Archive

Today we have a guest post from Michael Seeley, something I've been meaning to post for... FAR too long. Sorry Michael! Anyway, let's find out how Michael suggests how historical f ...

I picked up the Writing Great Books for Young Adults by Regina Brooks from the library last night and have already worked through it and the select exercises provided within. I ...

Last night I wrote for the first time since September 2012. That's eight months of no writing. I was afraid I was going to hit a year. What writing I did back in September felt lik ...

I love libraries with a passion that some say borders on the abnormal. When I visit a new city, there are two things I must do: Visit whatever water exhibit available (fountain ...

Ah, October. The month of changing trees, nippy breezes, and hauntings. Last week I told you about the most recent Hamlet production that I saw and loved, starring the lovely David ...

It's October! Wouldn't it be fun to troll the internet for ghostly loved ones doing their best by the people they left behind, whether they are children, lovers, and the like? I th ...

Oh dear, oh my! It seems my beloved Feedburner is being killed. This the internet service that allows those of you who read this blog to do so via RSS and email. To ensure all 1 ...

Apparently, I either have to be so beautiful everyone chases after me, or so unique no one knows what to do with me, in order to get anyone's romantic attention. Because I'm f ...

Slowly but surely, I work on the Atlanta & the Lion and Other Tales short story and poem anthology. I've been working on converting some contemporary stories I wrote in grad sc ...

Every once in a while, I get into a major writing slump. I despair of ever putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard for my fiction because I am convinced I am the most unfortuna ...

When I first typed the title to this blog post, a Freudian slip occurred and I typed "touch" rather than "tough." Seems to me both are accurate when it comes to romance, heh. Anywa ...

As I've been working on The Rebel's Touch and Atlanta & the Lion and Other Tales, I've begun to notice a pattern: I tend to write about young-ish women who have lost a male aut ...

Apartment Therapy wrote this great blog post about home organization using the Berenstein Bears, which inspired me to write a similar post, but about writing. First off, the Berens ...

Dear Reader, I was going to write  a big post in response to Chuck Wendig wanting us writers to care less. It's a great post; I love his irreverence and I mean to pick up his bo ...

Dear Reader, I have succumbed, finally, to the beast that is Pinterest. I avoided it for so long because I didn't need yet ANOTHER social media outlet to take up my time... but ...

Dear Reader, I just sent Atlanta & the Lion and Other Tales and The Rebel's Touch to a trusted friend from my 8th grade after school writing club who continued to write and ...

Dear Reader, I've never been big into the numbers of running an independent publishing company, so long as the hobby of writing supports itself. Because I want to make sure I'm ...

Dear Reader, Goodness gracious I've been busy, but not on The Rebel's Touch. Requesting Beta Readers for The Rebel's Touch I don't know why, I'm just so horribly stuck with th ...

Dear Reader, I've just finished listening to the Haunting Miss Trentwood audiobook, narrated by the fantastic Arielle Lipshaw. I'm pretty excited about this, I've never had an a ...

Dear Reader, I haven't written a word for The Rebel's Touch, something which continues to bother me. However, over the weekend I hosted two swing dancers from Louisville and the ...

Dear Reader, Sometimes, we need a break. After I graduated with my masters in 2010, I was dead-set on having my second book published within the year, which I did. It took ...

Dear Reader, When you're in school in the States, it's really easy to make it seem as though the Civil War was Yankees vs Rebels, North vs South, Unionists vs Confederates, Abol ...

Dear Reader, I have been beyond busy practicing for a local swing dance/lindy hop team competition, which is exhausting, thrilling, stressful... but we won first place, so all t ...

Dear Reader, I have stumbled upon an amazing discovery where a letter from a former slave to their former master's request to "return home" has surfaced in blog format.  This is ...

Dear Reader, I sit here at my desk eating a McDonald's McGriddle and pondering the odd combination of a sandwich that uses pancakes for bread. The rain is pouring though it is t ...

Title: Cry Wolf Author: Patricia Briggs Genre: Supernatural (Science Fiction Romance) Length: 294 pages Summary: Anna didn't believe werewolves existed until she was bitten a ...

Dear Reader, Today I'm interviewing Linda C McCabe, author of Quest of the Warrior Maid. As a bit of housekeeping, don't forget that I have a giveaway from December 2 - 6 where ...

Dear Reader, Life has been rather rough on me lately, testing my character in ways I never expected. I have been terrified, startled, shocked, ashamed, depressed, angry, despair ...

Dear Reader, As of writing this post, I'm 17k words into The Rebel's Hero, which is about 24% toward my word count goal. Without fail, when I get to this percentage mark, I get ...

Dear Reader, I'm in a pickle because I can't decide if I want to do NaNoWriMo this year. NaNoWrimo is the National Novel Writing Month, and depending who you talk to, it's the b ...

Dear Reader, As you may (or may not) remember, this time last year I won the funding for Haunting Miss Trentwood by pitching a campaign via Kickstarter. That 40 days of promotio ...

Dear Reader, A short and random post today as I'm getting over an awful cold. Just wanted to let you know I love the internet because I get to share my fangirl obsessive love of ...

Dear Reader, It is so easy to wish you lived the life of a heroine from a romance novel. I know I do, sometimes, when I'm lost in a particularly good historical romance. I began ...

Dear Reader, Last week I got a review at Dear Author, which was both awesome and a little "meh." The "meh" came in because I got a C-, which I've been told is still a solid grad ...

Dear Reader, Two weeks ago I needed to make a change about my home office. I felt as though something about my home office/guest bedroom was stifling my creativity, but I couldn ...

Dear Reader, The last couple of weeks I've talked about how I brandish the Red Pen of Doom for editing. I needed the edits so I could determine which characters were necessary t ...

Dear Reader, This week I'd like to talk about what I look for when I pull out the Red Pen of Doom on my shitty first draft. But first, a sketch of Tempest Granville, the main ch ...

Dear Reader, If your English teacher was worth anything in high school, then they should have told you that you must write a "shitty first draft." I've talked about shitty first ...

Dear Reader, We break this blogging hiatus to bring the most pressing of news... John Stamos has kindly agreed to provide a guide to cuddling. I'm sure more than one historic ...

Dear Reader, I've been re-organizing my life a little... trying to figure out priorities and such. I've been making dance a larger part of my life because it's healthy for me (I ...

Dear Reader, We have some housekeeping to do here at the blog, namely that we had a contest with Sean MCartney's book in the Treasure Hunters series. We had a number of submissi ...

Dear Reader, Last week I started The Rebel's Hero over again. Yes, again. This is the third try, and I already feel much better about it. I'm keeping to my goal of writing at le ...

Dear Reader, Quick update today. I went to rural Minnesota for my grandparents' 50th anniversary over the weekend, which was a nice break from my usual hectic pace. I mean, the ...

Dear Reader, I'm gathering resources for The Rebel's Hero for research. I talked with my resident Civil War expert, a friend from undergrad who majored in Civil War history, and ...

Dear Reader, Glad you made it here! This post is part of the Midsummer's Eve Giveaway bloghop. I'm keeping this bloghop pretty simple: when you sign up for my newsletter, you wi ...

Dear Reader, I got a nasty surprise yesterday when, idly browsing my sales, I decided to see if any new reviews had been submitted for my books on Barnes and Noble. Lo and behol ...

