Hi all! Announcing my newest short story: The Ark of Manhattan. Check out the summary: Nobody’s jealous of David’s life. He’s worked the same dead-end job for years, riding the same grimy subway to the same shoe box they call an apartment, just to listen to his girlfriend yell at… Read More New Release! The Ark of Manhattan: A Short Story
by Richard Risemberg I recently saw an ad for the Freewrite, a “distraction-free” portable word processor–that is, one with no Internet capability. I immediately recognized it as something inspired by the old Alphasmart Neo, but hipsterized a bit with an e-ink screen and a bit morte of a Dieter Rams styling. I knew… Read More Managing Distractions as a Writer
by Doug Lewars A member of a writers’ group to which I belong woke up one morning with a fully formed story in her head. She had to do a bit of background checking to make sure some elements of the setting were accurate but the basic plot was all there. I’ve… Read More The Value of Dreams For a Writer
by ARHuelsenbeck I’ve heard that publishers contemplating buying a new author’s work want to know how big his/her email list is; in other words, how many regular subscribers will get a personal notification from the author about the upcoming publication? Clearly, a regular newsletter going out to your readers is an effective marketing… Read More Why Do Authors Need a Newsletter?
by Kathryn Craft When the moderator of a recent women’s fiction panel asked me if I expected to be friends with the protagonists in the women’s fiction I read, I had the oddest reaction: my mind went blank. Madly scanning my mental spreadsheet of great fiction in an effort to be truthful, in… Read More Are Likable Characters Important in Women’s Fiction?
by Kelsie Engen All too often, I find myself lost in my writing. No, I don’t mean I find it to be an escape from real life, although it is that, too. No, I mean that I find myself lost in the plot or lost in the characters or lost in the details,… Read More How to Find Your Novel’s Path
From Blanche Dubois to Ebenezer Scrooge, literature has never failed to produce characters that resonate with millions of readers from across the globe. But where did they come from?… Read More Creating that “Killer” Character
by Jennifer Kelland Perry Two weeks ago today, I had a fabulous evening. Late on that Friday afternoon, I typed the last word of the last sentence of the last chapter of my Work In Progress. It felt wonderful! What a sense of satisfaction filled me as I raised my glass of Cabernet and… Read More Completing My First Draft: Three Things I’ve Learned
