I was on my third novel when I realized that I had something. The setting was vivid. The characters wouldn’t stop talking. My writing group had great feedback… and then the suggestions started coming. Open later. More cave scene.Dead body in scene one.More police procedural.Less cave scene. (Sigh.) So I went back and tried to address […]
Last month I touched on the importance of identifying your ideal reader for your work in progress. The simple truth is that not every reader will want to read your book… and that’s exactly how it should be. The readers most likely to pick up your novel are the ones who already love books like
One of the best things a writer can do for their story is to take a step back and think about where their book will land in the marketplace. Yes, even before you’ve written the first draft. And especially before you head into revision. For a long time, I would’ve said my ideal writer looks
Two weeks ago, I learned just how fast life can flip with a phone call. An hour later, I collapsed into a chair next to my husband in the ER, fielding text messages and typing test results into my phone’s Notes app, all while trying to remember how to breathe. (I also discovered that I’m
‘Tis the season of haunted houses! My husband and I went to one last weekend, hosted by a local brewery. Picture it: an outdoor maze winding along the bank of a salt marsh beneath the bright moon, smoke in the air, flashing lights, and people lurking behind dark windows and cracked coffins, waiting to grab
