Handy Tips
A good resource for times when your writing gets stagnant.
Which comes first — plot or character?
I wrote a joint blog post with my friend and crit partner Laura about how we generate stories. She's all about plots; I'm more character-driven. Please check it out here and leave us some feedback!!
Excerpt Time!
I know that I've been away from the blog for a few months, and it's because I've been neck-deep in revisions. But as a little reward for sticking around, I thought I'd share an excerpt from my WIP with you. Hope you...
Make Good Art
Today's inspirational quote is brought to you by Neil Gaiman:
"Now go and make interesting mistakes. Make amazing mistakes. Make glorious and fantastic mistakes. Break rules. Leave the world more interesting for your being here. Make good art."
The Everygirl’s Guide to Life
The book reviews I do on this site are strictly fiction, but I recently reviewed a cool nonfiction book on my other site. To see my thoughts on Maria Menounos' The Everygirl's Guide to Life, head on over to The Modernista.
Drawing the Line in Revisions
I'm very lucky to have a talented group of writer friends. Whenever I have some kind of writing crisis — How do I write a query? Does my character motivation work? Is my synopsis terrible? — I know exactly where to turn...
Until I Die
May was a big month for book releases. Sequels to several novels came out, and one of the ones I was most anticipating was Amy Plum's Until I Die. It's book two in her "Revenants" trilogy, which she openly admits was inspired...
DFWCon Part 2 — What I Learned
As you know, last weekend I attended the stellar Dallas Ft. Worth Writers' Conference, and I want to share some of the tips and advice I picked up while I was there.
- Check out the vendor tables. It's easy to pass...
The DFW Writers’ Conference — Part 1
This past weekend, I had the absolute pleasure of attending the Dallas/Ft. Worth Writers' Conference — aka DFWCon — which is the largest of its kind in Texas.
It was a two-day whirlwind of delight, as I reunited with old friends,...
Query Confusion
As most aspiring novelists know, one of the biggest components (hurdles?) to getting published is the query letter. After all, most of us don't have connections inside the publishing industry, so the only way to make an agent sit up and take...
I write YA fiction and blog about pop culture and good gossip.