THE Key Ingredient for Longevity as an Author

It’s not natural ability. Many bestselling authors didn’t start with that. Not skill. You can work and study until you learn it. Not even stubbornness (though that helps). Writing is wonderful. But breaking into authorship, whether you choose indie, small press or NY, is an endeavor that will tear you up, break you down, and…

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A New Book!

This is a book of my heart. I’ve started, stopped and changed it four or five times. When I completed my last contract, I picked it up again and finished it. Turned it in to my agent, who thought it would be a very hard sell in the current state of world affairs…that readers wouldn’t…

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Writer Blinders

You’ve seen the blinders that racehorses wear to keep them focused on their own race, and not what’s going on around them, right? Well, writers need them too. Significant others, children, day jobs, Netflix, the internet, chores! We all lead gloriously busy lives, and it’s not easy to get ten minutes of uninterrupted time. But…

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Amos

Was at an informal writer’s get-together a while back, and we did a writing exercise. Had to finish the sentence, ‘I wish I’d never met’. This is fun! Take any topic and write for five minutes. You might surprise yourself! AMOS I wish I never met… Amos. My life was fine. I mean, it sucked,…

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One Perfect Line

I’ve said it before – I love words. I love how they swirl together into sentences to form beautiful, horrible or sensual images. I also love my Kindle. I use it almost exclusively, and one of the main reasons is the ability to highlight. When I read an amazing sentence (or two), I highlight them…

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How to Survive Today’s Market

A writer friend alerted me to an article recently, 10 Awful Truths About Book Publishing. Go ahead and read it – we’ll wait. Okay, if you know anything about my books, you know I won’t leave you in a sad place, so read on. A bit discouraging? I’d say yes, and no. Would we all…

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Painting with Words

  One of the many joys I get from writing is in choosing words. To me, they all have shades, from the lightest ivory to the darkest black, and choosing just the right shade to portray the emotion that I’m going for is a hobby. Like a pastel painter, I play and blend until I…

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Publication is a Loooong Road

I just realized this morning that it’s been ten years since I got my agent; nine years since I sold. It seems a lot longer. Now, times have changed with self-publishing becoming mainstream, but for those who are contemplating selling to New York, it hasn’t gotten any easier. I wrote my first book in 2008.…

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Learning to Trust

This is about writing, but also about life. Everyone has a process on how they write – and in an informal survey of many writers I’ve met over the years,  your process is usually the hardest possible. Hey, don’t blame me, it’s science. Mine, for example. I’m a see-it-to-believe-it kinda gal. I tend not to…

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A Different Resolution

  I’m sure this is just one of the zillions of blogs about resolutions, intentions and ‘word for the year’ posts you’ll see this week, but read on – this one is different, I promise. I’m 68 years on the planet, so I’ve made a bunch of resolutions. Mostly revolve around weight. But guess what?…

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