Our current brave world of publishing demands that an author "build a brand." What does that mean exactly?  Simply put, your brand is the picture that pops into people’s mind when they hear your name. Your author brand is how your fans identify you. How do you figure out what to talk about online? [I can hear […]

We have a surprise for you today - our 1000th post happened this week and we're celebrating big time. That means we're celebrating you, our amazing readers. We're more than a little bit misty over this, as we never expected to get this far when we started our little blog back in 2010. Thank you, Amazing […]

Today I'm thinking about the people who inspired me on this writing journey. There are the usual suspects... My mother, who encouraged my constant scribbling. The 6th grade teacher who put my essay up on the wall with a shiny gold star. Countless friends and teachers, in my home writing chapter and online. The founders and […]

The start of a new year has most of us reflecting on the previous year and making grand plans for the coming year. I don’t make resolutions. To me, they’re empty wishes. I set goals. And each year, I think of one word that will guide me through the year and keep me on track […]

NaNoWriMo, for those of you who are unfamiliar with it, is National Novel Writing Month, where hundreds of thousands of writers gather to bang out many many words in a month. Many writers skip it and many writers treat it as a yearly pilgrimage to Writing Mecca. NaNoWriMo is my birthday present to myself each year. […]