What Do You Hope to Do This Year?

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?

5 Things Your Readers Need From You

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

An Update on All Things Writing

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

Commercial Fiction vs. Literary Fiction—Which Do You Write and How to Tell the Difference?

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?

Why Your Book Needs Beta Readers

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

Blurb Coaching – The Rock of Achill

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

Review – Cashmere Writing Gloves

I recently had the opportunity to review the cashmere writing gloves from Literary Book Gifts. With winter approaching, the idea of being able to keep warm while typing sounded ideal, especially for those of us who live in chilly climates, and Literary Book Gifts offers fingerless gloves in cashmere, which sounded like a great fabric. … Continue reading Review – Cashmere Writing Gloves

Book Review – A Foot Wide on the Edge of Nowhere

Title: A Foot Wide on the Edge of Nowhere: Olive and Theo Simpkin—Sharing Good New in China Author: Helen Joynt Genre: Nonfiction Book Blurb (from Goodreads): Theo Simpkin is a young science student at the University of Melbourne when he senses God's call to share the good news with the people of China. Meanwhile Olive … Continue reading Book Review – A Foot Wide on the Edge of Nowhere

The Power in Our Words

This is part of the Insecure Writer's Support Group blog-hop, designed to help encourage authors and foster discussions about writing topics across the internet and the world. This month's question is, "What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?" This is something I constantly have to watch out for, as an … Continue reading The Power in Our Words

Book Review – Deception of the Damned

Title: Deception of the Damned Author: P. C. Darkcliff Genre: Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Dark Fairy Tale Retelling Blurb: Sleeping Beauty meets Faust in this spellbinding ride through time and magic realms. An absent-minded dreamer, Hrot feels miserable in his primitive times—so he sells his soul in exchange for a decade in Renaissance Prague. There he … Continue reading Book Review – Deception of the Damned