One of my writer friends recently asked me a question. “How do you plot?” she asked. “I keep getting stuck in the details and can’t pull it together.” I suggested she tell the story like she would to a five-year-old child, in broad terms and without going into a lot of detail. Stick to what […]

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My steampunk class has spent the last month on prewriting, something that in my opinion was worth the price of admission all by itself. In the past, I’ve been a pantser, someone who sits down to write with a little idea and a lot of hope. But, after six revisions on my last book (no […]

Today I’d like to talk about staying true to yourself, even in the face of good advice. After several years in various writer’s groups I’ve noticed a trend. One, writers are very opinionated about other peoples’ work, and two, there always seems to be at least one person in the group that ends up as […]

In the Western genre (so much as I understand it, not being an expert), two movements struggle for ascendency: lawlessness and law. There are good guys and bad guys – the white hats and black hats, and very occasionally, the gray hats where modern writers blur the line on purpose. Life is hard, and a Colt revolver or other period gun goes a long way to making your word the final say on the matter. There’s this ongoing feeling of justice and a civilization that might be over the horizon but that we all feel should impact our lives even in this lawless place. The sheriff ought to be able to catch the bad guys. The girl ought to be able to avenge her father. And the choices that we, the townsfolk of the frontier, make – well, those will determine everything. Whether the law falls apart and we become brigands and saloon girls or the law wins and the “decent” womenfolk are welcomed as mailorder brides. It’s the tension that makes the West, the West.

The theme for the day is websites. Every writer can benefit from getting their name out there to the world, and there are a number of free resources available to help us do that well. This post covers a variety of programs and services to help you get your website built, hosted, and tracked. I also feature a number of free resources to help you develop media (pictures, audio, etc.) to go in the website.

After a fantastic Thanksgiving filled with turkey, rolls, stuffing and cranberry sauce, I came back with a mission: 15,000 words in four days. Yes, that’s right – I’m going to finish the whole kit and kaboodle of NaNo by Monday. (You heard it here first!) So, in grand sprint style, I’ll need to average a […]

Passing the 30,000 word mark for NaNo is awesome!…. until you realize you have a problem. Momentum, my NaNo project, is supposed to be an action/adventure space opera with romantic elements, so naturally the two largest characters are a guy and a girl. Sadly, the guy, Graham, is disliking this whole project. He’s not speaking […]

Feeling stuck is your brain’s way of telling you there’s something you’re missing. It’s a red flag. A flashing light. A clue to slow down and start thinking. Carefully. One of the best ways to think is through brainstorming. Getting up, getting a marker, and writing things down on the whiteboard. Some people use clustering […]