My agent nixed the novel I finished drafting earlier this year, and it’s taken me a couple of months to…
Here is yesterday’s fabulous post from io9.com: The 22 rules of storytelling, according to Pixar, written by storyboard artist Emma…
When lots of characters are introduced at the start of a novel, I can’t keep them straight. No matter how…
It’s kill my darlings time. Major revisions a-comin’. Seasoned writers talk easily about it—the need to delete descriptions, characters and…
A few weeks ago I finished the first draft of a novel for 4th-5th grade readers, and set it aside…
In the Jan/Feb 2012 issue of Poets & Writers magazine, John Stazinski (page 29) bemoans the tendency of MFA programs…
A while back, fellow VCFA alum Lindsey Lane asked if I had a favorite quote about writing—and I did—and in…
The blank page glares at me. Stark. Judging. Waiting for brilliance, not blather. The pressure is almost unbearable. First there…
A little love came my way recently. Richmonder Marci Rich, who writes The Midlife Second Wife, nominated my blog for…
At the mid-Atlantic SCBWI conference last month, keynoter Han Nolan said, “When a story scares me so much that I…