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The RIGHT Kind of Conflict–from James Frey

By on Thursday, Jun 28, 2012 | 0 comments

I'm on vacation reading James Frey's How to Write a Damn Good Novel as I stare at the Atlantic Ocean. Life is always better when you can stare at an ocean all day!Conflict, conflict, conflict. That's the ticket to success. We need it in every scene, the kind that impedes our character's goals.Frey talks about [...]

Pearls from Cathy Maxwell

By on Thursday, May 17, 2012 | 0 comments

Avon Historical and New York Times Bestselling author Cathy Maxwell stopped at the Parma Snow branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library the other night for a chat. She's been writing for over twenty years and has a new release just out, Lyon's Bride (see gorgeous cover below).The beauty of hearing an expert speak is that it [...]

Jennifer Probst: Success is Not an Accident

By on Monday, Apr 23, 2012 | 0 comments

I read on the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood blog last week that author Jennifer Probst became the first author for Entangled Publishing to hit the NYT Bestseller List with her book The Marriage Bargain (see post here).That pretty much made me download it instantly. I found it to be sparkly, tightly written, and a don't-you-dare-put-me-down kind of [...]

Good News–Contest Finals

By on Monday, Apr 2, 2012 | 0 comments

My manuscript The Spy Who Loved Me finaled in the San Antonio Romance Author's Merritt Contest and the Connecticut Romance Writers' The Write Stuff Contest.  Nice to have good news!River Thames at Night, FreeFoto.com (http://www.freefoto.com/images/31/26/31_26_14_prev.jpg)

An Entry That Sparkles

By on Wednesday, Mar 28, 2012 | 0 comments

Recently, I've judged a few contests and I've finaled in a few.  And I have until Sunday to revise an entry any way I want before I turn it in again for the final judging.All this leads me to think and think hard--what exactly makes a great entry?As I ran down the list of this [...]

Finalist Chicago Fire and Ice!

By on Monday, Feb 27, 2012 | 4 comments

I just found out my early Victorian romance The Spy Who Loved Me is a finalist in the Historical category of the Chicago North Fire and Ice Contest.  Yippee!!Fortitude.  Resilience.  Rebirth.                  Oh, and this picture is from my garden.  There is something alive under there after all!!

Writing Inspiration for the Day

By on Thursday, Feb 9, 2012 | 0 comments

You didn't really want to hear me talk about the trials and travails of teaching my first online workshop, did you? This is more fun!

A Writer and His Editor: Fitzgerald and Perkins

By on Friday, Jan 20, 2012 | 0 comments

Yes, I am actually going to write about F. Scott Fitzgerald and his editor, Maxwell Perkins! (No, this is not a topic related to Regency or Victorian England!) But I came across this remarkable book that illustrates this amazing relationship.  The letters exchanged between the two show so clearly the universal dreams and aspirations, doubts, [...]

Write and Live in 2012

By on Tuesday, Jan 3, 2012 | 2 comments

As we welcome the new year and set our writing goals, I'd like to share something I heard yesterday on NPR that stayed with me on a very gutteral level.As writers, we (well, okay, I) tend to define success based on outcome--did we publish?  This amazing story I heard on NPR yesterday helped me to [...]

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