I have no new insight to offer you today. Instead, I am diligently working through my draft with the same focus: check “voice”–make sure Lyra always sound like Lyra check diction–look for the best word, especially to punch up the language … Continue reading →

I’ve ventured beyond my comfort zone: someone has actually read (part of ) my novel. My first reader is a literary critic of the most fundamental kind: a 12-year-old girl who devours books faster than I can read the blurbs … Continue reading →

We’ve come full circle, you, dear reader, and I. I’m at the point in my new draft where I’m revising sections that I’ve already posted here. Sections that I told you were better. Sections that I led you to believe … Continue reading →

I give up. Not the book (too much blood, sweat and tears so far). I give up reading the hard copy. I got a little over half way through and I had to stop, because my penciled comments were overtaking … Continue reading →

For the first time since I started working on this novel 2+ years ago, I’ve printed it out and put it in a binder. Here it is, all 370 manuscript pages of it: Next comes the read-through, a very pleasant … Continue reading →

96, 835 words. 15, 780 more words than when I thought I was almost done, when I thought I’d add in, oh, maybe 5,000 more and that’s it. Guess I underestimated. 🙂 There’s a ridiculous amount of work still ahead, of course, but … Continue reading →

It’s a maxim as old as the quill: write about that with which you are familiar, knowledgable or experienced. Conventional, classic advice, but is it true? Please settle in while I offer you the Great Debate: Be it resolved that … Continue reading →

My husband’s birthday. My kids’ school work. As a writer who has a full-time day job and a full-time job as a mom and a wife, I do my best to fit my writing in and around my other responsibilities. … Continue reading →