My Scrap File: Then and Now by Donnell Ann Bell When I was a new fiction writer, I joined a critique group in which a multi-published author said to us, “You’ll write one million words before you’re any good.” At the time I thought that was a rather narrow statement. I’d met authors who were […]

New Beginnings – But With Old Friends To put it mildly, the world is in a crazy state. Hugs, sitting close and laughing, randomly dining out, and big get-togethers for family celebrations, book events, or down home fun have been replaced with social distancing, hand sanitizer, and washing hands for the same amount of time […]

Joseph Campbell’s 17 Stages of Myth–The Seamstress’s Journey Covid-19 transformed my life into an epic adventure, aligning neatly with the seventeen stages of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. For added drama, imagine this essay accompanied by music from Star Wars, Indiana Jones, or Chariots of Fire. Ordinary World My husband and I live with our cat […]

Location, Location, Location by Nancy Nau Sullivan My sister asked me if I knew of a ghost writer. I tried to be a ghost writer one time. It didn’t work. I couldn’t get into the head of character, nor the setting. Especially the latter. My sister is the tireless founder of a non-profit for mothers […]

A Parade of Caring by Debra H. Goldstein Tonight, a group of my friends gave me a “get well quickly” parade. As many of you know, I had foot surgery on Monday, June 1. Happily, unlike when my foot had to be rebuilt a few years ago, this was merely the removal of hardware and […]

Write What You Know by Cathy Perkins Every author has heard that mantra at least once—and probably a lot more often. Anyone who’s taken a writing class or read a craft book has seen that adage. Whatever the answer, like all writing advice, it’s up to you to take it or leave it. I hunted […]

Vintage Sweets? by Kaye George Are you wondering how on earth I came to write a series based on that (somewhat odd) topic? It was an evolution, a rather round about one. I had my location from the start, Fredericksburg, Texas, a German tourist town in the Hill Country, full of wineries and interesting places. […]

Never Give Up, Never Surrender by Grace Topping I often hear people say they would like to write a book, or that they started a book but never finished it. It made me wonder what it was about me that enabled me to write a book that was published—and have that book nominated for a […]

Writing in First Person Through the Eyes of Finn Bartusiak by Kristine Raymond Writing in first person is an entirely different experience than writing in third; a challenge I both eagerly accepted and oftentimes questioned while writing Finn-agled. Telling a story from the point of view of one person – from beginning to end – […]

The Value of Writing a Newsletter Column by Carol Newhouse I write a column, By The Book, that appears in First Draft, a newsletter for the Guppies, an online chapter of Sisters In Crime. Its purpose is to deconstruct mysteries. I alternate writing a second column in First Draft with Nancy Eady. Agent Insight gives […]