“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” Maya Angelou “Don’t die with your music still inside. Listen to your intuitive inner voice and find what passion stirs your soul.” Wayne Dyer You’ve always wanted to write the “next best seller,” yet you haven’t completed one manuscript. I know, I know. …
Category: Author’s Craft
Nov 24
Vacation Suspense – Part 2
Television producers try to get you to come back for more by showing scenes from “the next exciting episode” of whatever program you’ve just watched. Writers have to do the same thing sentence to sentence, paragraph to paragraph, and chapter to chapter. Suspense is one of the tools of the author’s craft that helps pull …
Nov 18
Writing: Promises or Priorities?
They say timing is everything. I agree. So is letting go. That’s why I say to whomever “they” are that I’m extending my 10-hour book publishing challenge to December 18. Why? First of all, it’s my blog challenge and I set the rules. (And my blog editors said it was okay.) Second, I felt overwhelmed by …
Nov 16
It Couldn’t Be More Personal
During my childhood, my grandmother taught me little lessons. I learned how to fold and crease a sheet of paper over and over until it resembled the expanding membrane of an accordion but wasn’t constrained by the edges of a musical instrument. My creation could be waved in the air to blow away summer heat. …
Nov 06
More Than Black and White
“If you see the world in black and white, you’re missing important grey matter.” –Jack Fyock The most compelling stories involve characters who are flawed morally, physically, socially, or even mentally. For example in the novel, Deserves to Die by Lisa Jackson, a twice divorced, single pregnant detective must solve the murder of a woman …