I don’t plot. I don’t outline. I don’t even do character sketches. I know, I know … I’ve tried, I really have. Every time I try, I freeze and lose the spark for the story. Here’s the irony, I’m a planner—not just any planner--a neurotically compulsive planner. I’ve never met a project, a trip, a […]

Marilyn Brant Thanks so much for inviting to me to Writers in the Storm today and for asking me to share a little bit about the group blog anthology I worked on this spring! A few months ago, I organized a writing/promotional project for one of my blogs, the Girlfriends Book Club, which is an […]

Scott Wilbanks You know you must be desperate when you find yourself Googling random word combinations in the hope that a book title will magically make itself known to you. To be honest, after a week  and an endless series of, “that’s good, but no thanks”, responses from my publishing house, I was grasping at […]

For those of you who couldn't attend, every year I share the best, the "golden," writing tips and industry advice from the workshops I attend at the Romance Writers of America conference. Joan Johnston: Sherry Thomas: "Mistakes we Made" Group Panel: Julie Cupp and Christy Reese, on self-publishing: Jennifer Crusie on Metaphor and Motif: Kristan Higgins on […]

Marcy Kennedy   If I took a survey asking writers what the most important elements of fiction were, I’d probably end up with a few consistent answers—plot, characters, dialogue, showing rather than telling. We might not automatically think of including internal dialogue on the list, but we should. Internal dialogue is the heartbeat of fiction. […]