Life is yours, be unapologetically you.

Rough Drafts can be a tricky thing. The process that one author takes will look completely opposite from that of another. Each of us have our own style, techniques, and rhythm we abide by – even if we aren’t aware we stick to a routine. For a while I felt the pressure to write my manuscripts the same way other authors would write theirs – and in the same time frame! One of my favorite authors regularly blogs that she can write a book in about a month. Another friend I spoke t

One of my goals for the New Year has been to read more books on the art of writing. I’ve read a few books here and there, but have always been afraid of becoming one of ‘those writers’ who only ever read about writing, without ever actually doing any writing. Eep. I’ve heard about ‘those writers’. They read and read and read, yet never actually put pen to proverbial paper, chasing after a writing perfection that very well may never be achieved. I decided over a year ago that

Here’s a little secret about me: When I was young, I wanted to be an actress! No lie. I got bitten with ‘the bug’ around age 11 and even went to a theater arts performing high school to prepare. And then I became a senior and was about to graduate and had to decide if that’s really what I wanted to do. Person after person told me that I’d better develop ‘thick skin’ if I was going to make it in the world of entertainment, since I’d face tons of rejection with the possibility

So, I just looked and saw the date of my last post on my blog. *blush, blush* Has it really been that long? Is it any consolation that I’ve been using my time writing and editing? Oh yeah, and throwing birthday parties, playing in the snow and getting back into the groove of school. (Isn’t Christmas break the best?) Having said that, I’m here to say I have not forgotten my New Years declaration of having a giveaway each month! I’ve just been building the anticipation! Check b

So, I recently glanced through one of my manuscripts that I hadn’t seen in a while. Partway through, I noticed that I had a child character speaking differently from the others. I honestly couldn’t even remember why I had her speaking like that in the first place. A quick review from earlier in the script showed that she was missing her two front teeth, hence my desire to have her ‘speak’ like she would sound. Here’s the problem: I had just been reading the tail end of the st

So, I’m about to lend out ‘Fallen Ashes’ to some beta readers, to (hopefully) enter the final steps of revision. As I went back through my manuscript today, I realized I had cut almost 10,000 words with this last revision. The crazy thing is, I didn’t take out any major scenes! In fact, I added or extended a few. Yet, I lost almost a tenth of the story? Well…. I’m here to say, that’s actually a good thing! You see, my friends, I’m wordy. Wordy, wordy, wordy, wordy! I like to

I had a discussion with a friend today, a familiar topic which seems to come up a lot, when talking to people about the progress of my writing. Which is better, to self publish or take the traditional publishing route? That is such a loaded question, people. Until this point in my life, I’ve only had experience with one side of the equation, as all of my books have been self published. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t done quite a bit of research on traditional publishing, as

This morning I had the privilege of hearing author Shawn Smucker speak at a local Writer’s meeting. It wasn’t a “how to” workshop, or the Top Ten Tips on getting published. It was just a guy sharing his journey of writing, publishing, then writing some more. And ya know what? It’s exactly what I needed to hear. I may not have walked away with pages filled with notes on the do’s and don’ts of writing, but hearing his stories and thoughts were exactly the encouragement I needed

Almost there! Tomorrow will be one full week into 2014 NaNoWriMo. How is it going? Have you begun writing yet? What are you writing about? Are you going in circles trying to even get started? Yeah, I’ve been there, too – no shame, my friends! I’m happy to say that for this NaNoWriMo, I’m well into my project of doing a major edit on my novel, “Fallen Ashes”. Each night I lie in bed and think about the story, where it’s going and how I’m inspired to make it better. Counting th

Well, it’s officially November – Time for NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month! I’ve been back and forth on whether to actually dive in with writing a brand new novel or not, when I have others I want to edit and pursue getting published. But I finally decided it doesn’t need to be an either / or decision – I’m going to participate by finishing a novel I’ve already written! 🙂 A novel I wrote over a year ago – and had returned to editing a few months back – needs more edi

A month ago, we had our end of the summer hurrah by visiting a beach we’d never been to before – Bethany Beach, DE. We’d heard nothing but good things about it from countless people and needless to say, the anticipation for this weeklong venture was monumental. And then a curious thing happened. Between our family and friends, we got three tickets in our very first day. Ouch. That hurts. So badly. How on earth could we, alone, get two in one day? So, we did what any modern fa