by Erin Brown You’ve slaved for months, years—perhaps decades--to finish your manuscript. You’ve tackled all-nighters, tear-your-hair-out rewrites, grueling self-imposed deadlines. You’ve grappled with creative juices that either flowed until you were drunk with brilliant narrative or dried up to leave you parched, devoid of inspiration, sobbing onto your keyboard. You get my drift. You’ve poured […]

Before we get to the awesome Shannon Donnelly, I wanted to be sure you all saw the winner of Tiffany Lawson Inman's critique: Angela Quarles! By Shannon Donnelly I just finished reading a story that had a major problem—no sparkage between the hero and heroine. Even worse, there was plenty of sparkage between the heroine […]

Just a quick reminder: Laura is teaching a class at Margie Lawson's Writers Academy for the month of September - Submissions that Sell!  If you need help on your submission, check it out! Now, here's Lori! By Lori Nelson Spielman I typed The End and did a little happy dance in my office. I’d finished […]

We are delighted to welcome back The Naked Editor, Tiffany Lawson Inman from hiatus! Whoop! By Tiffany Lawson Inman What do you do when your character needs to wipe his/her nose?  Or wave goodbye? Or hold back a tear? Or close a door? Or smile?             Write the action. Simple. Right? Is your character always […]

By Laura Drake We love seeing what our readers are up to - so here's your chance!  This month, I'm thinking about middles, since I'm near the middle of my WIP, and worrying about sagging (and for once, it's not about my butt). So here's your assignment: Go to your WIP (or one of your […]