Clik here to view.
Looking for that special gift for that special someone?
By Chris Coward In our thirty-four years of marriage, my husband hinted for only one gift: a balloon ride. It was a great Christmas gift that year but—hoo boy—every holiday season after that has been a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Learn about the business side of writing
Finally! A writers conference entirely focused on the “business” of writing and not the “craft” of writing. Thanks to the efforts of book coach Peggy DeKay (Self Publishing For Virgins), writers now...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Promoting Your Book on Goodreads
by Paula Krapf, Author Marketing Experts (AME) We’re blessed to have Paula Krapf of Author Marketing Experts with us today. A little while back, I figured we should address what Goodreads can do for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Exercise Wednesday: Poetry Prompt
This week, we’re doing something different. Peggy Miller will provide poetry prompts Saturday and Sunday morning at 7 am (that’s right, 7 am). Peggy has graciously provided us a poetry prompt this...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Exercise Wednesday: Lichens
Peggy Miller is back with another poetry prompt. Peggy’s agreed to give us one poetry prompt a month starting in January. Yay! There are great places to find unusual words and phrases – these are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
From Point A to Point B: Writing and Rock Climbing
Joanne Lewis joins us again as a guest blogger. She also enjoys a physical challenge, but without the live electrical wires. And she finds the parallels to writing. I started writing when I was eight...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Announcement for Others’ Stuff: Sleuthfest Authors Help Aspiring Writers Get...
Sometimes writers help writers by pointing them to opportunities outside their own. We do it periodically here. So while the Florida Writers Conference is the Greatest Writers Conference on Earth (it’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Who are today’s middle graders?
The days when middle-graders filled my home with noise, activity, and clutter are long-gone. My middle-graders are adults now, with spouses and lives of their own. I remember how my children acted at...
View ArticleClik here to view.
About Cemeteries
by Anne Hawkinson I had to get into my middle-grade mind when I wrote a scene for my current work-in-progress about visiting a cemetery. I thought about cemeteries I visited at that age – one that is...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Exercise Wednesday: Two Poems
By Peggy Miller One afternoon in an April years ago, a stained and wrinkled list of words appeared in my garden. I suppose it was an assignment lost by a school child walking home. A spelling list....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Exercise Wednesday: Love Stinks
Ahhh . . . or, Ugh. Either way, love is (supposed to be) in the air. Take your character on a bad date, please, and don’t spare any of the ugly details. Maybe there’s salvation at the end, maybe not....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Four-Letter Words: Don’t Use Them
By Dean Murphy In the mid-1950s before scented soap was all the rage I learned a valuable lesson. Gone with the Wind still blew through movie theatres in the Deep South two decades after the 1939...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Outdoor kids
By Anne Hawkinson I know life was different when I was a kid. I think about those lists that come out periodically, reminding me of all the things that were unheard of when I was growing up...
View ArticleClik here to view.
You can make a living as a writer
by Kristen Stieffel Chris shared with us the great news about his being a writer — officially — in the workplace. This is great news, and not only because it means he’ll be doing what he loves and does...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Short Story Tuesday: So Long, by Celia Lucente
If you’d like a built-in audience for your short story, please let me know. The rules are fairly simple. You must own the work you submit. It must be further along than a first draft. It shouldn’t be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Don’t Sotp Proofreading
By Dean Murphy It’s one thing to kill your darlings, but have you ever wondered how renowned authors get away with murder? That is, not the CSI: Miami kind but killing their sentences with poor...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Exercise Wednesday: Revenge is a dish best served in March
Forget about leprechauns (though maybe you can figure out a way to include them, too), what I’m really worried about is the Ides of March! Tell your character to beware! Someone, somehow, is going to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Timothy Hallinan & Mary Burton On Writing
By Dean Murphy Timothy Hallinan Stephen King’s iconic On Writing inspires many on the craft of writing. “Writers form themselves into the pyramid we see in all areas of human talent and human...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Being Afraid
Were you afraid of the dark when you were little? I suppose it’s one of the “universal” fears. What I suffered from (and maybe still do, to some extent) is termed “nyctophobia,” a word derived from the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Power of Words
By Dean Murphy A person sits on pavement with a crudely printed sign: I’m blind. Please help. Passersby occasionally drop coins, though most in the following two-minute video don’t notice him. They sip...
View Article
