This subject matters, whether you're a reader or a writer. Writers because it's important to understand the forces at work in the publishing world, and readers because those same forces can have a big effect on the books available to you to read. The hermetic world of...
It has been a long time since I've posted here. Yes, I've been busy. But it's more than that. A lot going on both personally and professionally. Right now I should be rehearsing the live webinar I'm giving on Tuesday that's related to my coaching, but somehow I want...
Yes, it's finally the day! The book is available everywhere books are sold. This is the third in my Theresa Schurman historical mystery series. That makes it an actual series (a first for me). Here's what it's about: Apparently, false rumors are all the fashion in...
These days are tough, no question about it. It's a time to raise the voices of people of color, hear their stories and listen to their pain. I fervently believe that #blacklivesmatter. But as much as I empathize with those who face personal and systemic racism every...
Many books and blog posts have been written about "show don't tell." I'm not going to pontificate about it here. As most writers understand, there's a place for both in a novel. What I want to talk about here is what that phrase actually means. I want to illustrate...
There's no denying the appeal to readers of a series or a trilogy. When I think about it, I realize that I truly fell in love with reading because of a series—Nancy Drew, of course! As a young reader, I loved getting to know Nancy and her friends, watching her get...
It's been a while since I've written one of these posts, mostly because I've been head down writing my new WIP. This project is all absorbing, because I am very excited about it and very scared that I can't do it justice. But I haven't just been writing. I've also...
I wonder how many readers think that writers just sit down and pour out a story onto the page, that maybe with a few little edits and tweaks the story that first goes on the page is the one that ends up in the published book. Sometimes that's the case. I've been...
I haven't been to an art museum in quite a while. I used to go all the time. The only reason I went today was because there was such a long line at the Smith bulb show (my original destination). It's not the Met or the MFA, but the Smith art museum—half a mile from my...
No two ways about it: I'm struggling with the structure of my WIP. It's as if I've spent months making what I hoped would be a beautiful garment, something I could see so clearly in my imagination, only to discover that I put a piece in upside down, and to fix it I...
I firmly believe that 90% of writing is craft rather than art. But that ineffable 10%, the part that elevates a well-constructed, readable story to something more—where does that come from? Knowing how is just the beginning On an intellectual level, I know how a story...
One of the greatest challenges in writing any story is figuring out where it begins and where it ends—most writers know that all too well. What seems like the obvious beginning may not be, and the tidy ending might end up having to come unraveled in order to make the...
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