Kathryn Craft Turning Whine Into Gold Today I am a brand-new, improved model of “Kathryn Craft, Author” thanks to the Women’s Fiction Writers Association retreat in Albuquerque this past weekend. I am no stranger to the benefits of retreating. Each spring and fall for the past eight years I’ve hosted writing retreats for women at […]

It's b-a-a-a-ack! During our first event on April 20th, we wrote a whole book! The final word count for our first Write Up a Storm was 79,591 words. We promised a follow-up event, and it's coming up just in time to jump start your engines for NaNoWriMo. Writers in the Storm is holding another "Write Up a Storm" […]

Fae Rowen Three weeks ago I wrote about writing lessons I'd received from the kittens I'm fostering. Well, tomorrow I "surrender" them back to the shelter. Now that everyone, including their stellar mom, is larger and more active, I'd like to share some "larger" lessons. around with joy and curiosity, they huddled together in a corner. […]

Kate Moretti We’ve all seen the examples: Wizard School, Dinosaur Park, Titanic. Don’t shudder everyone, high concept is back. Whether it was ever “out” is somewhat debatable. We see it on agent’s manuscript wish lists, in rejection letters, in publisher submission pages. Everyone seems to want a compelling pitch, to heck with characters and world-building […]

Piper Bayard of Bayard & Holmes No one wants to read about a fictional nice day. Great fiction is about one thing, and one thing only . . . problems. And lots of them. Problems keep the pages turning, and the heart of a problem is conflict. Without conflict, there is no plot, which is […]