It’s been a sort of eventful (and yet not) couple of weeks. There have been a couple scares, some new side effects, a milestone, some experimentation, and a minor epiphany. Tasting and Smelling First, I haven’t quite figured out how to deal with the nausea. It’s much worse this round, but as before, I’m not …
This post isn’t about that final-final review when your manuscript has already gone through professional editing and proofreading. This is about getting your manuscript ready for the next step, whether that’s beta readers or your editor. Getting to the end of the first draft and typing “The end” is a fantastic feeling and nothing should …
I’m in the final stretch of writing the fourth book in my Lexy Cooper mystery series. Now, I’m certainly nowhere near as prolific as many writers, but by the time you get to Book 4, you’ve built up a pretty substantial cast of characters, a history, and a world. Here are some of the things …
Last week I wrote a long post lamenting the shitty state of my new novel Summer Wind. If you want to read the whole boohoo thing it’s here. The short version is: It sucked. My main character Detective Mike Malick was stiff and uninteresting. One of the solutions I pondered was “Try switching to the …
I’ve been blogging about my trials and errors in this writing thing for a couple years now. From a post about discovering Kindle Direct Publishing and unearthing a long-lost novel, to crowdfunding a research trip, I’ve shared the journey with my blog readers. If you’ve found my writing tips interesting or helpful, I’m collecting them …
My first novel, The Sleepless Nanny, took nine months to write. It wasn’t a long book, or particularly complex. I wrote it for one hour each night, most of the time with a toddler on my lap. Second novel (Schooled)? Three months. Ditto with the third (Pwned). This, the fourth book, should be the quickest/easiest …
I always knew that at some point I would need to create some system for tracking characters in my Lexy Cooper series. I just didn’t know it would happen this soon–by the third book. Actually if I’m honest, it would have been helpful to have something in place while I was writing Pwned, the second …
And now for an experiment in novel research and crowd funding! I’ve been to every location in the first two Lexy Cooper books Schooled and Pwned. Granted, they weren’t all that exotic–just Los Angeles in Schooled and Vegas in Pwned. But in the third book, due in early 2014, the most important part of the …
Friends, I want to tell you about the new love of my writing life. It may be old news to you, it may have been around a while. But to me it’s new like a fresh love affair. Like a charged glance across a crowded room. It’s so new I can’t stop singing its praises. …
I’m a professional writer. By that I mean that since 1995 I have made my living–paid my rent, fed my offspring–by writing. You’d think I’d have words pretty much figured out by now, wouldn’t you? But you’d be wrong. I still have a lot to learn. Here are some of the things I learned recently …
Trixieland 