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 as many words as they can in the month of November. Many writers skip it and many writers treat it as a yearly pilgrimage to Writing Mecca. NaNoWriMo is my […]

by Margie Lawson I confess. I’m in love with the way some authors slip in backstory. I’m not talking chunks of backstory that sit on your page like cement blocks. The kind of blah blah blah that invites readers to skim. I’m talking about little hits of backstory. Those smooth keep-your-story-moving backstory slip-ins. What is […]

by Fae Rowen Today I'm sharing an emotional memory, a memory that I recalled while working on my WIP. For me, connecting with my past feelings can really open up my writing by connecting emotions with my characters. I received my best Christmas present years ago. My father went to Chicago on business the week […]

Lisa Hall-Wilson   You don’t know what you don’t know, right? That’s part of what makes writing in deep point of view so hard. I have spent years studying this technique and continue to learn more about it. But if you had a place to start maybe you could get started on your own. But […]

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 […]