Author | Editor | Story Coach
November. National Novel Writing Month. It’s a brotherhood of insane writers, pounding out 1,700 words per day for thirty days. Since I’m rather unsure if I am meant to be a novelist, I may be a rebel again this year. In 2014 I wrote that path. It netted four short stories, one of which I …
Subbing in a high school language arts classroom recently, my thoughts turned toward symbolism in literature. And the fact that I don’t use it heavily in my own writing made me ponder a few things. For those of you whose stint with literature in high school isn’t as recent as mine, let me refresh your …
If you follow me on Facebook, you get a monthly update of my writing projects. If you don’t, you’re going to get one now. I’m an author so I write. I wish I could say that I only write things I LOVE and am jazzed to sit behind my laptop day-in and day-out pounding away …
Willamette Writer’s Conference and Oregon Christian Writer’s Conference are two local writer’s conferences. I attended Willamette Writers in 2014 and 2015. In 2015, I considered attending the OCW Conference instead, but I didn’t have much Christian nonfiction at the time, and that is what the majority of agents and editors were looking to buy. In …
Professionals attend conferences. One thing all conferences have in common is the availability of workshops so attendees can customize their experience. Writing workshops will help you improve your craft , making your writing more publishable. Conference workshops can also enlighten you on the use and availability of helpful tools of the trade. One of the …
One of the biggest reasons to attend a writing conference is to pitch your writing projects to prospective agents, editors or publishers. Pitching face-to-face makes even the most experienced author feel queasy. Check out my posts on crafting a winning pitch and my actual pitching experiences. One thing that I liked about OCW Conference was …
Professionals attend conferences. Since deciding to be a professional writer, I have attended three conferences in person and two online conferences. The new conference I’m attending this year offered some benefits the others didn’t. I’ve been eyeing the Oregon Christian Writers’ Conference for a couple years, but in the past it didn’t meet my needs. …
With the return of The Game of Thrones to HBO, people are into the groove of summer viewing. I’d rather be reading, and I know plenty of people who would rather READ George R. R. Martin’s next installment for this series. Still, the anticipation of the show reminded me that summer’s long days encourage reluctant …
If you’re like me (and a million other avid readers), you adore a well-written, engaging series. It means you’ll get to devour more books written about people who interest you written by an author you enjoy reading. For authors, writing a series holds the same sort of joy. And a few perils. The Seed of …
Authors take vacations, but sometimes they aren’t for avoiding the keyboard. This author travels occasionally with her engineer husband, and most of the time those are working vacations. What? It’s not vacation if you’re working. Maybe you’re right. Or not. The third definition for vacation at dictionary.com says: “freedom or release from duty, business, or activity.” In this case, I’m freed from …