Colleen Story A girl goes into a bar. A guy takes a seat in the chair beside her. Using his most charming voice, he says, “Hey, girl, what’s your time personality?” It could happen. In fact, the guy would likely find out more with that question than with the typical, “What’s your sign?”  In fact, […]

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy No matter what form it takes, conflict is at the core of every story. It’s part of what drives the plot, and it’s what makes readers eager to read on to see if the protagonist succeeds. Characters face problem after problem, and with each trouble found, they’re forced to make tough […]

Tasha Seegmiller I belong to several Facebook groups where people ask for and support the members in productivity, goal achievement, ownership and intentionality. Many of these are focused on writers, so when reporting on what the goals are, there are often people who say they want to create a solid outline for a WIP. Nearly […]

Susan Spann The “out of print” clause is often one of an author’s only ways to terminate a publishing contract unilaterally (a legal term that means “one-sided”—and, in this case, means the author’s right to terminate without the publisher’s consent).  Out of print clauses are not relevant to self-publishing, and should never appear in self-publishing […]

acronym: a word, such as NATO, radar, or laser, formed from the initial letter or letters of each of the successive parts or major parts of a compound term; also, an abbreviation, such as FBI, formed from initial letters. Acronyms are a type of abbreviation. Chances are, your characters see, understand and use acronyms. And […]