With the new year, I’ve been thinking about the future and reassessing my current projects. I’ve been an RMFW member for 23 years. For 12 of those years, I wrote my “Romancing the Tome” column, back when our newsletters were distributed by snail mail. I loved writing it and sharing my publishing journey with my…
Sometimes I feel like an old truck. Out of gas, rusted, and falling apart… and all the parts are out of stock. I’ll be turning 71 in about a week. In my last post, I talked about why I’m writing. Since then, I’ve been asking myself if I have enough time left to write. Is…
Last week my writing buddy sent me her new novel and asked for my feedback. This is the one I’ve been hearing about for a year, the novel she’s written that’s closest to her heart, and the one I feel will earn her a deal with a major publisher. And it got me thinking about…
How does one write characters for bestsellers? 1. Voice What is “voice” in writing? Voice is you, your choice of words, and how you use them. John #Grisham, readers know, will always give them a legal thriller, (unless the book is a poignant story of growing up.) Mark #Twain wrote, “You don’t know about me…
I’m writing a novella and suddenly I feel the muse telling me the story’s disenchanted circumstances are begging me to add a monster. Why? I ask. Comes the answer: Because these scenes are a bit mysterious, but not dark enough—or they’re a little spooky, but not scary enough. This story needs some tension. Hmmm. She’s…