Writing
Writer Unboxed
I love being a writer. I’ve been doing it for so long, in one capacity or another, that I can’t imagine not being able to play with words. Spending hours alone at the keyboard making stuff up (as my son puts it) is satisfying, but there are days when it can be a tiny bit…
Read MoreRevising
Many of my writer friends appear to be in the middle of revising their manuscripts. I can tell because they are making the noises I hear when I hurry past the waxing section of the salon. To ease the sting, I thought I’d share how I revise these days. First, go read this. It is…
Read MoreSnark, Deleted
This was originally a snarky post to the driver who almost sent me into a ditch when I was out jogging this weekend, but cooler heads have prevailed. (Lady in the tan SUV, you can thank my husband. In the meantime, back away from the accelerator!) While I calm down, I’m sending you over to…
Read MoreStaring at the Sun
A writing board I am on is asking tough questions these days. Questions like ‘Why do you write?’ and ‘Will you stop writing if you don’t get published?’ (Usually the questions are more like ‘Does anybody want to meet for drinks on Friday?’ and ‘Who is hotter, James McAvoy or Daniel Craig?”) A few of…
Read MoreBanishing Writer's Block
Back when I started writing Evenfall, I had very little time for writer’s block. I had one, then two, small children, a barn full of horses to keep fed and cleaned, and a very busy freelance job. Writing fiction was a break, a moment stolen from other responsibilities. It was fun. Today, the horses are…
Read MorePin This!
I am a late comer to the social media bandwagon. I just joined Facebook a few months ago; I’m not on Twitter. But I have to admit — I’m pinning like crazy. Remember the collages you made as a kid, where you ripped all the things you liked out of a magazine and glued them…
Read MoreOnce More With Feeling
I hate revising. I put it off by doing everything else possible – I clean the bathrooms, fold laundry, ask for more freelance work, write my blog posts in advance. The cleanliness of my house is inversely proportional to how much I need to revise, and man, is my house clean right now. My office…
Read MoreGuest Post! Creating Characters That Grow
For me, one of the most interesting and challenging parts of writing character-driven books is making sure my protagonists stretch and change in a believable way. Frodo from The Lord of the Rings series is my shining example of this: He starts off the series as a happy-go-lucky little hobbit with good intentions, and ends…
Read MoreSoft Eyes
The very last horse I ever owned was a beautiful, giant chestnut who had spent too much time in the show ring. We worked out a very good deal: I agreed not to show very much, and to spend the majority of our time together outside in the fresh air. He agreed not to try…
Read MoreThree Random and Unrelated Things
1) Moo and Writer Unboxed are running a contest in which five people will be given a free pack of mini-moo business cards, and everyone who enters will get 25 percent off their order. (I love my moo cards.) Even if you have no plans to enter, go and read the entries — they are…
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