So this is late. Again. But I think I have the holiday as an excuse this time. This week’s Nano-ing went a little better–I was at least meeting my word count goals better than the week before. The answers: 1) I had to trim my fingernails for my hands to keep up my usual WPM; […]
Where Does My Inspiration Come From? A Sci-Fi Special
My Nano story is going to be giving a lot of thanks this year! It has drawn from a lot of different sources of inspiration, including Firefly, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The X Files, Numb3rs, and of course, as all space sci-fi stories inevitably do, Star Wars. One of my main characters is loosely […]
Week 2 NaNoWriMo Update: And the Bottom Drops Out
This post is a little late, considering week 2 started a couple days ago. Needless to say, I’ve fallen way behind this week on just about everything, including sleep. I just started a new part-time job on Tuesday, and trying to keep up with Nano, my internship, my blogs, and my freelance work with only […]
How to Overcome Writer’s Block
It’s National Novel Writing Month and writer’s block is a pretty major issue for a lot of wrimos out there. Me included. Yes, my word is pretty well on track and I’ve even managed to stay ahead of the daily total goal, but that doesn’t mean it’s been easy. It’s an uphill battle, every step […]
Week 1 NaNoWriMo Update: Progress!
The first week is over, but, I am kicking some serious novel-writing butt so far! I was so afraid that I wasn’t going to be able to find time this year with everything else I had going on, that I think I overcompensated. It did help that Thursday night’s TV line-up was limited to just […]
The Inside Scoop on Upcoming Release: Unscripted (Tentative)
Here is the first look at the next book on the publishing list: Unscripted. This is a story I wrote a couple of years ago. It’s a new adult contemporary romance, with a strong, smart, talented female lead. Rylie Cates is an aspiring screenwriter living in Maine. The story begins with a phone call telling […]
Why My Characters Are Hockey Fans
Short answer: Because I’m a hockey fan! Long answer: I like to add a little everyday culture into my books. My characters read books, they watch movies, and they follow sports, just like a lot of other people do. These types of things help give characters a little personality, a little backstory, and they are […]
The NaNo Variable
It’s that time of year. No, not autumn. Not Halloween. Not the holidays. No, the time of year when I will once again be participating in National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo. It’s going to be a tough year with all the balls I have in the air right now. For one, I am currently […]
How Buffy the Vampire Slayer Helped My Writing
Lots of people might scoff at the idea of “watching” a story instead of “reading” a story for inspiration, but for visual learners like me, it’s a great option. I love television and film just as much as I love reading. And these days, you have to admit, there are just as many bad television […]
Genre Versus Characters: The Writing Process
Writing for a genre versus writing your characters are different processes. They require different approaches and organization, and the characters themselves will not be the same if they were written into two stories with the same plot–one written with the genre approach and the other with the character (development) approach. A story based around the […]