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
writing
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: 5 Tips for Nailing the First Draft
The big moment has finally arrived. You've thought about characters,setting, story structure, and theme. You've created an outline or storyboard or list of scenes. You may even have had moments of panic, asking yourself, can I really do this? (Yes, you can!). Now it's time to tackle the first draft of your novel. And, might … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: 5 Tips for Nailing the First Draft
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
Novel Writing 101: Outlines – Pulling It all Together
We're in the home stretch of pre-planning, dear writers and readers! In our series so far, we've looked at characters and character arcs, loglines, setting, plot structure, and theme. Hopefully you've got lots of notes, full of little gems of insight into different facets of your story. Now what? How do we pull it all … Continue reading Novel Writing 101: Outlines – Pulling It all Together
Writing Breaks: Finding Rest and Inspiration
Hello, dear readers and fellow writers! Today I'm taking a break from our series on Novel Writing 101, because I can't resist the chance to share with you about my recent trip to Ireland. But to keep things writing-related, here's our angle--taking guilt-free writing breaks. Have you ever reached that place in your work where … Continue reading Writing Breaks: Finding Rest and Inspiration
Kellie Michelle Parker 