In this post by author Kathy Steffen, she talks about “giving your characters accountability.” I thought that was an odd…
How’s this for serendipity? When I met conference keynoter Padma Venkatraman at the James River Writers conference in October 2016,…
This month I attended two writers’ conferences—James River Writers and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Mid-Atlantic Regional—and…
One day when I was about eight years old and a friend’s mom was driving the carpool, she drove off…
What’s an author to do when her latest revision is out with beta readers? I’ve cleaned out a filing cabinet,…
Last month I posted about endings, then tried my own suggestion: I wrote a possible final chapter. Once I had…
Once when I was young and read a novel with a fabulous twist at the end (I’ve forgotten the book,…
This week’s Writing Show, “Editing for Emotional Impact,” presented by James River Writers, was like a cornucopia of craft tips,…
This month, I caught up with Ruta Sepetys, recently home from a two-month book tour for her latest…
People often ask writers: where do you get the ideas for your stories? And I say: ideas. Blah. So overrated.…