Dear Reader, Today we have Sean McCartney, who I highlighted before in an interview and when I met him in person at the Ohioana Book Festival. He agreed to share his experience ...

Dear Reader, We've been busy here behind the scenes, researching and writing and preparing for contests and such. Haunting Miss Trentwood was spotlighted by The Frugal eRead ...

Dear Reader, Last week I came to the point in The Rebel's Hero where I realized I need to do more research because I was operating on assumptions. I kind of freaked out and ran ...

Dear Reader, I have been struggling with my genre for almost a year now. I write historical fiction, that much I know because I write stories about fictional people set in a his ...

Dear Reader, This past Saturday was all kinds of awesome. Not only was it Free Comic Day, but it was the Ohioana Book Festival here in Columbus. If there is one thing you get ou ...

Dear Reader, I kept with my ROW80 goals again this week, yay! I hit 750 words, and in so doing, changed an aunt to an uncle, rewrote sections of three chapters, and wrote the fi ...

Dear Reader, I read five books last week. Rather than splitting up my reviews so each book gets a dedicated post, I instead posted my reviews on Goodreads and am linking to them ...

Dear Reader, I was asked an interesting question via the Self Publishing Review website the other day about copyright and publishing. I figure many have this question, or might ...

Dear Reader, Remember, my goal for ROW80 was pretty simple: write 750 words a week. I like achievable goals. They make me happy. Here we have the second chapter of The Rebel's H ...

Dear Reader, If you haven't realized that I am a huge geek, I am outing myself right now. I have been a fan of web comics for the last... oh... seven years or so. Three of my fa ...

Dear Reader, This was a GOOD week for Round of Words. Not only did I copy over my entire plot for The Rebel's Hero over from sticky notes into the computer (you can see it on my ...

Dear Reader, So far I've kept to my goal of writing at least 750 words a week! Huzzah! To celebrate, here is the (first draft) of the first 850 words of the new book, The Rebel' ...

Dear Reader, In March, I wrote the first 14 chapters of The Rebel's Hero. Within this first week of April I've discovered a problem: I don't know why my characters are doing wha ...

Dear Reader, When I participated in the first Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80), I had lofty goals which you can reference here. On April 4th, we begin the second round. I'm ...

Dear Reader, How are you doing? I've been wondering about you lately. There are a number of you who comment due to being a part of Round of Words in 80 Days, but those of you wh ...

Dear Reader, I can't believe that today is the last day of Kait Nolan's first Round of Words in 80 Days (ROW80). She has asked us to focus on what we did accomplish, rather than ...

Dear Reader, A funny thing happened last week while rewriting Catching the Rose. I realized I wasn't writing Catching the Rose anymore. Now, the funny thing is the charact ...

Dear Reader, I wrote two thousand words last week. Pretty pumped about that. It's for the Catching the Rose rewrite. I also wrote out a preliminary outline for the new book whic ...

Dear Reader, Man, that illness took me out last week! I'm still sleeping an inordinate amount of time, so I'm keeping this blog post short. I had a guest post at Indie Horror ...

Dear Reader, Have you ever been so sick you can't even stumble from bed? That's what I'm going through right at this moment. My manager mentioned it might be strep, which I hope ...

Dear Reader, Apologies for going MIA for a bit. Work has been super stressful and winter was getting me down, but no matter. I regrouped over the weekend by working out for thre ...

Dear Reader, I'm doing my best to catch up with everything after my conference last week, and feel like I'm failing miserably. But that doesn't mean you have to suffer my tardin ...

Dear Reader, No ROW80 update for me today because I'm at a conference and not getting any writing done. I'm not sure you knew this, but I've been writing this blog for almost ...

Dear Reader, Last week I talked about how I finally got a Welcome tab up on my Facebook fan page, and was asked to write a tutorial about how I navigated the murky depths of Fac ...

Dear Reader, I've made unexpected progress. Unexpected, because it doesn't have to do with writing, sadly. Once again not following through with my ROW80 goals. I once again hav ...

Dear Reader, Once again I reflect upon the idea of self-promotion, something which leaves a dour taste in my mouth and flags my spirit, making it difficult for me to be creative ...

Dear Reader, Last week you'll remember that I announced unplugging to help eliminate stress in my life. Things were getting bad, and with my seasonal affective disorder on top o ...

Dear Reader, Part of being an entrepreneurial author, indie author, self-publishing author, etc, is that I make my prices and have to watch my supply and demand. I have to exper ...

Dear Reader, I announced last week through Twitter that I was unplugging from my social networks for a while. I wanted to get Love or Lack Thereof to my editor this past weekend ...

Dear Reader, You are looking at, well, reading, the recipient of the Stylish Blogger award, given to me by fellow author Jen Lane. I would like to thank Jen and the academy for ...

Dear Reader, I've been selected as January's "Author of the Month" over at A Buckeye Girl Reads. Make sure to check out the interview and leave some love. :) I like that idea, h ...

Dear Reader, And so I write my second check-in for Round of Words in 80 Days. I know this is supposed to be the writing exercise that remembers you have a life, but goodness, it ...

Dear Reader, This guest post is brought to you by fantasy author Lindsay Buroker. You can visit her e-publishing blog for more information on internet marketing, search engine o ...

Dear Reader, I am giving up any and all pretenses of having a blog schedule because there have been too many interesting things to write about this week. Such as an analysis of ...

Dear Reader, It's time for the first check in for Round of Words in 80 Days. I have two projects for this first week: Catching the Rose goals Week 1: Finalize new blurb ...

Dear Reader, Bulk shipments are any small business owner's nightmare if not done properly. When Haunting Miss Trentwood was released, I handled shipping orders of multiple copie ...

Dear Reader, Joe Konrath says the best part about self-publishing is if something isn't working, you can always redo it. As much as we like to think a book that has been release ...

Dear Reader, I hope your holiday season is going well! Those of you who entered the giveaway from last week, you should have received an email with the discount codes. Have you ...

Dear Reader, We have another giveaway! It's the holidays and there's nothing better than free stuff. This giveaway is super easy. Leave a comment on this post to enter the co ...

Dear Reader, I have agreed to help sponsor the step-sister of NaNoWriMo,  Round of Words in 80 Days, pulled together by Kait Nolan. The idea is pretty cool, actually. Instead ...

Dear Reader, I am stealing this idea from Stacey because it's brilliant: buy indie this holiday season! As I am a part of the indie movement in more ways than one (authorship, f ...

Dear Reader, It's Cyber Monday, which is the Black Friday for online shopping. Those of you not in the United States, this is the day to get the best online sales. Digital Disc ...

Announcement! Roz Morris of Nail Your Novel is collecting images of readers reading our books. If you have a copy of Catching the Rose or Haunting Miss Trentwood and you are game t ...

Dear Reader, Reviews for Catching the Rose and Haunting Miss Trentwood are positive, which I'm very happy about. And they aren't just raving, glowing reviews which other readers ...

Dear Reader, I'm so excited to introduce a fellow Ohioan author to you! His name is Sean Paul McCartney, and while he says he isn't related to the Beatle, I like to pretend that ...

Dear Reader, We had 53 entries to win signed copies of Haunting Miss Trentwood and Catching the Rose, which is pretty good for a little blog like Worderella Writes! Everyone who ...

Dear Reader, You are in luck. I am giving away three books in celebration of the Haunting Miss Trentwood book launch. This giveaway is in conjunction with the Spooktacular givea ...

