Friday, November 1, 2013

Cyber Inspiration--Great Author Websites and Bios to Kick Yours into High Gear

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Nicki, a blog reader from South Carolina, is putting together a website for her book.  She wondered about great author websites or tips...
Friday, October 25, 2013

Who's on First? Power in Characters and Power in Locations--How Good Pairings Raise Tension in Your Novel or Memoir

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    A writing rule I wish I knew when I started out:  to create tension in your scenes, two or more elements of power must be combine...
Friday, October 18, 2013

Writing Emotions into Your Book: How Being a Good Observer Brings Your Characters--Real or Imagined--Alive

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Emotions reveal us, but we don't often reveal our emotions.  Players on your page are the same.  They show us who they are via move...
Friday, October 11, 2013

Dialogue Do's and Don'ts: Crafting Lively and Believable Back-and-Forth on the Pages of Your Book

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Writing dialogue should be easy, right?  Most of us talk.  We text, we email, we use words in conversation all the time.  We listen (some...
Friday, October 4, 2013

If You Want to Quit Your Day Job and Be a Full-Time Writer . . . Is It Possible?

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In 2004, I decided to leave my full-time editing job at a small publishing company in the Midwest, move to New England and go back to sc...
Friday, September 27, 2013

Never Give Up! A Winner Tells You Why: A Guest Post by Memoirist Elizabeth diGrazia

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Elizabeth diGrazia joined me last week on Madeline Island, where she worked on her storyboard for her memoir-in-progress--the same memoi...
Friday, September 20, 2013

Some Notes from Bestselling Author Cheryl Strayed about Writing Wild

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Bestsellers make me curious.  Sometimes they are worth attention, sometimes they are all hype and bad taste--a great example of the latte...
Friday, September 13, 2013

Writing Hopeful, Inspirational Books--The Story behind Nancy McMillan's March Farm

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March Farm in Fall Nancy McMillan had already fallen in love with the beautiful March Farm in Bethlehem, Connecticut, by the time sh...
Friday, September 6, 2013

I Did Everything Wrong at First--An Interview with Award-Winning Novelist Lynne Spreen

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After a lifetime as a corporate suit, putting all her creativity into keeping employees from fighting with each other, Lynne Spreen, ...
Friday, August 30, 2013

Writing Strong Suspense: The Difference between Speed and Tension in Story

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An Interview with Mystery Writer Hallie Ephron The Boston Globe calls her novels "gripping" because of her real and nuance...