writing

On Writing: Layered Characters

October 6, 2016

I thought I’d talk a little bit about revealing character versus having a character growth arc. I think, especially for middle grade and YA books, characters aren’t going to always have a huge growth arc because in childhood we’re always growing to new awareness, new life lessons, mastering new skills. In general, kids are more […]

Read the full article →

On Writing: Evoking the Right Emotion

October 4, 2016

One of the first decisions to make about a book, when the very first sliver of an idea begins to form is: What emotional reaction do I want my reader to walk away with? For me, this is one of the most important questions I grapple with when trying to decide what I want the […]

Read the full article →

On Writing: Recognizing The One

September 30, 2016

Most writers I know have so many different ideas rolling around in their heads, begging to be written. One of the hardest things for me has been learning  how one knows if a manuscript is The One, worthy of a lasting relationship and my full commitment. One of the simplest and most reliable ways to […]

Read the full article →

Baby Steps

September 29, 2016

As I continue to pick up the threads of my former life, I am trying to find a way to begin weaving them into some sort of semblance of order or organization. Or hell, I’d even settle for a sense of forward momentum at this point. On that front, I am making some progress. As […]

Read the full article →

Surviving Nearly There

May 16, 2014

(I’m mirroring last Friday’s post from Writer Unboxed over here because WU has been intermittently down since then. Huge apologies for those of you who’ve been trying to find it!) One of the hardest stages of your writing journey—one that will take the most dedication, commitment, and self exploration—is the ‘nearly there’ stage. This is […]

Read the full article →

On Rivers and Jackhammers

June 24, 2013

I have spent the last two weeks essentially taking a jackhammer to the 1st and 2nd acts of Book Three, trying to not only delete the words I’ve already written, but to erase the wagon ruts those words have created in my mind so I can envision new ones. Which is why, for me, it […]

Read the full article →

Finding Our Writerly DNA

June 14, 2013

I’m blogging over on Writer Unboxed today and talking about the benefits of identifying our writerly DNA.   When I deeply love a book as an adult it’s usually because it has managed to rock my world in such a way that I know  it has permanently changed how I look at and approach the […]

Read the full article →

On Mash Ups, High Concepts, and Writing to the Trends

October 24, 2012

A Google Alert landed in my inbox the other day, pointing me to a blog that was talking about GRAVE MERCY in conjunction with a recent Publisher’s Weekly article that had mentioned it (which I had totally missed, so YAY!) The PW article was about current trends and the increasing number of mash ups being […]

Read the full article →

Weaknesses: Our Hidden Strengths

September 27, 2012

Over on Writer Unboxed I was talking about how our weaknesses can often be our hidden strengths. And this doesn’t only apply to writing. It’s one of the first rules of characterization we writers learn—give our protagonists a fatal flaw. Even better? Use that fatal flaw to bring about the character’s ultimate triumph. It is […]

Read the full article →

Monthly Columns

September 10, 2012

It occurred to me that I haven’t mentioned here that I blog once a month over on Writer Unboxed. My last post talked about how finding our writing voice brings us closer to finding our personal power: Find Your Voice–Find Your Power “The act of writing is an act of courage, not because of all […]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →