general public. And writers need to know! As a student, Francesco Cirillo struggled with time management. We’ve all been there. As an undergraduate, I worked 40-45 hours a week while taking a full load of classes. Oh, and …
Continue reading “The Pomodoro Technique® for Writers”
When it comes to writing, I am definitely a plotter. I love knowing where my story is going and filling in the details on scene index cards before I start writing prose. But when it comes to making money, I am a pantser. I have no idea what my next job will be or when …
Continue reading “Freelancing (aka “Pantsing” Your Livelihood)”
This weekend is Thanksgiving in Canada, so I thought I’d blog about things I’m thankful for, you know, because that’s what this holiday is about. But instead I feel like curling up in a corner and crying. Not because my life is so awful, but because I’m not where I want to be with my …
Continue reading “7 Books That Make Me Be Thankful”