Have you ever been afflicted with the dreaded DWTW syndrome? It seems to come from nowhere and hits you quite suddenly leaving you feeling drained, sluggish, and devoid of all creative thoughts. You have stories calling you and yet even when you sit down to attempt to write, the DWTW seems to paralyze your fingers, […]
The Purpose of Reviews – Part 2
Last week we talked about the purpose of reviews for the reader. Today we’ll focus on the purpose of reviews for an author. And then we will wrap up with some other thoughts about reviews. First, let’s remember what a review is. A review, of either a book, product, movie, or whatever, is a critical […]
The Purpose of Reviews – Part 1
I’ve heard a lot about reviews and their importance. Some things I’ve heard are true and others are false assumptions. Let’s take a look at reviews and see what they are for and what they are not for. First, let’s define Review. In Dictionary.com it is defined as:A critical article or report, as in a […]
5 Things I Learned from Writing Book Series
If you are planning or thinking about writing a book series, I want to spare you from the difficulties I have come across, and help you better prepare for your journey. 1. Always write down any character names. You don’t know when you’ll need them again. (And I mean any names.) 2. If your series […]
Writing Christian Stories without Preaching
I was asked some great questions a few months ago and thought I’d share my answers as a blog post. How can you write a Christian book without preaching? One piece of advice I would give is to add Christ to your story. Are your characters Christians? Then have them grow, and live like ones. […]
Forgotten Site to the Rescue!
I was a new blogger on WordPress. I didn’t know much about the site, but I had moved over from Blogger because it would make things easier for sharing my books and such. (It also gave me assurance that my site wouldn’t be deleted without warning.) In the first months I was doing all right. […]
3 Things Every Story Needs
If you have ever written a story you might know these, but how important do you think they really are? No matter what story you are writing, no matter how long or short it is, there are three key parts to a story. If you are missing one of them your story will be lacking […]
6 Research Tips
I’ve had many people ask me how I do my research and what I use. Here are 6 (+1 bonus) things that I’ve found very helpful when I’m writing historical fiction. Biographies – Not everyone enjoys biographies, but a good one about someone who lived during the time you want to write about can really […]
WriteMind Planner–Part 2
There’s a lot to be said about these planners! Not only are they great for writers (check out last week’s post), but I love using mine for other things. It’s just nice to have everything in one place. It’s not quite my “brain” but it comes close. Ready? Don’t you just love that colorful pocket? […]
WriteMind Planner–Part 1
I didn’t think I’d use it. I wasn’t a planner. But it looked so fun. Perhaps, well, just maybe I would use it – some. Yes, those were my thoughts about the WriteMind Planner when Perry first introduced us to her new writer’s notebook. It took a while before I decided to get one for […]