Title: An Independent Woman Author: Candace Camp Genre: Historical Romance Length: 397 pgs. Summary: Nick was the orphaned, unwanted heir to the estate. Juliana was the chari ...

Dear Reader, Haunting Miss Trentwood is now available for pre-print publication reviews! What does that mean? It means the digital version is available on Smashwords, Barnes ...

Dear Reader, People should deliver on their promises. End of story. This is in response to a comment Kait made about indie authors using Kickstarter but not following through ...

Dear Reader, Let's talk about the indie methodology. That is, the method in which an author decides to indie publish. This is largely inspired by Kait Nolan's recent post about ...

Dear Reader, We indie authors need to stick together, and most especially us  indie historical fiction authors. We seem to be a rare breed. Today my guest is Susan Spann, a f ...

Dear Reader, I contacted Eloisa James after I finished reading This Duchess of Mine about five minutes after I put the book down.  I didn't understand it. I began the book disli ...

Dear Reader, It's October, which means Haunting Miss Trentwood is coming to you soon! In celebration of this, I've joined the Spooktacular giveaway hop. Details will come later ...

Dear Reader, We have 22 amazing backers, bringing us to the 40% funded mark. Thank you! Your support spurred me to complete the current draft of Haunting Miss Trentwood in recor ...

Dear Reader, Don't switch addresses while waiting for a shipment of books from CreateSpace. It causes a mini-headache. So get this: I'm currently at my parents' house, waitin ...

Dear Reader, I've told you to write every day. I was wrong to tell you that. I'm not going back on my word entirely as I do feel we need to be practicing our craft as often a ...

Dear Reader, Haunting Miss Trentwood began as an exercise to understand how my parent felt about losing both of their parents. I researched adult (or midlife) orphans, which ...

Dear Reader, I'd like to introduce you to Stacey Cochran, my guest from the West today at Worderella Writes. He was kind enough to answer my three questions with some excelle ...

Dear Reader, I got the following email this evening that really got me riled up. Hello, Worderella -- Recently, we launched a beta test of a premium feature called "The S ...

Title: This Duchess of Mine Author: Eloisa James Genre: Historical Romance Length: 370 pgs. Summary: They are polar opposites, the Duke and Duchess of Beaumont. Elijah is alm ...

Dear Reader, You are not going to believe this, but I seem to have lost my research. Not all of it, just the detailed, every day sort of stuff about the town that I'm writing ab ...

Dear Reader, I've been in a writing slump thanks to my car breaking down. Last night, I saw a tweet for help from the lovely manda903, aka Amanda Racette, saying she needed insp ...

Dear Reader, This is the project I was talking about. Please tell your friends and family about it, I'm really excited to make this happen! And so it begins! All the best, ...

Dear Reader, This has been a craptastic week. I've been having nightmares about being in a car accident, so I took my car into the shop just to check it out. The car needs major ...

Dear Reader, I'd like to introduce you to James M Turner, my guest from across the pond today at Worderella Writes. Turner is an author, composer, musician and screenwriter. ...

Dear Reader, After giving you a taste of Haunting Miss Trentwood, I thought it would be nice if I showed you one of the many ways I keep track of who I'm writing about, how they ...

Dear Reader, I am ashamed to admit it has been, according to 750words.com, five days since I last wrote a word for Haunting Miss Trentwood. Thank goodness for blogfests! I almos ...

Dear Reader, You would not believe what I saw at my local used bookstore the other day. I had chosen to block it from my memory, but the following tweet from @jennIRL brought it ...

Dear Reader, No, I am not talking about synchronized swimming. Rather, I am talking about the attempt to synchronize my on-line goings-on. You see, I can be reached at a number ...

Dear Reader, The amazing thing about the internet is how it is able to connect you to people who care about your work. Tomorrow, Critique This WIP is interviewing me on their bl ...

Dear Reader, In case you didn't know, today is my birthday, and two years ago I put my writing aside to get a masters degree. Now that I've graduated, I feel a bit like Mr. v ...

Dear Reader, I've gotta say, it's been pretty tough tracking you down. I've done it to myself, I know, writing such a particular genre (paranormal historical romance). But the t ...

Dear Reader, You might wonder why I'm publishing a second edition of my first book while in the middle of writing my second book. You wouldn't be alone in wondering this. My mot ...

Dear Reader, I've made a book trailer for Catching the Rose, and let me tell you, it's exhausting. But oh so fun, if you know what you're doing. I downloaded CamStudio to screen ...

Dear Reader, Forgive me as I go on a happy rant. Today was a fairly good day, as I lived today. Living, as opposed to what, you ask? Well, reading and writing about living. I th ...

Dear Reader, I've spent most of this week adjusting to all the responsibilities of my new job, as well as calming down a bit with this whole self-publishing thing. I'm the sort ...

Dear Reader, Well. I've been in something of a mood lately, which probably isn't the best time to release a YouTube video inviting people to join me on this journey of self-publ ...

It's been a busy week in Worderella World. I haven't done much writing because I've been busy setting up my micropress, which I finally named Bright Bird Press. I like it; it feels ...

This has been an ongoing struggle for me, this naming of my micro-press. My personal brand is Worderella, but do I want to associate that with all the books I might print? For inst ...

So I've been meaning to release my first book, Catching the Rose, as in eBook format, but wasn't sure where to begin. As always, I turned to my friend Zoe Winters to see what she's ...

Why is it that stating I want to self-publish makes me a politically-charged topic for people who couldn't possibly care about publishing in any form, traditional-, subsidy-, self- ...

This is my first time venturing into the corporate world full-time, and let me tell you, it is a different sort of exhaustion than I was expecting. In order to fulfill my duties in ...

Really, the two are interchangeable at this point. I need both a hero and a book cover designer. You see, I'm self-publishing my book and I'm doing as much of it myself as I can. W ...

As a published author determined to self-publish all future works, I always find it fascinating to read about others' adventures in the self-publishing world. More people are doing ...

I am now a Master of Science. Fear me! What have I been doing with myself? I have taken my time detoxing from the intensity of my masters program. Graduating has felt like how I ...

I do apologize for completely disappearing for almost a year. This has been quite the seven months since my last post. Not to be dramatic, but I found love, lost love, was betrayed ...

"Hush, hush. Keep it down now, voices carry!" Voices Carry sung by Aimee Mann This is an interesting time for those of us trying to market our work. We have the internet, and all ...

Just for the record, I'm switching my posting schedule to once every two weeks. Hopefully I can keep up with this schedule once school starts again. I'm getting into the self-publ ...

Hello everyone! Yes, I am alive. I apologize for my absence. Graduate school takes up far more time than I realized, and now I am working full-time in an internship that require ...

Hi all, sorry for missing last week. It was a rough week all around; this semester, graduate school is kicking my patookie. In fact, I'll probably have to go on a hiatus for a whil ...

I am a fan of the indie-publisher in the same way that I'm a fan of a lot of indie musicians. It's a scary thing to put your work out there for others to judge. And as there will a ...

This week we don't have class due to my professor having a conference, which is nice. I've been reading through the class critiques of my most recent story, which is always interes ...

Today in class we talked about the mechanics of dialogue, and how it's a weakness for some writers and a strength for others. We read Robert Bausch's short story, "Aren't You H ...

