It’s been a while since I’ve given you an update on my writing progress. You might hear how many words I’ve written in a month, but that doesn’t exactly tell you what I was writing or how my stories are coming. Yearly Goal: My goal this year has been to write 20k words a month. […]
How Do I Outline?
If you have been reading my posts for a while you might wonder if this is going to be a very short post. I’m a pantser. I rarely know where my stories are going when I start them. So, if I write “by the seat of my pants” how in the world do I outline? […]
Writing Advice – Descriptions
I’ve had many people over the years ask how I manage to make them feel hot or cold or hungry, or whatever the characters are feeling when they read my stories. I’ve had people ask for help on learning to write good descriptions that don’t leave the reader yawning or wondering what on earth the […]
Change it Up!
Have you ever heard those words shouted at a hockey game? Have you watched some players suddenly leave the ice and take a seat on the bench while others vault over the sides to join the game? I’ve only seen it happen in movies because where I live, well, we don’t have any hockey teams. […]
The Journey of a Story – Part 6
To the Bookshelves This is the final stop on our story’s journey. I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip and learned some things. Once I made those final corrections from the proof copy, I created my kindle book for Jim Wood. I don’t like creating the kindle book before I’ve made the final corrections or I […]
The Journey of a Story – Part 5
Final Checks The proof copy is in my hands! It’s always an exciting moment when I get to actually hold my story in book form even if it is a proof copy. But now what? After I’ve admired it and and commented on it and found some things to fix (the synopsis was way too […]
The Journey of a Story – Part 4
Formatting/Cover/Proof My story is written, it’s been edited to a certain extent, now what? Now I get the fun part. I mean I love writing and seeing the story come together and finding out what happens to my characters, but I also enjoy formatting, designing the cover, putting it all together and getting my proof […]
The Journey of a Story – Part 3
Editing How do I get my stories edited? And how did Jim Wood get edited? I have found that my editing is a bit different than many other writers. But it works really well for me. Yes, I’ve read the books that say:“Never go back and edit as you write.”“Write the entire story first and […]
The Journey of a Story – Part 2
Starting to Write Planner or Pantser? As I shared in the last post, ideas for stories come from everywhere. But Jim Wood began because I just started writing. Did I have any idea where the story was going? No. Did I know who my main characters were going to be? I knew Jim Wood. That […]
The Journey of a Story – Part 1
Ideas Several people have asked me to share how my books are created from start to finish. Several years ago I did a blog series about it, but things have changed over time, so I thought you all might enjoy it whether you are a writer or not. Let’s begin at the beginning because I’ve […]