Opening Old Boxes
The end of year always puts me in the mood to clean. A new year might be an arbitrary marker of time passing, but finishing up a calendar fills me with the desire to say good-bye to some things, to…
Category: Writing Advice
Final Draft(s): Preparing Your Novel for Its Open House
How do you know when your novel is finished and ready to ship off to agent-land? Planning for this big move has similarities to selling a house or apartment you’ve lovingly furnished and decorated and made your own over the…
To A Troubled Writer on Thanksgiving
I’m going to keep this short so you can get back to your turkey, your pumpkin pie, your pinot noir, your attempts to ignore your racist uncle, back to the bathroom where you hide to regain your composure and your…
Friday Feast: Character Questions, Genre Questions, Fantasy Reading League, and Scrivener Plotting
Less than one week until Thanksgiving. This is my favorite holiday because it revolves around food and reading. Someone else makes the food (thank goodness, because I can’t cook), and other people have written the books (thank goodness, because I’m sick of reading…
When Social Media Lead to Real Life Engagement
By Guest Contributor Anjali Mitter Duva In September 2015, I finally had the experience most authors dread. I was surprised that it took a full year post-launch, and to be honest I’d been hoping it would come earlier so I…
The Trouble with Endings
By Guest Contributor Kate Leary. In early September I finished the first draft of the novel I’ve been working on for a year. My kids were spending the week with their grandparents in Albany and my husband was backpacking with…