Straight talk from the sisters about blood, sweat and ink
This weekend my best friend from university was in town for a visit. We went to school for Television, me focused on screenwriting, her on the business side of the industry. She’s always been my biggest cheerleader, genuinely thinking everything I write, even the shit I came up with in first year, is great. Cheerleaders …
Continue reading “Cheerleaders vs Critique Partners”
Emotional Writing One of our WOS sisters here just suffered the loss of her mother. I can’t imagine, although I know it’s coming. The woman who gave you life cannot and should not outlive yours. But it must be devastating. I once had a critique partner tell me to “go deeper.” That she could tell …
Continue reading “Emotional Writing – Going Deep”
As you know, I recently relocated from New York to Virginia and as is the case when most people move, I was looking for new opportunities to meet people, especially since I miss my evenings at the coffee shop with my old writer group and mostly communicate with them via computer. Luckily, I found this …
Continue reading “Moody Musings…”
Since I’m in the thick of buying a new house, and packing to move my family, my time is limited. Kathy did me a huge favor by mentioning my pickle trick last Friday in her post. Pickle Trick = Use your software program’s FIND function to locate weak verbs and replace them with the word “pickle.” * …
Continue reading “To Pickle, Or Not To Pickle?”
A launch party signals your book is available for purchase, and you want to introduce it with as big a splash as possible. To be clear, this is a launch primarily, not a book signing per se. More goes on than at a signing. All book launches include book signing, but not all book signings …
Continue reading “11 Steps for Your On-Site Book Launch”
Screenwriters have all these steps that we go through before we write a script. We’re the exact opposite of pantsers. But all these stages serve a purpose. I’ve blogged about loglines, beat sheets, outlines, and scene boards. Today, I’ll tell you about treatments. A treatment is a document used mainly by film screenwriters. It’s longer …
Continue reading “Screenwriter Tips for Novelists: Write a Script Treatment”
Today the Writeonsisters welcome guest blogger Jan Saenz. Jan found us on Twitter when Sharon’s post (Writing Groups: On the Other Hand…) caught her attention. After perusing through the site, she discovered we have guest bloggers on Sundays and pitched us an idea. And voila! Take it away Jan… I have a confession to make: …
Continue reading “Guest Post: Breaking the Formula: 6 Tips for Writing Great Sex Scenes”
Historical Fiction is our genre for September. It would seem pretty clear cut; historical fiction takes place in the past. But the genre definition is complicated by time itself. Whereas, we might consider The Great Gatsby or Grapes of Wrath works of historical fiction, in actuality, when written, they would have been considered contemporary fiction. …
Continue reading “What We’re Reading: Historical Fiction”
Last week I talked whined about my loss of eight hours a day writing time because of a new job I’d taken. (Loving the job, by the way.) My friend is now spending all her time taking care of her 92-year-old mother, and she’s lost most of her uninterrupted writing time. Another friend just took …
Continue reading “Making Stuff Up II – But When? My Day Is Full!”
I’m in the final stages of polishing my latest manuscript and going through my checklist for those tiny little nits that always manage to slip through. Rather than doing a complete read-through for like the millionth time (which at some point becomes counter-productive because you know it too well), I pick random passages and scrutinize …
Continue reading “Self-Editing Redux: Spot Checking”