When was the last time you stepped back and thought about what you need—truly need—to elevate your writing craft or boost the business side of your writing career? I lay out a 5-step plan for identifying your needs, then achieving them, on the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers blog here: “Map Out a Plan to Boost […]
A Day for Fools and Other Speakers of Truth
I don’t love pranks. I’ve never been a fan of April Fools’ Day, even as a little kid. Pranks always seem to me like they’re designed to pointlessly humiliate the other person so that everyone else can laugh at them. Life is hard enough without purposefully making it harder for someone else when they’ve done […]
Tasting Notes for Books
“We should rate books the way we rate wines,” an author friend of mine told me. She’s absolutely right. Books have flavors, after all, and essences. Some make you breathe deeply as you imagine a stroll through a rose garden in chapter 3, while others stink like skunk grass from page 1. Imagine you’re at […]
How Do Your Characters Handle Secrets? – on the RMFW blog
Your characters have secrets. How they keep them (or not), how they protect them, and how they are affected by them can be rich sources to mine for character development. Follow this link to see more, because that’s what I’m writing about on the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers blog this month: “Let’s Talk About Secrets.”
Why Interviewing Real People Can Enhance Your Fiction – On the RMFW Blog
Can your fiction benefit from the real-world experience of someone who’s experienced, learned, or is passionate about something in your scenes? If so, interviewing that someone can be the best thing you can do to elevate your story! On the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers blog, I talk about the reasons why interviewing an actual human […]
Finding Inspiration and Joy on a Girls’ Trip to Cabo
Two little words can carry a wealth of promise. A promise of adventure, magic, nourishment of the soul, and, you know, margaritas. What are these two mystical words? “Girls’ trip.” I recently spent almost a week in the beautiful Cabo San Lucas area of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula with two dear friends I’ve known for four […]