"Could it think, the heart would stop beating." - Fernando Pessoa Today in my English class we talked about the implicit promises writers make to their readers... these promises a ...

Well, with a day full of classes and the inauguration, I managed to forget to post. Bad Belinda! I don't really have a lot to say, other than the fact that I submitted my first sho ...

"A book is like a man - clever and dull, brave and cowardly, beautiful and ugly. For every flowering thought there will be a page like a wet and mangy mongrel, and for every loopin ...

Happy new year, everyone! I'm starting this year with high hopes; I've completed the surface edits of Trentwood's Orphan and am ready to send it out for impressions/critiques. This ...

I'm plugging away at the final surface edits for Trentwood's Orphan during my winter break from graduate school. It's fast-going, and I'm surprisingly pleased with how the story is ...

Happy holidays! I thought I'd throw out a fun Tuesday Thirteen list today, this one having a theme of fairy-tale inspired books. I haven't read some of these books in ten year ...

As of Sunday at four in the afternoon, I finished writing the second draft of First Draft B. These are the specs... The goal was to write 85,000 words, thus cutting out what ...

Title: The Reincarnationist Author: MJ Rose Genre: Historical Suspense Length: 455 pgs. Summary: Josh Ryder, an investigative photographer, is the survivor of a terrorist bom ...

I've been reading a lot, recently, about how authors are trying to to convert those "early adopters" over to their writing. Early adopters, if you don't recognize the term, comes f ...

"Men are so adulterous!" "What makes you think men are more adulterous?" "Men are definitely more adulterous." "Well... who do you think these men are having sex with?" I have ...

"When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of action you should take--choose the bolder." - Ezra Pound This month, you're doing what many think is ...

"My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living." - Anaïs Nin, French Writer First, I need to say that last week the lovely Evangeline at Edwardian Prome ...

This month, I'm doing a series of short exercises, one a week, to help those of you who are stuck with your WIP. Maybe you're doing NaNoWriMo, maybe not. In any case, it helps to h ...

Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire. - Arnold H. Glasow A somewhat creepy quote just in time for Halloween, I think. Can you imagine ...

The other day, I indulged during my break time and did some reading on self-publishing. This is self-publishing in the literal sense, meaning that I would handle the interior and e ...

"When I have an idea, I turn down the flame, as if it were a little alcohol stove, as low as it will go. Then it explodes and that is my idea." - Ernest Hemingway This quote desc ...

"If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin." - Ivan Turgenev When someone finds out I'm a writer, I inevitably hear about ho ...

A book must be an ice-axe to break the seas frozen inside our soul. - Franz Kafka We all know that a story in which nothing bad happens to the character isn't much of a story. Th ...

Title: Private Arrangements Author: Sherry Thomas Genre: Historical Romance Length: 351 pgs. Summary: Everyone in London envies Lord Camden and Lady Gigi Tremaine's marriage. ...

I wrote my first novel because I wanted to read it.  - Toni Morrison (American author) This is very true for my current novel, and perhaps even for my first novel. But is it true ...

"When I used to teach creative writing, I would tell the students to make their characters want something right away even if it's only a glass of water. Characters paralyzed by the ...

I run great risk of failing. It may be that I shall encounter ruin where I look for reputation and a career of honor. The chances are perhaps more in favour of ruin than of suc ...

For a novelist, a given historic situation is an anthropologic laboratory in which he explores his basic question: what is human existence?  - Milan Kundera (Czech writer) Fellow ...

Crazy as it may seem, I don't worry about the first three chapters. Wait, I take that back. I do worry. I worry about them a lot. But at the same time, I'm not too worried about th ...

Title: A Pale Horse Author: Charles Todd Genre: Historical Mystery Length: 360 pgs. Summary: It is 1920 London, and Inspector Ian Rutledge is freshly traumatized from the Gre ...

Title: The Somnambulist Author: Jonathan Barnes Genre: Historical Fiction Length: 353 pgs. Summary: Edward Moon, the great detective magician, is past his prime and no longer ...

For some reason, most author websites are awful. This is probably because authors don't have the time, money, or inclination to put a lot of effort into a good website design. Unfo ...

Please excuse another post off the Tuesday/Thursday schedule. From August 22 to August 31, I'll be without ready access to the internet and I need guest bloggers! If you would l ...

Hi all, I know I'm disrupting my posting schedule, but this is too cool to pass up. Zoe Winters, our guest blogger today, clued me in on a new networking opportunity that is both f ...

A guest post from a new writing accomplice, Zoe Winters. She writes to encourage you to find your dream and follow through, using the television show The Biggest Loser as a classic ...

Last week, I finished the paper edits of First Draft B. Cue the fanfare, tears of happiness, and confetti. Now it's time to pull off the gloves and re-type the entire thing with th ...

Title: An Arsonists's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England Author: Brock Clarke Genre: Adult Fiction Length: 303 pgs. Summary: Sam Pulsifer, the son of two English teachers ...

Drumroll please... The winner of the free Worderella critique contest is: Jaye Patrick!  Congratulations! E-mail your first three chapters/first 50 double-spaced pages to worde ...

Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. Finding Nemo I hope you're following Dory's advice and staying persistent... just keep swimming ...

Here is a conversation I hope I never see in your work, ever. "Hi Belinda." "Hey Marcie. What's up?" "Nothing much." Marcie sighs into the phone. "Making dinner. Hubby's com ...

"Don't talk of stars, burning above! If you're in love, show me! Tell me no dreams filled with desire, if you're on fire, show me! Here we are together in the middle of the nig ...

Today we are going to work on being honest when editing. I always like to think of editing as having three major factors: being honest with yourself, with your writing, and with yo ...

I once read somewhere that there are three phases a writer will go through before a work is ready for consumption: You write the first draft for yourself. You write the secon ...

"Nobody's perfect, I gotta work it again and again 'til I get it right..." Nobody's Perfect sung by Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus Well, Hannah Montana's right on the money with th ...

I choose my television and movie choices carefully (most of the time). If I listed my favorite tv series, a pattern of character-driven plots will emerge (Pushing Daisies, The Offi ...

For you writers looking for a word processor that caters to you as a writer (i.e. something that isn't Microsoft Word), you NEED to get over to Giveaway of the Day. For today only ...

"Good writers are those who keep the language efficient. That is to say, keep it accurate, keep it clear." - Ezra Pound Today's post is a distillation of news I've seen around ...

Cynthia from Creative Writing Corner wrote an interesting post about how her life and history shapes the themes in her writing. It's an interesting exercise, looking at how your li ...

Title: The Honorable Marksley Author: Sherry Lynn Ferguson Genre: Regency Romance Length: 230 pgs. Summary: When the prodigal heir to the family, Reggie, compromises a young ...

If anything deserves more attention in my research, it's the setting. Not for lack of trying, though; it's something I tend to obsess about, if you'll remember, but the resources a ...

This summer is the first time I've ever had a full-time job. Shocking, I'm sure. It's led me to realize how spoiled I've been. As a student, I could stay up late writing and go to ...

Just coming into my three-part series on developing villainous characters? Make sure to read my suggestions in part one and part two! Give your villain/character a fatal flaw. Th ...

Just coming into my three-part series on developing villainous characters? Make sure to read my suggestions in part one! For part two, we're going deeper into the mind and actions ...

