Happily Ever After? I Hope So!

By the time you read this, I’ll be planted on the sandy white beaches of Montauk Point. If you’ve never been to Long Island, New York, you’ve missed out on one of the most spectacular stretches of oceanfront in the world. Yes, that’s what I said…the world. I’ve been on many a vacation where people …
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Puzzles & Writing

My kids learned just about everything from their ABC’s to their rhyming words from scavenger hunts. I wrote about some of my unconventional educational methods a few weeks ago. You can read more about that here. Our summers have always included puzzles, and vacations filled with gold panning, adventures and planting geocaching clues. We love …
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“Ripped from Today’s Headline” or Where Do Writers Get Ideas

“Ripped from today’s headlines.” Remember the expression? The TV show, “Law and Order”, right? I often think of that show when people who don’t write fiction ask me where I get my ideas for stories. Where don’t I get ideas? They beat me about the head until I capture the idea in a computer file …
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Screenwriter Tips for Novelists: 3 Things that Keep Your Story on the Road (not the Goat Path)

Last week I talked about Mapping the Mushy Middle of a story so that your characters don’t get waylaid on some meandering goat path of grass-eating boredom before finally arriving in Act III. Or worse, get stuck in the swamp and never reach The End! It comes down to knowing your destinations in Act II: …
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Guest Post: SCBWI Conference with Cindy McCraw Dircks

For those of you following the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) events you’ll know they held their big annual New Jersey conference on June 27th – 29th. Since none of the Sisters had the chance to attend we asked Robin’s friend Cindy to guest blog and fill everyone in on the highlights. …
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What We’re Reading: Mysteries

Mysteries! There’s something about them that pulls readers in. Maybe it’s the puzzling out alongside the protagonist. Maybe it’s the urge to learn new stuff like what IS an undetectable poison. Maybe mysteries appeal because you get a two-fer (or more): the traditional structure of a novel with its plot and then the crime that …
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Keeping Your Mojo

Tomorrow I have the honor of reviewing a new series I read over the weekend. Six books in one weekend. God Bless Amazon and the Kindle Reader. I’d finish one, et voila! Presto-chango, here’s the next one! I fell asleep about halfway through the sixth one last night and, because I can’t stand to have …
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A Matter of Style

Last week I tackled the slithery little element of fiction writing called voice, which inadvertently led me into the equally slippery area of style. And don’t get me started on tone. I’m not sure that even warrants a discussion. When I consider style, my thoughts immediately go to fashion. I’ve often been told I’m a …
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Reading Aloud: Why Hearing Your Book Is Important

Last week I gave a few tips from The Oxford Inklings on improving your critique group. You can read that post here if you missed it. This week I want to share one of that group’s most valuable writing tips. The Inklings all advocated reading works-in-progress aloud. Historically this make sense, they were from a …
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