Getting Back on the Horse …. by Liana Brooks
It has been scientifically proven that good habits are easy to break. There’s rarely social support for “good” habits like eating vegetables, controlling portion sizes, honestly assessing yourself,...
View ArticleWriting by Sticky Note: Saving Those Fleeing Ideas … By M. K. Theodoratus
A fortune cookie once told me: A short pencil is more enduring than a long memory. I don’t know about you, but that little slip of paper knew how my brain works. Yeah, my memory has the half-life of a...
View ArticleHow I Wrote a Historical Novel Set in an Era I Knew Nothing About … by...
Five years ago, I knew nothing about the Progressive Era. I mean naught, nothing, nada. I had some vague notion that they washed their hair with egg yolks and drank Coca Cola laced with cocaine, but...
View ArticleWhy I NANOWRIMO … by Sarah Reichert
I have a lot of obligations in my life. All of them huffing on my doorstep before the sun even breaks, panting and frothing from their mouths, waiting to chase me through the day like a rabid pack of...
View ArticleI’m Starting to Fill My Guest Blogger Calendar for the First Quarter of 2016...
Guest Bloggers Every week I plan to feature a guest author on Thursday/Friday. I have plenty of Thursdays open January through March, so if you’re interested in being one of my featured guests, just...
View ArticleThe Message That Demands to be Heard … by Tracee Sioux
The goose bumps on my legs sprouted hair as I absorbed Elizabeth Gilbert’s speech at the inaugural 2013 Emerging Women conference in Boulder. Through a serendipitous series of saying YES! to my Soul I...
View ArticleStretching Boundaries … by Dean K. Miller
Writing is a fickle game, played by many, won by few, and it seems, the rules are always changing. It’s challenging enough to make headway in the game, thing like finding an agent, or a publisher,...
View ArticleAnother DIY Interview with Kerrie Flanagan (and her muse): How and Why Kerrie...
Muse: Why did you decide to start a publishing company? Kerrie: It was at the end of 2013. I had helped a handful of writers self-publish their books. So I knew the process well. I had a couple ideas...
View ArticleWhich is Stranger—Truth or Fiction? … by Margaret Mizushima
“Humankind cannot take too much reality.” ~T.S. Elliott I love it when a grizzled detective on Dateline or 48 Hours shakes his head in amazement and says to the interviewer, “This crime is so twisted....
View ArticleIntroducing The Enchanted Garden Mysteries (Contains Mature Themes!) … by...
Thanks for having me back on your blog, Pat! It’s always such a pleasure. To clarify, that “Mature Themes” in the title shouldn’t scare anyone off – and will likely prove disappointing for those who...
View Article6 Secrets of Successful Critique Groups … by Laurence MacNaughton
Some of the worst critique groups on Earth can seem wonderful, at first. They’re friendly. They’re supportive. They make you feel good about your writing. But there may be danger signs. Do they rehash...
View ArticleUsing Personal Experience When Creating Plot and Character … by Betta...
I started my first job as a reporter July 10, 1989 in a small town in northern New Mexico. I had only been on the job for a week when I covered my first murder story of a man who had shot and killed a...
View ArticleThe Mysterious Conversation … by Delia James (aka Sarah Zettel)
Hello. My name is Delia James, and I write cozy mysteries. (Hi, Delia!) I did not start out writing cozies. I’ve been lucky enough to write in most of the major popular genres. I started out in science...
View ArticleWriting from Experience … by Bill Lamperes
I stepped into the Pink Flamingo and spotted the bartender preparing for the day. I approached and said, “Hi, my name is Bill Kerouac, Jack’s cousin,” and extended my hand. The gruff old guy snarled at...
View ArticleThe Joy of Adopting New Furry Friends … by Natasha Wing
I live in Fort Collins, Colorado, a town that LOVES their dogs. Fort Collins is also home to many dog rescues and shelters. My husband and I got our furry friend, a two-year old, blue-eyed cat named...
View ArticleWriting the Range with Northern Colorado Writers … by April Moore
Rome wasn’t built in a day. That’s what I had to remind myself on January 1 when I embarked on setting up my first writers conference. It ended up taking me five weeks to gather nearly 25 presenters...
View ArticleTake a Leap … by Jenny Sundstedt
Poor February. It’s the little brother of the calendar, never quite matching up to the longer months. But every four years, it puffs up its chest a bit with the addition of an extra day. I love the...
View ArticleThe Future of Fiction … by Jacqueline Seewald
Increasingly, we are seeing the blurring of borders in fiction. At one time, for example, mystery novels always contained certain clearly defined elements. There could be no paranormal explanations....
View ArticleKatie Cat Tiptoes Closer While Sassy Watches TV
There’s a lot of this kind of thing going on. Katie Cat continues to sneak around the house, looking for chances to get closer to Sassy without Sassy seeing her. When the dog was asleep in her bed in...
View ArticleCrime Rides the Rails … by Janet Dawson
My California Zephyr series, which includes Death Rides the Zephyr and the upcoming Death Deals a Hand, takes place on a train. And what a train it was. The old California Zephyr (not the current...
View Article
