Thank you, brave soul, for trusting me with your work. I hope you find this helpful. I chose this month's submission to explain the difference between 'good questions' you can leave readers with, and 'not good questions', and how to use emotion effectively in your writing. A friend had a suggestion for me on these […]

    Thank you, brave soul, for trusting me with your work. I hope you find this helpful.   I chose this month's submission to help explain a closer POV. This reads like a movie script. It is omniscient POV (mostly), which was great in the 1800's, but today's reader wants an immersive experience...they want […]

I'm taking a break from first page critiques this month, because something is bugging me and I have to get it out. Continue to send your pages, though, I'll be back next month with a crit!   I traveled to speak at a writer's group last weekend (I do that, you know. Contact me if […]

If you follow me on Facebook you know I'm the Queen of Pinterest (and if you don't, why not? Beauty pics, cat memes, inspirational quotes, odd Victorian photos — COFFEE! It's a sea of happy in a chaotic world. LauraDrakeAuthor). When I saw this the other day, the photo caught my eye first. Then the message slammed […]

Just a note first. I'm ready for more first page submissions!  If you've sent one in and I haven't used yours, there could be three reasons. 1. it's too good - people learn from mistakes!  2. It's not perfect, but there's not enough there to spend a whole blog addressing. 3. I've already addressed the […]