Due to finals, graduating, and spending time with the extended family, I've missed about 75% of Eliza's villain month over at Tales of a Fantasy Scribbler. I did want to participat ...

I was going to post a Thursday Thirteen on graduating with my bachelors of science in computer science and engineering. Note the past tense. Instead, I'm going to weigh in on this ...

All right, back on track this week with the posts! So I briefly mentioned some time ago that I have a paper journal. This past year, my paper journal has been a lifesaver, espec ...

Man, I've been jumping all over my blog posting schedule this week. I've written a guest column at Graham Carter's blog, just a little tongue-in-cheek reflection on the English ...

Today's theme for my Thursday Fifteen (and here I was afraid I wouldn't get thirteen items each week!) is book marketing, something many of us assume our publisher will handle. Wro ...

Since I cheated my usual schedule and made my real post yesterday about finishing First Draft B, I'm dedicating this post to a fellow writer-blogger, Eliza W, who's dedicating her ...

The title of this post says it all, but here are some details. Saturday night, I couldn't focus on homework. So instead, I daydreamed about my novel. At midnight, I decided I wo ...

As writers, we tend to spend a lot of time in front of the computer. As a computer scientist, my time in front of the computer is magnified, because it's my livelihood and my hob ...

A little over a week ago, I added a new scene to the beginning of the WIP. It shifts the moment when the reader joins the story from the original scene to fifteen minutes earlier. ...

I often find interesting bits of information floating around that don't necessarily correspond to an entire blogpost. To compensate, sometimes I'll have a Thursday Thirteen to coll ...

Title:Neverwhere Author:Neil Gaiman Genre: Fiction Length:370 pgs. Summary: Stuck in a relationship and job where he is a whipping boy, Richard Mayhew breaks free of his dail ...

A guest post from my friend, Graham Carter, a reporter and editor from across the pond. He writes to answer the cries of us writers who have let our doubts get the better of us, an ...

I have had two chapters left to write for First Draft B since the beginning of April, and I can't seem to do it. Not because I don't know what's going to happen, but because these ...

The real secret is to do it because you love writing rather than because you love the idea of being a Writer. - Iain Banks I once got into an odd conversation with someone a ...

Another guest post this week, this time by my friend Word Nerd. She's going to introduce us to science fiction and fantasy, genres I do read, but not as much as historical fiction. ...

A guest post by Blair Hurley from www.blairhurley.com listing some hints on how to make sure you're writing on the go. Writing on the Go by Blair Hurley Writers use their own ...

No April Fool's today, just a quick shout-out to my mother (it's her birthday!), an announcement, and a long-overdue post about my WIP. First, the announcement: I'm switching ba ...

Title: Silent in the Sanctuary Author: Deanna Raybourn Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery Length: 552 pgs Summary: Lady Julia Grey is back from her Italian getaway, where she ...

Do you have information about how to write, edit, or publish? Do you have favorite blogs that you read that I haven't showcased? Is there a genre you write that I haven't dis ...

Agents, it seems, are the way to break into the traditional publishing field for authors. But how do you find an agent? More importantly, once you find an agent, how do you know th ...

Title: Arranged Marriage Author: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Genre: Short Stories Length: 307 pgs Summary: A powerful, eye-opening, easy to read set of thoughtful short storie ...

We all know Mark Twain for Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, The Prince and the Pauper, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, etc. In literary circles he is known for his lambas ...

We don't remember Scarlett O'Hara for her beauty, we remember her because she survived countless marriages, a war, childbirth, poverty, sickness, the end of the world as she knew i ...

Title: The Deception of the Emerald Ring Author: Lauren Willig Genre: Historical Fiction, Chick Lit Length: 387 pgs Summary: Modern day - Eloise Kelly, like any good graduate ...

It turns out that if you're self-published, you're considered self-employed. If you're self-employed, you need to report your income if you accept more than $400 a year for your se ...

Title: North and South Author: Elizabeth Gaskell Genre: Classic Fiction Length: 452 pgs Summary: Margaret Hale, a English southerner who migrates to Milton, a northern indust ...

Just a quick entry to let you know about an interesting discussion that's happening at Redlines and Deadlines about beta males in fiction/romance. In case you don't remember, I ...

I envy my own characters even though they live in my head and therefore, are technically me anyway. Why the envy? They have distinctive penmanship and can wield a fountain pen with ...

Well, the season hasn't changed yet, unfortunately. The weather forecast says winter storm for the rest of the night. However, today the season did change for my website. I've been ...

Title: The Masque of the Black Tulip Author: Lauren Willig Genre: Regency Romance Length: 406 pgs Summary: Eloise Kelly, our favorite history graduate student, continues in ...

In the fall I read many wonderful texts from American Lit (circa 1820 - 1860), especially some great things by feminist writers of the time. To celebrate the coming of Valentine's ...

Title: The Rules of Gentility Author: Janet Mullany Genre: Regency Romance Length: 268 pgs Summary: Miss Philomena Wellesly-Clegg is a young woman who knows her mind and ope ...

"I think that writers need to be out there, be in contact with people, struggle with other things and then come back and bring it to her writing." - Chitra Divakaruni Caricat ...

Title: Wildford's Daughter Author: Alexandra Manners Genre: Regency Romance Length: 257 pgs Summary: Emma Wildford, seeing how her society-addled mother ruined her parents' ...

snafu (adj) : situation normal - all fouled up Things were going really well with the WIP until the middle of December, when in the middle of the night I woke up in a sweat with ...

Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery, right? Well, I think it's time I admit that I have a problem: I don't have enough time to read everything I want to read ...

Happy new year, everyone! Here's hoping your muse is kind. Mine favored me at the end of my break from school, the procrastinating little wretch that she is, and I'm now 76% comple ...

I realize I'm sort of copping out for this entry, but I'm taking some much-needed down time until after the new year. I recently converted the blog to Wordpress (finally, I know), ...

This past quarter, I read books on the side between my crazy class schedule, work, and the magazine. I should write my typical Worderella review on them, but instead I'm going to l ...

This is just to let everyone know that later today (4pm Eastern American time) the feed URL will switch* to http://blog.worderella.com/feed/. Please update your readers accordingly ...

Title: Bath Tangle Author: Georgette Heyer Genre: Regency Romance Length: 409 pgs Summary: The Earl of Spenborough has just died, and his only child, daughter Serena Carlow, ...

Title: The Time-Traveler's Wife Author: Audrey Niffenegger Genre: Fiction, Science-Fiction Length: 518 pgs Summary: This is the story of Clare and Henry. Henry time-travels, ...

Title: Evening Author: Susan Minot Genre: Fiction Length: 264 pgs Summary: Ann Grant Lord is dying. As she lays in bed drifting in and out of consciousness, memories of a lo ...

Things are definitely crazy here on campus (did I mention I'm a Buckeye?), what with it being my last undergraduate year (!!). Grad school applications are slowly going out, and I ...

Caricature drawn by Worderella Everyone talks about how important a first line is, how important the first page is, of any good piece of writing. We go on about how the idea n ...

How many of you are doing NaNoWriMo this year? I did it last year, my first time ever, and I loved it. I won, which was exciting, and it inspired me to go back and start First Draf ...

Title: Never Let Me Go Author: Kazuo Ishiguro Genre: Fiction Length: 288 pgs Summary: Kathy grew up in the sheltered, English countryside at the Hailsham boarding school, whe ...

