One of my favorite writer quotes is from humorous sci-fi author Douglas Adams: “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”   I recently took stock and had to admit, once again, that my time management skills rank somewhere between a two and a negative twenty-two. Since high school, […]

  As a copy editor, I've learned a lot about improving the flow of my own writing as I've tweaked the manuscripts of others. Today I want to share four easy edits you can make yourself that invite the reader deeper into the story and provide the impact you want to have. 1. Eliminate crutch […]

Think for a moment about your work in progress. How should your book be marketed? What kind of reader do you want to attract? Who is your book for? Why, it's for everyone! you exclaim. After all, who wouldn't want to read your fabulous plot, compelling characters, and engaging writing voice? Perhaps a few doltish […]

It’s nothing personal against Coloradans, but I’ve started to sigh heavily when I hear this one word: Denver. For those of you with many friends in the Romance Writers of America, you know what I’m talking about. Next week, thousands of writers will descend on Denver, Colorado for the RWA annual conference — the one […]

I thought of the title for this Pimp & Promote, then wondered where the term came from. So I looked it up. Here you go: The dog days or dog days of summer are the hot, sultry days of summer. They were historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star Sirius, which Greek and Roman astrology connected with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck. They are now […]