During this past week of thankfulness and as we’re fully engaged in the holiday season, I’ve been thinking about my happy quotient. Happiness is, of course, a relative term. Days that aren’t unhappy would be called happy by an optimist’s standard. But there is one thing that can multiply that sort of ho-hum happiness, and […]

I’ve finished Round One of revisions for Brother’s All (yep, still using the working title!) and will soon hear back from my editor on that. Right now I’m putting together a short non-fiction piece about including a romance in a general market novel. On the one hand I believe writing is writing. Whether it’s fiction […]

I wish I were a faster reader. Unfortunately not only am I a slow reader, but since I like to learn as I read I often pause to reread a line or scene, or to think about a character action and wonder why it’s working for me, why it was included in the story at […]

Some authors celebrate when they’ve finished a project. They go out to dinner, buy themselves something, take time off just to relax. Others spend time catching up on things around the house that had to be ignored while spending every waking moment in front of the computer. Or spending more time with friends and family, […]

Over the weekend, my husband was reading a book called Good to Great by Jim Collins. I haven’t read the book myself, but my husband is certainly enjoying it. It’s targeted toward those running businesses, trying to understand and explain why certain companies make it when others don’t. One of the first chapters is titled: […]

If someone is going to invest several hours of their time in your book, they’re going to want something in return. Entertainment, of course. To be touched emotionally and be involved in your story and characters’ lives. But at some point the writer should address what the take-away value is going to be, just to […]