I live in a 12' by 10' room when I'm at home during the summers, and I share it with my younger sister. We don't have bunk beds, and hardly any storage space. In fact, we have th ...

So about a week ago I read about an author who was having trouble with her hero's voice... that is, she couldn't seem to make him actually sound like a man. And then she remembered ...

By the High Victorian era, which describes the 1870s and beyond, many activists and doctors were starting to connect the welfare and livelihood of Londoners to their environment ar ...

And now, the finale for the article on how to hold on to your plot! Article found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/getwriting/module27p Complex Structures The credibility of ...

So, I don't know how many of you actually came to the blog yesterday, but if you did, I apologize. I don't have a PHP interpreter on my computer, so when I made changes to the layo ...

Title: Silent in the Grave Author: Deanna Raybourn Genre: Historical Mystery Length: 509 pgs Summary: Always weak, Sir Edward falls to the floor while he and his wife, Lady ...

So I normally don't do memes, but Word Nerd tagged me and I like this one, so I'm doing it. Which, while I'm on the topic, how do you pronounce the word "meme"? Is it "mem" such as ...

A continuation from the article I posted here, read about how you can hold onto your plot by working with your characters, etc. Article found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/getw ...

When we begin writing, we have this core idea, this main plot that keeps the story together. But as we get deeper into subplots and secondary/tertiary characters, sometimes we lose ...

Boiled down to its basic elements, a plot is comprised of people with motives which meet resistance, creating conflict and leading to consequences. Scenes must either advance the p ...

Title: Hurricane Moon Author: Alexis Glynn Latner Genre: Science Fiction Length: 397 pgs Summary: It is the late 21st Century. Catharin, an idealistic astronaut-physician, i ...

So I never got around to showing you the mini-cards I got from MOO Print Ltd back when I was at LiveJournal. I love these things. My favorite one is the green polka-dot background ...

I am an alpha personality: I live by lists, I like things ordered a certain way, I like to be in charge, I like to be on time. So you would think I use storyboarding to plot my no ...

Mina: So how is the new work-in-progress going? Me: Really well! I mean, I got up to chapter 18 and I was flowing and everything. Wrote a couple thousand words last month, but the ...

An effective opening may do many things at once. It might set up the main characters and their relationship, it might describe a setting or a dramatic event, it will probably alway ...

I'm going to admit something: that birthday I mentioned a little while ago? I just turned 22. Which seems awful young for any sort of leg and /or back pain, right? I think so, and ...

Things have been crazy around Worderella's part of the world lately. I took the GRE yesterday, my second time, just to see if I could improve my somewhat decent score. I did, so hu ...

Title: The Extra Large Medium Author: Helen Slavin Genre: Paranormal Women's Fiction Length: 288 pgs Summary: Annie always thought chocolate brown was the new black, because ...

So, it seems as though the RSS feed is currently a little wacky right now for this new blog. Either that, or LiveJournal is taking its revenge on me for switching systems, and it's ...

Title: The Wayward Muse Author: Elizabeth Hickey Genre: Historical Fiction Length: 293 pgs Summary: It is the beginning of the Victorian era, and Jane is a very ugly girl. O ...

Title: The Glass Harmonica Author: Louise Marley Genre: Paranormal Historical Fiction Length: 369 pgs Summary: The year is 2018 and Erin is the premiere virtuosa on the glass ...

I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that don't work. - Thomas Alva EdisonSo, I've been getting a lot of writing done, which is exciting. If you've been checking out my ...

Fear Factor Get inspiration from your own fears and phobias - if it scares you, the chances are it will scare a good proportion of your readership. Primal fears go to the very ro ...

I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is to try to please everyone. - Bill Cosby And now for some amusing news that will make any rejected writer feel a little ...

I often read that the biggest things a writer should worry about are theme and organization. Theme, because that is the heart of your work; organization because that's the skeleton ...

To get your ideas across use small words, big ideas, and short sentences. - John Henry Patterson

Title: Liszt's Kiss Author: Susanne Dunlap Genre: Historical Fiction Length: 330 pgs Summary: Anne, a young pianist about to enter Parisian society during the height of the ...

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted. 2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for. 3. Every cha ...

Title: Stardust Author: Neil Gaiman Genre: Fantasy Length: 235 pgs Summary: In the town of Wall there is a young man named Tristran Thorn, and he is in love with a young wom ...

I was just notified that I am a finalist for the Writer's Digest Best Writer's Website Contest! I'll be in the October issue, so look for me, Belinda Kroll at www.worderella.com! T ...

Think you're just a simple fiction writer? That your romance doesn't have anything to do with horror? I find that the best fiction has elements of multiple genres, or at least tric ...

Title: Posion Study Author: Maria V Snyder Genre: Fantasy Length: 361 pgs Summary: Yelena has murdered a man. And the punishment for death, for any unnatural death, even acc ...

Title: A Poisoned Season Author: Tasha Alexander Genre: Historical Mystery Length: 306 pgs Summary: It is the start of the summer Season in London, and everyone worth speaki ...

Title: Miss Wonderful Author: Loretta Chase Genre: Regency Romance Length: 342 pgs Summary: Mirabel Oldridge thought she had everything under control on her Regency property. ...

Make an honest assessment of what it is you're willing to sacrifice for your writing because it is quite a painful exercise, it's so subjective. It should be a process of reasoning ...

Here is a great article on the structure of your work, stressing the importance of making the structure as important as the plot. What is Structure? by David Mitchell To begin ...

There's nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and open a vein. - Red Smith

Well, it's Finals Week™, so we all know what that means: I get to start writing again! At the end of every quarter as assignments trickle to a halt and I'm left with more free time ...

Though this is more about feature writing in a newsmagazine or some such publication, I thought this article was helpful for us fiction writers as well. Just um...whenever he write ...

Title: The Thirteenth Tale Author: Diane Setterfield Genre: Fiction Length: 406 pgs Summary: Margaret Lea has a secret about her birth; a secret that haunts her to this day, ...

The best writing advice I ever received came near-simultaneously from two different sources. I was struggling through my first full-length work, finding it a very different and ...

Using Foreshadowing Heighten the themes of your story or increase the tension by using small incidents which echo later, more significant events, known as foreshadowing. Keep it ...

I have so many notes dedicated to life in the Victorian home that I could probably dedicate an entire month's worth of posts to the topic. I won't, but here are some tidbits here a ...

Get the reader into the story straight away, and use crisp and unassuming language. Don't make the reader want to reach for the dictionary. - Elliot Perlman

I bring sad news! Miss Snark { http://misssnark.blogspot.com/ } is leaving us, though not without a prize: the archive of her blog, thus allowing us to search it at will so we can ...

Title: Paperback Writer: A Novel Author: Stephen Bly Genre: Fiction Length: 342 pgs Summary: Paul James Watson is your typical midlist paperback novelist. He lives a typical ...

I often have written a hundred pages or more before there's a paragraph that's alive. - Philip Roth

Title: Hood: The King Raven Trilogy (Book 1) Author: Stephen R. Lawhead Genre: Fiction Length: 472 pgs Summary: Rhi Bran ap Brychan, heir to the Elfael throne, has never bee ...

Titles, unfortunately, are usually not within the realm of control an author has (if traditionally published). The title is considered a part of the marketing of the book, same as ...

