Tag: featured
A Pantser’s Guide to Turning Rough to Ready in one Pass
I have tried, Lord have I tried, to plan out a novel before tackling the actual writing, but after nine novels, I think it’s safe to say, I’m a die-hard pantser. For those who don’t know, a pantser is an author who dives into drafting without a plan, flying by the seat of her pants. […]
Combining First Person Narration with Viewpoint Characters: Why? How? Where?
While once upon a time the use of the first person narrator in fiction was seen as “barbaric”, that time is long past. It is now a popular narrator voice, and it fits well with the feminist opposition to so called “objective” knowledge—something embodied in omniscient third person narrator. Moreover, we are all keenly […]
How a Writer Relaxes
Let’s face it. As writers, we spend hours hunched over our computers pecking at keyboards like a woodpecker on steroids. Hitting that delete button or trying to figure out the commas takes effort—and puts a ton of pressure on us. So not too long ago, I knew it was time to splurge on something that […]
Can We Have It All?
As I sit down to write this blog, I ask myself the two questions I often have to answer. The first, do I want to do it? The second, do I have time? The response I generally come to is this… If I want to do it, I’ll have to make time! Like so many […]
Nevertheless, She Persisted
My novel The Mermaids of Lake Michigan was published earlier this year, but I completed the first draft of it almost twenty years ago. When it was finished, I printed out sample chapters, typed up cover letters, and began querying literary agents via airmail. I still have some of their replies, typed up back then […]
My Writing Process (or Lack of One!)
I always feel a bit guilty when people ask me about my writing ‘process’. It’s the same when people ask me about Game of Thrones. Confession: I don’t really have one and I’ve never watched a single episode (sorry GOT fans!). Basically, I just sit down somewhere – anywhere – and write. I don’t even […]
Writing and NIA
I had not consciously connected Nia—a holistic movement practice—with my work as a novelist until Women Writers asked me how Nia inspires my writing. Once I really started thinking about it, I realized that I can credit my Nia practice with helping me both develop and take great joy in my writing. First off, what […]
How Working with a Critique Group can Improve your Manuscripts
I wrote my first four novels without any outside input up to the point when I sent the second draft to a small group of pre-readers, made more changes and then on to my editor. Then I moved home from London to the English south coast and started work on novel number five, which became […]
Five Things you Should Never Say to Authors
Since my debut YA novel came out I’ve learned a lot about publishing, marketing, and the importance of writing the next book. Another thing I’ve learned is that as an author there are certain statements and questions I hate getting. In general, I think people mean well or they just aren’t thinking at all, but […]
Should You Write What You Know?
I’ve never written about what I really know. As a journalist, I didn’t know what it was like to be held hostage, or to be homeless, but I wrote about those subjects anyway. I wrote of happier things too – a woman who gave birth to twins after seven rounds of IVF, a weird form […]
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