I’m looking for some very special people–beta readers. These are people who, out of the kindness of their heart and their love of reading, will read a manuscript in process without pay and give you feedback. They are an essential part of the writing process. There comes a point with any large writing process where […]
Read MoreMany months ago, on The Creative Penn blog, I read an interview with a prolific writer who wrote a book practically every month. As part of the interview, Joanna Penn and this author talked about the common practice by some of treating their manuscript like a baby, a creative baby. They agreed that maybe for […]
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I’ve had a great July. I focused on writing the first draft of the next novel in my Dancing through Life Series. The only problem is that in order to do that, I had to neglect others aspects of writing and life. So now I’m playing catch-up, while trying to revise what I wrote […]
Read More“What’s the deal between Sara and her mother-in-law? She appears to be a little snot, which has certainly not been the case in the previous book.” One Beta reader commented. I certainly didn’t want one of my major characters coming off like a snot, but I also didn’t want to spend too much time developing […]
Read MoreBack story – the bane of many beginning writers! How do I get all of the essential background about my character into the story as quickly as possible, they ask. And so they do what is a called a “back story dump,” filling you in on all the minute details of the character’s life before […]
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Above is the stack of books I’ve pulled off of my shelves and have sitting on a chair within easy reach to assist me as I write! Thomas Cahill’s book, How the Irish Saved Civilization, is a fascinating read. Cahill relates how, during the Dark Ages after the fall of Rome, the monks in […]
Read MoreI just finished reading the 480 page book, Voices from the Grave: Two Men’s War in Ireland, by Ed Moloney. This book includes extensive interviews of two key players during the troubles in Northern Ireland from 1969 to the peace agreement: Brendan Hughes of the Irish Republican Army and David Ervine, member of the Ulster […]
Read MoreI admit it. I’m one of those people. I love to plan. One month, one year, five year, ten year plans. I do them all. I love it when a plan comes to together. And when one falls apart, I see it as an opportunity to plan some more. When I originally started to blog […]
Read More“I spent the morning putting in a comma and the afternoon removing it.” Gustave Flaubert Or in my case, I spent the morning peering at my back cover and deciding to change one word in a quote from my book. I sent this request to my cover designer in the morning, then looked again at […]
Read More“The Irish aren’t happy unless they are fighting someone,” my future brother-in-law had told me several years ago in reference to his mother’s penchant for stirring up trouble. While I could see this was true for his mother, I didn’t suspect that was the case for the Irish in general. I’ve known other people who […]
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