Most of us aren't sorry to see 2021 go. It was one hell of a trying year. On the other hand, some of those challenges brought new perspective, new life choices and new confidence as we rose to whatever occasion presented itself. Of course, I hope that 2022 is easier...
One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn in my life has been to ask for help. Growing up as feminism was taking hold, I took pride in being independent and self-sufficient. If I could figure out a way to do something, no matter how daunting the task or how much...
You’ve got your book’s finish line in your sights. But which finish line? Completing your rough draft? Your first and second drafts? Your rewrite? How about your edit? Do you even know how to edit a book? Yes, I know. You’re going to hire a line editor to refine your...
Children’s books are short. They’re easy to write, right? No need to edit, right? Or, if you are editing a children’s book, it won’t take much, right? Wrong on all counts. Any professional writer knows that it’s much harder to write short than to write long. You need...
You're going to make writer mistakes. That's a given, part of the writer's rite of passage. But you don't have to make all of them. So I'm launching a new Writer Mistakes series in the hopes of sparing you a few writer mistakes along the way. My first topic: writing...
It's been a crazy year. Difficult, sure. But also rewarding. Writing coach clients have finished books, published books, begun writing new books. I did all of the above. Ten years after starting it, Busting the Brass Ceiling: How a Heroic Female Cop Changed the Face...
I've written professionally for 40 years now. Although I'm sure my math can't be correct since I can't possibly be that old, I have learned a thing or two about the writer mindset during all that time. Some of those lessons have come, as expected, through writing as...
The manuscript opened with a man, who would turn out to be one of the novel's more minor characters, pulling over in a rainstorm to rescue a stray dog and take him to the shelter he had started and still funded. That immediately drew me in, dog lover that I am. By the...
Your book is almost ready to launch. The hardcopy book proof you just received from Amazon or IngramSpark looks great. The interior page layout you saw as a short sample and in the electronic proof looks even better now that you’re holding the actual book. Then you...
Finding your writing voice can feel daunting in the best of circumstances. You have to let go enough to trust yourself and let it bubble up from inside. Then that inner voice gets melded with the needs of your book. Finding that writing voice in children’s books is...
