By Beth Groundwater I’ve taught a number of workshops at many different writing conference, library programs, and to writing groups, and one of my favorites is “Engineering a Mystery.” I apply my engineering background from my first career to help fledgling mystery writers build some scaffolding for their projects, or formulate recipes for their mystery…
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Being in Community with Other Writers
By Pamela Nowak In the twenty years I’ve been writing (well… writing with publication as a goal), there are two things that I’ve come to learn are vital: learning craft and being in community. Since many of us often talk about craft in our blogs, I thought I’d talk about community and how important it…
Talk to the Paw: The Revision Process
Recently I’d been under the gun… my own gun, really… to make revisions to a manuscript my agent was expecting sooner rather than later. I enjoy the revision process because it’s my chance to dig in deep and pull the story out from cracks and crevices it may have slipped through along the way. Making…
Reading Like a Writer
By Lori DeBoer We read for many reasons—to be entertained, to be swept up in a story, to be transported into an interesting world, to laugh, to cry, to learn, to gain insight and to be inspired. But when we become writers, we need to read like a writer. We become active readers, slowing down…
Why Time Off Isn’t Time Lost
by Jeffe Kennedy I’ve been pushing hard lately. “Lately” meaning about the last year and a half. I’ve talked about it a fair amount on my personal blog and on a panel or two. Mainly what happened was that I signed with an agent, who was fabulous enough to get me several book deals, and…