Hello, friends! I'm so excited to be able to share with you something that's been in the works in my household for the past several months--my husband (also a writer) and I have decided to launch our own publishing imprint, Goldenwood Press, LLC. Today I want to walk you through the whys and hows of … Continue reading The Three W’s of Creating Your Own Publishing Imprint
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Author Platforms, Pen Names, and Writing in Multiple Genres
As many of you might know about me, I not only love reading many different kinds of stories, I enjoy writing in more than one genre too. But this kind of variety (indecision?) can be a double-edged sword--while fun, it makes selling and marketing your books a lot more tricky. The tried and true plan … Continue reading Author Platforms, Pen Names, and Writing in Multiple Genres
A Crash Course on Wooden Sailing Ships for Writers
Hello, friends! I'm so excited about today's topic, because it means I get to dust off my very dusty nautical archaeology degree to talk about the basics of wooden sailing ships. Why might this be of interest to you? Well, if you're a writer, and your character is ever going to set foot on a … Continue reading A Crash Course on Wooden Sailing Ships for Writers
You Can Break the Rules If You’re Victor Hugo
Hello, friends! Some of you might recall that I read The Brothers Karamazov last year with a book club (homeschool moms are way too ambitious, sometimes). This year we've decided to up the ante--apparently 800 pages wasn't long enough---so now we're reading Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, which checks in at a whopping 1460 pages for the … Continue reading You Can Break the Rules If You’re Victor Hugo
5 Writing Goals You Should Seriously Consider for the New Year
Let's talk about writing, and specifically how you can improve your writing life this coming year.
Prologue Pros and Cons: A Guest Post by Meghan Tomlinson
Merry Christmas, dear readers and writers! It's hard to believe, but we're almost to 2018. For my last post of 2017, I'm delighted to share with you a guest post written by Meghan Tomlinson, a fellow writer I met on Twitter earlier this year. Meghan writes NA Fantasy and will hopefully be sending her debut … Continue reading Prologue Pros and Cons: A Guest Post by Meghan Tomlinson
An Interview with Indie Author Allison Maruska
Hello, friends! I'm so excited today to share my recent interview with successful indie author Allison Maruska. Allison writes YA urban fantasy and adult mystery/ suspense stories. Her debut novel, The Fourth Descendent, has been on Amazon bestseller lists since shortly after its release in February of 2015. Since then she has released a YA … Continue reading An Interview with Indie Author Allison Maruska
Novel Writing 101: The Finish Line – Now What?
We've come a long way together, friends! Today is our last post for Novel Writing 101, my blog series on how to pre-plan and write the first draft of your novel. If you're anything like me, you're probably not actually done your first draft yet (or, ahem, even close...), but I wanted to wrap up … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: The Finish Line – Now What?
Novel Writing 101: Keeping it Real – Writing When It’s Hard
There's an old adage we writers love to toss around--"You can't edit a blank page." The idea, of course, is that if you want to have something to shape into a book, you have to sit down and write it first. Last week we talked about 5 tips for getting that first draft written; today … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: Keeping it Real – Writing When It’s Hard
Novel Writing 101: Building a Story with Scenes
Today's post, as promised, will look at how we can come up with scene ideas to fill in the gaps in our novel outlines. But first, a quick review... What, exactly, is a scene? Simply put, scenes are the building blocks that make up a story. They may contain dialogue, action sequences, narrative, exposition, or … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: Building a Story with Scenes