Colleen M. Story I recently spent a good six months struggling to make progress on my next novel. The sole reason: I couldn’t hear what my writer’s intuition was telling me. In an effort to solve the problem, I returned to craft, seeking solutions in plot, characterization, and timelines. All of my efforts produced a […]

Angela Ackerman Taking the time to choose the right setting for each scene is one of the best ways to ensure our writing has impact. Why? Because the setting touches everything. It can characterize the story’s cast, evoke mood, generate conflict, shape the plot, and even use symbols and emotional triggers to show readers what […]

Janice Hardy When I was first learning how to write a novel, I read tons of how-to books and tried every piece of writing advice I came across. Some of it helped, some of it didn't, and some of it did more harm than good. Luckily, I survived the experience and maintained not only my […]

Emily Cavanagh For the past ten years, I have written steadily and quietly. While my friends, family, and colleagues all knew I wrote, only a few close writer friends knew the extent of my writing life. Only a handful of people knew that I had written four unpublished novels. When I would somehow let this […]

Kari Lynn Dell If you’d asked me twenty years ago, the idea that a ranch girl from Montana who majored in sports medicine could up and write a book would’ve seemed ludicrous. Then this story got stuck in my head. The characters—typical of many of the cowboys I’ve dated—settled in on my mental couch, hogging […]