Sarah Cy According to the old adage, "practice makes perfect." For a writer, reading and writing is practice. So the more you do it, the better a writer you should be, right? In reality, reading and writing every day does not a great writer make. Not if "reading and writing every day" means browsing news […]

June Stevens Westerfield I had hoped to avoid the particular topic I’m about to broach completely; however, as I always talk to you guys about branding, I would be remiss if I ignored the current publishing climate and didn’t take the time to discuss book branding as it relates to your cover and title. As […]

Gwen Hernandez A lot of the scenes I write get deleted or gutted, but that doesn't mean I want to lose my original words. Because of my crazy writing process, I have to lay down a lot of words before I find the core of my story. Which means I often go back to old scenes […]

Margie Lawson Hmm…  Cold hard stare. Have you read that descriptor before? Maybe more than once? More than a dozen times? What about variations on these lines: She narrowed her eyes to slits. His eyes popped open as wide as saucers. She scowled. He arched a sardonic eyebrow. What happens when readers read phrases or […]

Tasha Seegmiller When we have clarity with our writing, we know where we are going, whether that is genre or the project. Having clarity in our writing is like going on a hike — there may still be some unexpected things, but there is path, and we know where the path will lead. Variety in […]