While going back and forth between revising an old novel and writing a new one, I noticed a few things about my writing that really made me cringe. I find that more than a few mistakes I thought I had taken care of have slowly crept back into my writing. So I thought that by […]
When do you just say “no” to your story?
Sometimes I might start a post by asking a question and then giving my answer to that question. This is not one of those posts. This time, I’m asking a question, but have no concrete answer. I’m really wondering how to know when a story is no good. And by no good, I don’t mean […]
How I revise and what I still have left to do.
Editing sucks. Revising an novel is worse than hell. And I hate it. And I hate you. And I hate life. Those are just a few of the things you might hear writers say when they are experiencing those clean-up blues. But here’s a dirty little secret: It’s really not as bad as people make it […]
Five Links Friday 7/29/16
And it’s the end of the pretty productive week for me in the writing world. Hope yours was good too. Let’s get on to 5 Links Friday! 1. Here’s an older post from Writer’s Digest, but one that can be useful to all of us, Allen Eskens with 3 Tips For a Better First Revision. […]
The Hidden Benefit of Writing a Synopsis
It goes something like this: Writing is fun. Reading (your own work) is tolerable. Revising is hell. Writing a synopsis is self-inflicted torture. I think that pretty much sums up my experiences in the novel-writing process. Way back when, when I was querying Holy Fudgesicles, I have to admit that I hated writing a synopsis […]
Five Links Friday 3/11/16
Yikes. It’s already Friday and as you can tell, I took a week off from the blog. But that’s okay; we all need to take a little break sometimes. Anyhow, I’m back now with five articles for you to read over the weekend. 1. From Victoria Griffin’s blog, here are 5 Stages of Revision: A […]
Five Links Friday 9/25/15
It’s time again for Five Links Friday. Give ’em a look, and enjoy your weekend. 1. Let’s start with a post about your writer platform from Chuck Sambuchino at First Novels Club. This is especially interesting to me, since a good chunk of my “writing” time is devoted to this: Building Your Writer Platform—How Much […]
Five Links Friday 8/21/15
We’re back again for another Five Links Friday! Give ’em a read. 1. Janice Hardy’s Fiction University has a post by Deanna Raybourn looking at The Writing Process: Your Mileage May Vary (Or Why Breaking the Rules is Okay). 2. P.H. Solomon’s Archer’s Aim blog has some advice on finding–and fixing–what’s missing from your novel. Check […]