James Preston Tips for doing Bad Things to Your Characters. As I write this I am watching an old episode of CSI. Ray Langston, (Laurence Fishburn) is testifying in the trial of a psychotic who stabbed him. It is an excruciating series of scenes, definitely not for the faint of heart. As a child when […]

I haven't baked bread for over fifteen years. But I thought about making a loaf of sourdough this week-end. I never had a bread machine, so the idea of spending the better part of a day making a couple of loaves of bread caused my rational brain to engage. What was I thinking? Bread is not my favorite […]

Aimie K. Runyan Three years ago when I sat down to begin plotting my novel, Promised to the Crown, I knew I had a huge task in front of me. I was dealing with an era most readers would only have a cursory knowledge of, and a series of events they would probably not be […]

Have you ever started a project that other people thought was impossible? That you thought was impossible? How about something that wasn’t impossible, but would take a long time to finish, like going to college? As an adult, I understand that my life is the sum of every decision I’ve made, even the small ones. […]

Sonja Yoerg The act of writing is an exercise in managing symbols. Every word, after all, is attached to a universe of meaning; the bit we formally agree upon is the definition. Everything else a word signifies exists in a web of personal memory, experience and emotion. If I write “moon,” your brain lights up […]