Jamie Raintree The beginning of the new year is always a great time to step back and reevaluate our routines. Sure, we all have resolutions and goals for the coming year (finally finishing that book probably being one of them) but if we continue to approach our goals and resolutions in the same way we […]

Kimberly Brock You need a nest. That’s the most important lesson I’ve learned this year about being a good writer, or a creative of any sort. Up until this year, I thought I was an expert at nests. I am an introvert disguised as an extrovert and I want nothing so much as to curl […]

Susan Spann In addition to writing novels and practicing law, I have a marine aquarium filled with corals and seahorses. I started reef-keeping years ago, though I’ve loved aquariums (and seahorses, especially) all my life. I knew, from the outset, that seahorses rank very high on the aquarium difficulty scale, and that they require a […]

Shannon Donnelly Backstory—the background needed to enrich a story—is one of those things that can drive any writer nuts. How much is too much? When do you reveal more? When do you hold back? Too much backstory can sink a story—because you’re not moving the story forward. You’re giving background, and while that can be […]

Sherry Thomas I like directions. I am, moreover, very good at following directions. Lately, however, I find myself balking at one particular set of directions: writing rules. Now I’m the last person to suggest that everything about writing is subjective and therefore any rule should be kicked in the gonads before it even walks through […]