I often get the question, "How is the writing going?" If I were to answer this strictly, meaning am I actually engaging in the act of writing down words, the answer would often be, "Ummmmm, I'll get back to you on that." I don't write daily and wh ...
There was a time after college when my friend Vijay and I had a lack of external structure. There was no more school, and work was hard to find. So we would meet at a local library to work on our writing together. We spent our days working in studiou ...
I've got a guest post up on RWchat.com this week! #RWchat is a weekly Twitter chat for romance writers. Each week that I participate I come away feeling more prepared to tackle whatever my current project is. Here's a preview: You might think we re ...
I love my writing group. I built my writing group, and was tremendously fortunate to have attracted an amazing crew of people. Maybe the best part is that they're not worried about the group itself even though I'm leaving. When I was an RA they talk ...
A Necessary (Writing) Retreat I have wonderful writing friends. A couple of weeks ago a bunch of us went back to a cabin on a lake for a writing retreat/vacation. It was marvelous. Taking some time out for you and your writing is one of the best g ...
Hello mentors and aspiring mentees! I'm Bronwen, host of this-here blog. I write YA that typically falls in the realms of contemporary, fantasy or historical, nearly always centering around a strong female lead. I volunteer with my local writing com ...
The last update to the Monster Structure Worksheet introduced a lot of text, so much so that I had to split it into two pages. A full-color version with notes, and a blank version for you to write in your own notes for your project. I think now's a ...
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The #WIPjoy hashtag and prompts were started by writer Bethany Jennings. It made for a really nice little community of people encouraging one another. The writing community at large is very supportive, and #WIPjoy was all about the love. The feature ...
Major updates to the Monster Structure Worksheet! Scroll down to download full PDF What is the MSW? It's a combination of novel structure theories into one chart to help you visualize what-all is supposed to happen and when. I've been reading K.M ...
This past Sunday's question is an interesting one. We're often asked why we write, but rarely how we got to this point. So here's an overview of my steps along the way. I identify my earliest desires to write with the discovery of Tamora Pierce's IN ...
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It seems like almost every book on writing craft makes at least one reference to The Wizard of Oz (the film, not the books), and it's often a prominent example. I finally picked up Debra Dixon's GOAL, MOTIVATION, CONFLICT, and she suggested a rewatch ...
There's been a bunch of talk in my spheres lately about what folks are reading to learn about their craft. I found a bunch of new things to explore, and I figure I should share. This week I'll post about the blogs I follow, and later I'll go into the ...
Today I'm going to introduce a little beastie I call The Monster Structure Worksheet. That led me to create my own. A full explanation of what I did and why can be found on the worksheet's new home, a page specially made for it. Over time I'll upda ...
A few weeks ago Ms. Lovett (@lovettromance) urged me and some of the others in our writing group to hop into a Twitter chat (#rwchat, more on that later). She's become very involved, not only in participating but in helping to organize and run these ...
It's a common lament. "I've already done all this work! Now I have to backtrack and throw it out." My friend, you are not Penelope perpetually unraveling her weaving at night so she can redo the exact same section the next day. Penelope never want ...
You might think this is a NaNoWriMo-only rule, and you would be wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. When you write, your brain is working. Sometimes it associates ideas that don't belong together. Maybe you realize at some point that, cool as laser beam-b ...
When I was a little girl, I looked for echoes of myself on television. I didn't do this consciously, but looking back I can clearly identify what I was doing. Chip and Dale's Rescue Rangers? I liked Gadget. Tail Spin? Rebecca. Rugrats? Lil. Batman ...
Whaddaya know? 14 chapters and approximately 100 pages in, I hit a slump. There's this theory that says that about 100 pages into a novel, most people hit a wall. It's around the 20-25k mark. Coincidentally, this is typically in the second week of N ...
While checking out the competition browsing our neighbor regions I came across a link to The Pacemaker. It's a super nifty little words-per-day calculator. Set your target word total, designate when you'll be most and least productive, and voila! ...
I first heard about National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in 2003. It was my senior year of high school and I was game to try. I was, after all, preparing for a career as a novelist. The project I started, still known as UNTITLED MOBSTER CAPER, ha ...
I haven't written fanfiction in years, but there was a time when it played a big role in my life. Way back in the dark ages, also known as the late 90s, early 00s, I was a tween. We weren't called tweens then, that slang hadn't become popular yet. ...
I've been tagged for the 7/7/7/ #PitchWars Challenge by Verna Austen. Here are the rules: Go to page 7 of your WIP. Scroll down to Line 7. Share the next 7 sentences in a blog post. After the excerpt, tag 7 other writers to continu ...
This post is inspired by the #PitchWars mentors, who have said time and again that this contest is about community. Finding friends, CPs, commiserators, etc. And it occurred to me, "Why am I not talking DIRECTLY to the other wannabe mentees? We're ho ...
Last week Writer Unboxed ran a piece called How to Craft a Page-Turning Plot by Cathy Yardley. While I was reading, something clicked in my brain. The article is rather long, but the relevant part is under item 1. Apologies for such a long quote, ...
