Do you want to share some of your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, and tips with other writers? Are you itching to spend a little time writing something other than that novel you’re sick of staring at? Got a sure-fire technique you wish other writers knew about? Do you want to get your byline (and link to…
Around lunchtime, in the year 79 of the Christian Era, on the coast of what is now modern-day Italy, a once-dormant volcano rumbled. Ash rained down on the first day as residents of the nearby city of Pompeii gathered their belongings and debated whether to leave or stay. A day later, Mount Vesuvius erupted in…
One of the first tenets of successful novel writing is that without conflict, you’ve got no story. Conflict is what keeps the reader turning pages. Without it, your story comes to a halt while you clear your throat, meander around aimlessly, and stare at the wall. In his craft book Conflict and Suspense, author James…
A friend recently confessed that she was bored by a book she had read for a book club. Having just slogged through the same book myself, I agreed completely. As I writer, I knew exactly why the book didn’t work for me. But the woman I was chatting with couldn’t articulate why she hated the…
For the past few years, my family and I have celebrated Independent Bookstore Day (coming up on April 29th) with a bookstore crawl. Each year, we try to incorporate a new (to us) bookshop amongst our favorites. Sadly, this year we’ll miss out on visiting a former favorite, BookBar, as it closed this past January….