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You know I have a GMC spreadsheet.  Fine, here it is.  (Usual rules apply.  Use it all you want, but don’t share it.  Just link back here.  Thanks!) Okay, so I talked a couple of weeks ago about walking away from the keyboard, listening to music and driving along, and my story becoming.  No other way to describe it.  My characters started talking to me, and everything became clear.  The ending.  The GMC of EVERYONE.  Who the real antagonists were.  Who these people were.  Idiosyncracies, jobs, inside jokes.  All there. Still, I’d fallen into a rut.  I couldn’t write.  So, I made my writing areaRead More →

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I received this book from a wonderfully sweet friend, so I’m just getting started.  I’ve had it on my wishlist for a long time, because I think that it’s important to be masters of body language.  I guess this comes easily to some. I am not one of those people. For one thing, it’ll keep your character from nodding 180 times in 400 pages, just to have some sort of action.  If you can call nodding action; that’s debatable, I think. I’ll be glad to add a review when I finish, but for now:Read More →

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Bitch, Ok!  Just Say No. In my last writing post, I listed five ideas to write without sitting down and staring at that damned blinking cursor that smirks quietly at you from the top of the page.  However, those suggestions assumed you had extra time and / or money.  So the last five will focus on what you can do with a crazy life and making an average writer’s wage. (I also explained how I bastardized BICHOK into… Bitch, OK. I’m not proud of it.) Five More Ways Take a notebook and write a scene.  I don’t care about details or where they are or whoRead More →

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No Bitch, Ok! For Me. There’s a great story behind why I made this list. Also, the whole Bitch, Ok! thing will make more sense. You can read it by expanding the section below or just go straight to the list. [dropdown_box expand_text=”The Story” show_more=”Read” show_less=”Lose” start=”hide”]I got a new car.  It has an MP3 player.  I missed that.  275 songs.  1 disc.  I heart you, technology. So, last week, for the first time (for some crazy reason) I was actually alone.  For several hours.  In my car.  With the Mp3s.  And the characters in my head.  In my imagination.  Except it’s not really quite your imaginationRead More →

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I’m trying to come up with a post for today’s writing category, at the last minute, and I’m coming up blank here. I’ve had a birthday for a four-year-old, I bought a new car, and entered into a custody dispute. And that was just yesterday. So what do I have for you about writing? I’ll go with metaphors for $500, Alex. I’m going to stick a more tag here because, if I ever were to sell this unwritten piece, it would be a spoiler.  But considering how long it takes me to write a novel, and how long it would take to sell, and thenRead More →

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I decided to take my idea and run with it.  It ended up being more than a sentence.  But definitely no more than blurbs.  I’m too close to it right now to see if there’s anything useful there, but I promised to share, so here it is.Read More →

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I’ve been reading that your website (as an author) should be geared toward your reader.  I don’t have readers, I am unpublished.  When (if) I do, believe me, there will be a front page with a ginormous pic of my cover.  But, getting far ahead of myself, I have nothing to offer a reader.  I’m figuring it out as I go, but I can’t imagine a way to make this site for readers. I had two reasons for creating this site.  One was to document my journey in becoming a writer.  It’s my passion, writing, and I love talking (or writing) about it.  I realizeRead More →

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I am going to share with you my greatest writing tool, the thing that keeps me sane in the crazy made-up world in my head.  Behold, the Scene Tracker.  (Please note: This is an excel file.  It was virus free when it left my computer, but because I don’t want any mean emails, etc., you are downloading at your own risk, I make no guarantees as to how it will affect your computer). Now that I’ve scared the crap out of you and you probably wouldn’t download it if I paid you, we’ll discuss it’s merits.  Here is an actual image of mine from myRead More →

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Libba Bray, who has the coolest writing name ever, this amusing, and too true for comfort comparison to writing and falling in love. Thanks for meeting me here. Look, I’m just gonna come out with it. This–you, me–it’s not working. I’m sorry. It’s not you, it’s…actually it’s you. You’re stupid. And I sort of hate you. But, you know, thanks for the great line on p. 400. This?  This is me.  Right now.Read More →

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I thought that, just to do something different, keep things fun!, I’d write about something that I actually can do, rather than whining about what I can’t.  I know, crazy ideas, I’m full of them. I believe that as writers, even when we start writing the first words, the conception of our writing career, we all have pieces of craft that come naturally to us.  Maybe, for someone witty, it’s dialogue.  For the anal person, it may be structure or outlining.  For the introspective, perhaps it’s dishing out emotional punch.  Either way, our personalities and experiences come with us to the computer, and one orRead More →