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; a bad novel tells us the truth about its author. - G.K. Chesterton I know it has been almost a month since my last post, and for ...

First, my thoughts and prayers go out to the students, staff, and faculty at Virginia Tech, and their friends and families. Second, I am starting a slight haitus. The quarter is ...

Every man's work, whether it be literature or music or pictures or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself. - Samuel Butler

Title: The Brontë Project: A Novel of Passion, Desire, and Good PR Author: Jennifer Vandever Genre: Women's Fiction Length: 288 pgs Summary: Sara, a graduate student working ...

If you're feeling a little burnt out from trying to write when it isn't coming to you, read this inspirational essay by Beth Conny. She explains that being a writer isn't a choice, ...

Title: Animating Maria Author: Marion Chesney Genre: Regency Romance Length: 160 pgs Summary:This is the fifth book of the School for Manners series in which twin sisters Am ...

So your current work-in-progress looks like it might never see the light of day. Yet, when your friends and colleagues ask what you do, you itch to say that you're a writer. How ca ...

Word Nerd: What piece of advice helped you out the most as a writer? FFORDE: Do it for fun. Do it for yourself. Do it because you want to write. Writers write because they can't ...

So. How is the WIP going? Fairly well, I would say. It's a new month, which means I've printed out the previous month's (incomplete) draft, kissed it, set it aside, and convinced m ...

Title: The Secret History of the Pink Carnation Author: Lauren Willig Genre: Historical Fiction, Chick Lit Length: 400 pgs Summary: Eloise Kelly is a PhD student chasing aft ...

So, as writers, we are expected to be the paragons of all that is writing and editing, yes? Goodness, I hope not. Many of us have the same trouble editing another's work as we do o ...

Title: How to Read a Novel: A User's Guide Author: John Sutherland Genre: Non-fiction Length: 272 pgs Summary: This book does seem a little...odd, doesn't it, by the title? ...

Title: The Grand Sophy Author: Georgette Heyer Genre: Regency Romance Length: 416 pgs Summary: The Ombersley house is in a turmoil. Cousin Sophy Stanton-Lacy has been left b ...

I just wanted to mention the going of POD-dy Mouth. She had a wonderful experiment of finding self-published print-on-demad authors, reviewing them, and even coming up with a top l ...

Tightening Up You will probably find that the opening of your first draft has been more of a warming up exercise, a way of breaking yourself in gently to the often daunting task ...

I should be studying for my finite automata exam. Really, I should. However, I find myself procrastinating. Which is funny, because usually I use my studying and classwork as a way ...

I forgot to mention that this past week, The Cat in the Hat turned 50. I have very fond memories of that book, and the little musical cartoon movie. Dr Seuss's nonsensical words, a ...

Title: The Moon is Down Author: John Steinbeck Genre: Fiction Length: 112 pgs Summary: Written during the height of Nazi Germany's power, this book is about the invasion and ...

A Fine Romance It's stating the obvious, but romance is vital to any romantic fiction and needs to be central to your story. You can mix in other themes and genres, such as a mys ...

All right kiddos, it's admission time: I have let life get in the way of my writing. I know, I know, one should always make time to write. That's been my personal mantra the last c ...

Here is an interesting essay about writing romance that I found at the BBC - Get Writing website. Writing Romantic Fiction by Katie Fforde A Broad Genre The Brontës, Sophie ...

If it is written and read with serious attention, a novel, like a myth or any great work of art, can become an initiation that helps us to make a painful rite of passage from one p ...

First thing's first: someone has randomly thanked me for posting in this journal, and encouraged me to keep up the good work. I don't know who wrote the comment, but let me thank y ...

I found this article online to help you structure your projects. It seems simple enough, and isn't a strict outline, which I have never been able to do. Instead, it helps you make ...

The following wonderful writing advice was found at Carrie's Procrastinatory Outlet. Her original post is about why we, as writers, should analyze why we, as readers, decide to put ...

Do not embellish so much in the pursuit of drama that you lose sight of the truth. Beware telling only one side of the story. It's unfair to your audience, leaving them to think an ...

Let's talk about some down and dirty, yet cost-efficient marketing. This is also known as Guerilla Marketing. Using resources around you to make a local impact is bigger news to an ...

The primary purpose of the plot is to give the protagonist a reason to change in the direction she needs to change. - Alicia Rasley

To be honest, I'd never heard of a USP until the other day. I kind of thought maybe they were trying to say USB, as in a USB port in a computer. Such is life as a computer science ...

Title: A Mankind Witch Author: Dave Freer Genre: Fantasy Length: 352 pgs Summary: Cair Aiden, one of the Redbeard Raider brothers, a pair of corsair seacaptains, has washed ...

I can't remember if I mentioned this already (and I'm too lazy to look at the last couple entries to find out), so let me say this now: school is back in session. This surely expla ...

If you're trying to make it big as a self-publisher, investing in your marketing is key. Don't just slap a picture as your cover or use some template, hire a design team! Not only ...

Think your editor, or all editors, have it good because they get to sit around proofreading the next Great American Novel while drinking tea? I never really thought about it. Most ...

Top Ten Writing Tips to Help You Write More - Angela Booth Tip One: Pay attention to images Your right brain thinks in images, and when you write, you translate images from yo ...

Happy New Year everyone! May your muse shine brightly this year. Now to some business: for those of you who are interested in taking graduate-level courses, check out the follow ...

My New Year’s resolution is to focus on the book and forget all the crap that surrounds the writing business. To lose myself in a story, and not give a damn if it makes any lists, ...

Title: Once Upon a Marigold Author: Jean Ferris Genre: Fantasy Length: 272 pgs Summary: The hook on the front cover of this book reads Part comedy, part love story, part eve ...

Title: The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars Author: Steven Brust Genre: Fiction/Folktale Length: 210 pgs Summary: This is technically two separate stories about two cocky young ...

Taken from Miss Snark, here is the general template on how to make your hook act, read, and seem like an actual hook. X is the main guy; he wants to do: Y is the bad guy; he wa ...

Title: Green Rider Author: Kristen Britain Genre: Fantasy Length: 480 pgs Summary: Karigan G'ladheon has been unfairly kicked from school because she, the daughter of a mer ...

Title: The Slightest Provocation Author: Pam Rosenthal Genre: Historical Romance Length: 352 pgs Summary: In the tradition of Romeo and Juliet, Mary Penley and Kit Stansell ...

This is hilarious and something all Victorian novelists ought to read. OFFICIAL RULES FOR WRITING VICTORIAN HISTORICAL NOVELS by Sally Zigmond1. There’s always trouble up factory ...

So, after updating the website with little things here and there, updating links, adding a nifty (and random) blockquote to the main page, among other things, I decided to do the e ...

You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we're doing it. ...

So. I've begun working on the prequel again, after taking a seven week hiatus to participate in NaNoWriMo and then study for Finals Week. I'm glad I took all that time off, because ...

Title: St. Ursula's Girls Against the Atomic Bomb Author: Valerie Hurley Genre: Fiction Length: 252 pgs Summary: So. This book is interesting. St Ursula's Girls Against the ...

Title: A Hole in the Earth Author: Robert Bausch Genre: Narrative Fiction Length: 368 pgs A Hole in the Earth by Robert Bausch is a first-person narrative about "the summer" ...

