It happened again. I looked out my office window this morning, and there was no sign of the turquoise waters of the Caribbean, palm trees swaying in a salt-tinged breeze, or seabirds swooping over frothy waves. Instead, I was greeted by my normal view of my Colorado neighbors’ houses, fresh snow dusting last week’s old […]
writer's life
From Freelance Knights to Freelance Writers
The word “freelance” was invented in the early 1800s to describe unaffiliated knights or soldiers from centuries earlier. Medieval mercenaries weren’t attached to any particular lord, king, or queen. With their lances, swords, and battle-axes in hand, they would sign on to fight for whomever had the coin to pay them, for however short a […]
Pitch Sessions for Writers – On the RMFW Blog
Looking for a great way to pitch your book one-on-one to agents and editors while nursing a panic attack? You’re in luck. This week, I wrote a guest blog for Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers (RMFW) about pitch sessions, which are 10-minute private chats with an agent or editor, often offered as part of writing conferences […]
12 Things Writers Should Never Tell Themselves
It’s still January. Yes, that longest of months (187 days, by my count) is still with us, dragging its heels through the snow like a remorseless kid being towed to the principal’s office. During January (and its partner in crime, February) it’s easy to give in to cold, dark days. Cold, dark thoughts. Cold, dark […]
Breaking Through the Gloom
Back in September, when we thought we were living through the worst of the pandemic (I’ll pause here while you get that hysterical laughter under control), I’d had it with humanity. Sure, there are a lot of individual humans that I like—love, really—but by September, humanity as a whole had reached a whole new level […]
Art and Smiles in a Quarantined World
I saw one of my favorite bands perform live today. Well, “live” in the sense that at the same time I was watching them online, they were playing together. Well, “playing together” in the sense that although each was playing an instrument alone in their own home, they somehow managed to sync up with each […]
