January 2 was supposed to be my big return day from taking December off from writing. But it wasn't. January 1 was my first day at the gym after graduating from physical therapy for knee surgery, and (as my family and friends won't be shocked to hear) I overdid it. That plus a big office … Continue reading Houseplant Writing
NaNoWriMo Project
I'm doing my very first ever NaNoWriMo! I've always wanted to participate, and never managed a clear enough schedule to do so. This year, I've got a project in the hands of beta readers and cleared the deck for November. I'm excited to announce my NaNo project, with the working title "Inheritance:" When professional psychic … Continue reading NaNoWriMo Project
3 Writing Lessons from Dungeons and Dragons
Tabletop role-playing games (RPGs) have a lot to teach you about writing. You create characters and tell a collaborative story in real time, so of course it's good practice for your novel! Taking away the setting elements (fantasy, sci-fi, horror), you find lessons that apply to any writer in any genre. Here are the first … Continue reading 3 Writing Lessons from Dungeons and Dragons
Three P’s of Writer’s Block
It happens to every writer. You get to a point somewhere in the middle of the book and the plot that has been rolling merrily along simply evaporates. Where do we go from here? It's an intensely discouraging moment for all of us. In some cases, it can even convince people to put their writing … Continue reading Three P’s of Writer’s Block
Writing Polish: The Bulldozer Sentence
Literature trained a lot of us to drone on a bit. William Faulkner's Absalom! Absalom! has a single sentence that clocks in at 1,288 words. Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables offers up an 832 word gem. Modern writing, especially genre writing, are more about the sharp. One of my biggest revision tasks revolves around bulldozer sentences. These come … Continue reading Writing Polish: The Bulldozer Sentence
Writing Polish: Putting Things in Order
One of the most valuable experiences of having a good critique partner or editor is finding all the mistakes you didn't know you were making! In the current draft of a Witch in Wine Country, my critique partner found a couple of bad writing habits that, while not terrible, added up to clarity problems when … Continue reading Writing Polish: Putting Things in Order
“Ejaculated Slughorn” – Dialogue Tags and Action Beats
Among the well-meaning advice I thoroughly disagree with, new writers are often told to never use a dialogue tag other than "said" and "asked." The most quoted example used to support this comes from JK Rowling's Harry Potter series: "Snape!" ejaculated Slughorn, who looked the most shaken, pale and sweating. Technically, yes, ejaculated is a synonym for … Continue reading “Ejaculated Slughorn” – Dialogue Tags and Action Beats
Coping with Querying
It's been mentioned elsewhere that writing a book and selling it require you to be two completely different people in the same body: one an introverted observer of the world, the other an extrovert, actively seeking attention and acclaim. Perhaps that's why so many of us who can't wait to throw ourselves into drafting our … Continue reading Coping with Querying
3 (More) Tips for Twitter Pitch Parties
In addition to the basic tips I set out in my last post on pitch parties, I saw a few things that clearly hurt people's exposure and chances during the March #PitMad and April #DVpit events. I paid close attention to who was getting the retweets and likes, and who wasn't. A few definite patterns … Continue reading 3 (More) Tips for Twitter Pitch Parties
Twitter and the 5k Follow Cap
There are two camps when it comes to followers on Twitter. Camp A believes in following back anyone who follows them. I'm in this camp myself, with a few exceptions. I won't follow back accounts I believe to be bots, or accounts that only promote a product, for instance. Sometimes I'll pass when the person … Continue reading Twitter and the 5k Follow Cap