Roundup of best links for the year

Photo credit: DanielaTurcanu from morguefile.com Another year is ending, which naturally tends to make us stop and take stock of where we've been and where we are hoping to...

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How I do it: keeping revisions organized

Revisions. Love 'em or hate 'em, they're a necessary step to strengthening your work. But it's easy to get really overwhelmed by the prospect of fixing problems, or simply bounce...

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Escalation: The key to avoiding melodrama

Melodrama. It might make for addictive daytime TV, but it tends to drive readers crazy. It's a long, slow ride to the top (Photo by kconnors from morguefile.com) Consider...

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Caring for your creativity during the holidays

Photo credit: danielemusella from morguefile.com December is here, and with it comes a lot of rush and bustle. Shopping, decorating, parties, concerts, recitals,...

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The emotions laboratory outside your door

Photo credit: jdurham from morguefile.com  I'm not here today, I'm guest posting over at Jami Gold's blog on honing your observation skills in order to...

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Tips for using numbers in fiction

Dear Editor-on-Call, Photo credit: diannehope from morguefile.com My critique group always argues about how you should write time. 5 o'clock or 5:00 pm? And...

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The End: reflections on wrapping a draft

Monday night I wrote the words "The End" on a manuscript I have been working on steadily for roughly three years. I should be ecstatic, right? Instead I'm scratching my head...

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Thanks, Will: idioms from Shakespeare you're probably misspelling

image by http://wallpaper222.com/ William Shakespeare is considered a key transforming force in the English language. There are hundreds of words and phrases, particularly...

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The good of bad reviews: writing tips from the meanies

Photo credit: JulesInKY from morguefile.com I have a somewhat embarrassing habit when it comes to using Goodreads. I really love to read negative reviews of...

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The stirring conclusion: how do you wrap up a story with drama?

Denouement can involve untangling and weaving(photo by DodgertonSkillhause from morguefile.com) I'm in currently in the midst of drafting the final chapter...

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Beware the myth of Easy Street

The other day, a well-meaning writer on Twitter tweeted, "I've found that if the story isn't easy to write, it's because you're telling the wrong one." Once in a while, that...

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A picture is worth a thousand words: visual prompts

I'm a verbal/auditory thinker. My stories usually begin with a character talking to me. I actually get pretty confused by assembly instructions from Ikea that are nothing but...

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Kindling for the bonfire: Autumn writing prompts

Photo credit: ali110 from morguefile.com In this post, I discussed using warm-ups as a means to break through your initial reluctance to start a writing session. Sometimes...

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Five tips for diversifying your cast

Photo credit: Prawny from morguefile.com  Last year, a handful of authors began an initiative called "We Need Diverse Books" to raise awareness about  the...

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With me or against me? Using dual and duel

For today's phonics fun, I'm going to tackle the semi-homophone pair, dual and duel. Most pronounce the words similarly, though one of the pair might have two syllables (dewl;...

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Limber up! Warm ups to get you writing

Photo credit: kakisky from morguefile.com No ballerina simply straps on her toe shoes and dances Swan Lake. Nor does an Olympic sprinter roll out of bed and...

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Yes, I can? Affirmations for the pessimistic

You regular blog readers may find this hard to believe, but I am not a naturally optimistic person. My inclination is to always look on the shadow rather than bright side of life....

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Support and accountability for all: The "write in"

Not every writer is ready to participate in a critique group. That requires you to have a manuscript at some state of completion that you need help improving through rewrites,...

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