November should be “Missing Writers Month”
November. Where are all your writer friends? They’ve all suddenly gone stealth, AWOL, quiet. Why? Answer: http://nanowrimo.org/ My word count, as of November 20th: 30,210. Or so. No time to blog. No time to clean my house. No time to make any more excuses. I’d better get back to that WIP. (When a NaNo comes along, you must […]
Ever Wanted to Co-Author a Story with Your Child? Tips on How!
As a mom of creative kids, I have often wanted to co-write stories with my kids. It’s fun, but sometimes the process can break down. Good news! My friend Amie Borst just released her debut novel, CINDERSKELLA, which she co-authored with her daughter Bethanie. Together they developed this fun, spooky plot, and the end result […]
The Worldwide Storytelling Contest, Part 1
This is part one of a two-part post about storytelling. Last month I had a really great opportunity to attend the Screenwriters World Conference West in L.A. in Century City. I cajoled my sister-in-law Julie into going with me at the last minute, and we polished our story pitches during the 9 hour drive through […]
Cutting A Scene. It’s Like Surgery. And Gardening.
So, I am working on a rewrite of my latest novel. I’m really excited about the concept, and I have a lot of fun scenes that I’ve already written and am trying to cobble together into a coherent tapestry of story. It’s going to be so fun! But in the meantime, I’m really struggling at […]
Organic vs. Organized
At the Screenwriters World Conference this past weekend I attended a class by the amazing Corey Mandell on the art of crafting a good script. He talked mostly about the importance of “integrated writing,” which is his way of saying (in novelists’ lingo) that it’s better to be a combo of a “pantser” and a […]
Lucky You Live Hawaii
Hi, Folks! Ready for a fun guest post by my good friend and fellow author Lehua Parker? Well, she’s got a new book out, ONE SHARK, NO SWIM. It’s a sequel to her completely fun ONE BOY, NO WATER, which I reviewed here when it came out last year. She’s on a roll. And lucky […]
The 5 Edits Every Novel Needs
I’m reading a novel for a friend. I’m just at the beginning of it right now, but I can tell the main character is going to be compelling. I’m only on page nine, and already I feel the girl’s aching and am anxious for her success and her opportunity to overcome adversity and find happiness. That’s a successful beginning. […]
Elsie Park Knows.
I have a guest today on this here blog. It’s my beautiful and brilliant friend Elsie Park. She is a wonderful mother, a super homemaker, and an all around neat person. I wish she’d move to town. That’d be so fun. Elsie has her debut novel, er, debuting right now. It’s called Shadows of Valor, […]
Can Cowboys Write? Can a Brit Shoot a Gun? Can a Cowboy Teach a Brit to Shoot?
Yesterday I got the mail and in it was a package of stuff from my mother dear. Stuffed in among some pictures from the summer (which were truly fun, and I’ll post some someday), was an article she cut out of the newspaper for me. STRANGELY, it was a review/announcement for the very book I […]
Super Daisy! Cover Reveal
Anybody wanna see the cover of Super Daisy!? Voila! Many thanks to my brother in law, Dave Gileadi, for lending his expertise in getting this together. He guided me through the ins and outs of Pixlr and has such a good eye for where things go artistically. Even though he never put his own hands […]
