Social Media: You’re Doing it Wrong

Everyone has seen Mr. Mom, right? My favorite line from the whole movie is when Michael Keaton is dropping his kids off at school, pulling into the circular drive against traffic, and like four moms tell him, “You’re doing it wrong.” Look, I’m not saying I’m the Mother of Social Media (although I’m probably old enough…

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Who Needs Secondary Characters?

I don’t know about you, but I can’t write a book without secondary characters. Yes, I’ve read books without them (or ones where they had tiny roles), but I can’t write that way. I’ve never gotten over my crush – how about you? I mean, where would The Lion King be without the hyenas? Where…

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Does an Extroverted Writer Have the Advantage? Maybe Not

I’ve read a lot of blogs lately by introverted writers pointing out how hard it is for them, nowadays. There are probably more introverted authors than extroverts. After all, it’s darned near a cliché – the writer living in seclusion, typing away in obscurity. That’s all you see in movies: As Good as it Gets, Something’s Gotta Give – even, dare…

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The No-Stress Way To Create Your Story’s Logline

I love loglines. There’s no better feeling than pulling together words that capture the spirit of your book in a perfect, compelling way. I teach a submissions class for the Lawson Writer’s Academy and find that loglines are a major source of stress for my students. Have you ever noticed that loglines are only fun to come up…

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Word Play – Unleash Your Inner Writing Child

Think back. Waaaay back, to when you first decided you wanted to write. You sat down, maybe at a computer, maybe with a pen and napkin, or even (in my case) on the back of a motorcycle, and wove a story in your head. Remember how excited you were? Everything seemed possible. You had the…

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