It’s been a long time since I’ve posted (or done book reviews), but I’m going to try to get back to them here. (Full disclosure—I did work on this project as a book coach, but I’m going to apply the same rubric I always use for reviews to see how it stacks up against others … Continue reading Book Review – Riven Calyx
Blog: Into the Writer Lea
As you gear up for a new year of writing, it's important to set expectations and goals. Just "hoping to write a novel this year" probably won't result in a lot of work, so how will you approach it? A certain number of pages a day? A goal of a chapter a week? A month? … Continue reading Why You Need Realistic Writing Expectations
I'm not sure new year resolutions are the best option, but starting another "journey 'round the sun" is a great time to think about what you did last year and what you'd like to accomplish this year. For me, it's been far too long since I've posted, so that's one of my goals this year—blogging … Continue reading What Do You Hope to Do This Year?
When you're first starting a story, there's a lot to think about—your characters, plot, and world-building, to say nothing of critical questions like what to name your character's pet dog. But there are five things you need to include in the opening scenes of your book to help your readers. Characters. This may sound obvious, but … Continue reading 5 Things Your Readers Need From You
It's hard to believe, but I haven't written a blog post all year. So I thought I'd write about what I've been up to. Book Coaching and Editing In the last ten months, I've worked on five novels—offering coaching feedback and editing. It's been a rich, busy time, full of amazing characters and worlds. Writing … Continue reading An Update on All Things Writing
As soon as you sit down to market your work, you need to know what it is that you've written. You may have some idea from comparing your work to other people, but it helps to know what you've written from your writing itself, as just "having romance" in your story doesn't make it a … Continue reading Commercial Fiction vs. Literary Fiction—Which Do You Write and How to Tell the Difference?
Nowadays, you can go from "I've got a great idea" to "PUBLISHED" without involving anyone besides yourself. You can do your own editing and proofreading, formatting, cover design, and blurb writing (I'm not saying you should, but it can be done). Now, we've talked about the need for good cover design, and we discussed what … Continue reading Why Your Book Needs Beta Readers
As writers, we're told that we should "Show, Not Tell" all the time, and it's advice that is usually quite helpful. When possible, we need to let a scene unfold before the readers, to where they get to see what happens and to experience the details just as the characters do. But there are times … Continue reading When Just Showing Isn’t Enough
Sometimes when we write, our main characters aren't all that unfamiliar. They may not be "us" exactly, but they might be fictional versions of ourselves—the people we'd like to be, sharing part of our own psychological makeup. This one might have our sense of adventure, that one our fondness for cooking, while another has our … Continue reading Unpacking Characters That Aren’t Like You
I’ve been sharing the blurb coaching series from A Writer’s Path Writers Club, and this is the next in the series. To learn more about how your blurb can be coached, click here. Enjoy! Genre: Historical Fantasy Title: The Rock of Achill Original Blurb: An Irish tale you’ve never been told. A boy joins a … Continue reading Blurb Coaching – The Rock of Achill
