Five essentials to succeed in self-publishing

In my previous post, many of you were intrigued with the question of self-publishers possessing an "entrepreneurial temperament." What might that label imply? I found a...

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You're doing what??

Self-publishing. How do you decide if it's for you? I'm a cautious person, so deciding to publish my novel Never Gone on my own wasn't something I arrived at overnight. I spent...

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My BIG news

My 400th post seemed like the right time to share something that has been brewing since last fall. My young adult novel, Never Gone, will release in September. I'm publishing...

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Some problems can't be fixed

Stubbornness might look like persistence, but sometimes it's really a hindrance to truly progressing as a writer. Yes, I'm talking about when to trunk a project. I've...

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Offering Teens Something Different

by Dusty Crabtree, author of Shadow Eyes When I first started developing my idea for a story and eventually decided to write a young adult urban fantasy that dealt with angels...

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Mary Sue's miserable cousin

I've noticed something of an opposite trend to Mary Sue characters recently, especially in YA and MG books published in the past 5 years. I guess I'd call them Poison Polly characters....

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Cure for a weary mind

As I was getting ready for work this morning, I heard this interview with psychologist Dan Gottlieb reflecting on the idea of "absolute rest." He was responding to questions...

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The skin they're in: character study lab

How do your characters feel in their own skin? Self-conscious? Cocky? Healthy? Despairing? Blissfully carefree? Hang out at a pool for any length of time, and you'll soon notice...

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