Tiffany Lawson Inman Summer is the perfect setting for first time love. I’m pretty sure everyone, EVERYONE, had a summer love, fling, crush, or even just a sweet moment at some point in their lives. The unrequited variety counts too, because you did in fact feel that way for the first time. And for those […]

Gwen Hernandez A few years ago, I ended a 15-year marriage to Microsoft Word and hooked up with a younger, sexier writing program: Scrivener. My graduate thesis took the shine off my romance with Word, but it was my foray into fiction that finally killed the relationship. That’s because Scrivener understands my needs in a […]

By Kristen Lamb For those of you who have submitted before, ever wonder how an agent can ask for the first 20 pages and still reject your book? Did you ever wonder if the agents really read these pages? How can they know our book isn't something they want to represent with so little to […]

by Margie Lawson, @MargieLawson If you watch NCIS, you know Jethro Gibbs, aka Mark Harmon, has rules. Fifty-plus rules. My next fifteen (or fifty) blogs will feature a different Margie-Rule for writers. [Click here for Margie's Rule #1: Never Take Any Word for Granted.] Margie’s Rule #2: Write the Hard Stuff: Facial Expressions Write the […]

by Jenny Hansen, @JennyHansenCA Editing and Proofreading: Two separate processes that equal one great story. Like most writers, I hang out with a boatload of other writers. Still, I never saw much of other peoples’ works in progress until I coordinated a contest several years ago. Coordinating contests changed the way I see writing. Period. It was […]