As a writer, I have an interesting position with my friends who consider me a writer: they ask for reading suggestions, as though I've read everything and therefore know what's wor ...

Can I be blunt on this subject? If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that. Reading is the creative center of a writer’s life. ...

Getting stuck on finding the texts you need for your research? Believe me, I've been there. After reading one book, liking some of the information but wishing I could read the book ...

The key idea to remember is that fixing a broken novel is liked organizing an overstuffed closet: things get messier before they get better. You have to pull everything out before ...

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep. - Scott Adams Is it sad that I find literary posters amusing? Click to see Bob the Angry Fl ...

Now that you have that first half of the novel under your belt, maybe from NaNoWriMo, maybe from working on your own, it's time to start looking for that agent if you aren't going ...

Characters take on life sometimes by luck, but I suspect it is when you can write most entirely out of yourself, inside the skin, heart, mind and soul of a person who is not yourse ...

I've won NaNoWriMo! How exciting. I hope everyone who participated is proud of however much they were able to produce, and that they have donated to the Young Writer's cause. Even ...

I took these notes for my High Victorian era novel on December 19, 2004. Thought I'd post a few of my notes every once in a while, either as a way to help my fellow fiction/histori ...

Why is it, that during this particular November, I'm getting a lot done? I am, perhaps, the most productive I have ever been, and that's coupled with the threat of a sinus infectio ...

For those of you who are unaware, November is NaNoWriMo (nan-oh-wry-moh) aka National Novel Writing Month. To help celebrate this fact, writers all over the world have joined nanow ...

Title: The Picture of Dorian Gray Author: Oscar Wilde Genre: Psychological/Classic Fiction Length: 288 pgs Well. I finally completed reading this book. This isn't to say tha ...

So, as you all know, I finished my first complete draft this past Friday. This means that I've been thinking about the novel the entire weekend, wanting to read it through, but eac ...

94,811 / 94,811(100.0%) And now to my favorite part. EDITING!! Seriously, I love this part. I can go back and mold my characters, twist their subplots, add the detai ...

Bloomsbury, an independent publisher whose home is the UK, has a wonderful Writer's Area with articles about how to submit materials, approach a publisher, what you can expect an a ...

Found something fun and nifty online, I can't remember how I stumbled upon this but I thought I'd share it anyway: you can test your work-in-progress title for popularity. Now t ...

All right, I've been seeing a lot of these lately and I'm wondering whether they are really getting the job done: book trailers. I understand what they're trying to do. We're such ...

Previous word count, as of Sept 23, 2006: 86,736. Update: 93,504 / 100,000 (92.0%) ...

Another of the many reasons to read POD-dy Mouth's blog: you get to hear about some pretty big and great news for self-publishing authors. So what is the good news? Let me give you ...

Well, it's official. I changed the name of this blog, and I added the domain name that will eventually be the official domain for my website: Worderella. Spent some time tonight pl ...

Stuck in a rut? Want to begin a new novel (since NaNoWriMo is coming up)? I find that I love fairy tales, and that they have the best themes to make the backbone of any good draft. ...

Recently, a friend and I were discussing trends in the romance industry. She would like to see an upswing in historicals, specifically, Victorian-set historicals. “But,” she says, ...

I will admit, I'm struggling. I want to get this first complete draft out, but I can feel the doom of the Writer's Block hovering over my left shoulder, while my muse bats away at ...

I've been cleaning my place, trying to get things in order since I've moved back to campus, and I found some old notes about how to bring fiction to life. I only got as far as c ...

Yes, I accept e-mails from AuthorHouse even though they were sued for libel because they accepted a self-published author's book which had been rejected by another self-publishing ...

Remember when I said I had the dreaded Writer's Block? I'm going to admit that I was a little glad I had it. I didn't know where I wanted the characters to go, I didn't know what t ...

We hear so much about the importance of editing, and moreso the importance of letting someone else read our work before we attempt to publish it. The thing is, how do we know who t ...

Happy Labor Day! Today is a list from The Writer (July 2006) that quickly describes how to create convincing characters by Corey Blake. Blake begins the article, Creating believ ...

First off, what is a query? A query is the first letter you will ever send to a prospective agent or publisher. Keep in mind that most publishers won't look at your query unless yo ...

Writerisms and other Sins: A Writer's Shortcut to Stronger Writing Copyright © 1995 by C.J. Cherryh Writerisms: overused and misused language. In more direct words: find 'em, roo ...

Jaguarpaddler pulled together all the rules he found for writing a good synopsis to send to an agent and/or editor, and I thought they were useful so here they are. Before writing ...

I was reading the August issue of The Writer the other day, (which, by the way, has at least three really good articles in it) and found an article written by Paola Corso on integr ...

Every true novelist listens for that suprapersonal wisdome which explains why great novels are always a little more intelligent than their authors. - Milan Kundera My great anxi ...

Today I went to the dollar theater with my mother and sister to see The Lake House. Yes, it was a romantic drama, yes, it was a sort of time travel story, and yes, there were some ...

I changed the layout of my website (found here), edited some text, etc. Also changed the colors of this blog. As you may have guessed, I'm going through writer's block. I find t ...

Being a historical romance author is interesting. It's taken me a while to admit it thanks to the now-expected snickers and leading questions, but yes, I am a romance author. But, ...

I found these tips amusing and true, from imaginarycircus. Go to her post to see a couple humorous comments too: 1. By withholding information from your reader you do not create m ...

When people ask me about my book, I tell them I self-published it. This is true and untrue. I paid to have the book printed, I bought a set of the book and sold it to my family and ...

http://www.authorslawyer.com/ <-- read, learn, explore. Tips for Spotting Questionable Agents listed the following and more: Requiring a reading fee with a submission. In ...

Ah, the woes of being a writer in today's world. It is hard to break into publishing, especially with the big names. Even small press publishers are closing their doors to unsolici ...

Did I mention that my current novel just passed the 70,000 word mark? Not to say that writing that many words means it's any good, haha. However, keep in mind that most good agents ...

This is something that I come across time and time again, and with some of my favorite authors: horrid websites. As a computer scientist and amature web designer, it just breaks my ...

Things to keep in mind about publishing. A series of reputable articles (there are about seven of them right now, and more coming in the future) that every writer should be familia ...

Title: Book by Book Author: Michael Dirda Genre: Non-Fiction Length: 192 pgs It's not often that I pick up a book about books, unless it has to do with writing them. As I co ...

Title: Bright Arrows Author: Grace Livingston Hill Genre: Inspirational Romance Length: 352 pgs Bright Arrows by Grace Livingston Hill is one of her many "feel good" inspira ...

Title: Firebird Author: Mercedes Lackey Genre: Fantasy Length: 384 pgs Summary: Mercedes Lackey is one of the best fantasy writers out there. Her Elemental Masters quartet i ...

Should you change your main character? What is the importance of a character who grows? I read this list of generic character descriptions online by Melanie Anne Phillips, and thou ...

I found this list here, and it's a good starting point if you've somehow lost your characters, or realized that you can't relate to your character at all. Take a step back, and dec ...

I found these tools online by searching "character, writing tools" through Google. Some of these are actually meant for students to map/study an already published text, but I see n ...

In this session, Whitbread award-winning novelist Rose Tremain looks at the issues around writing and publishing historical fiction. (From BBC - Get Writing ). Why Historical Fict ...

Yet another BBC - Get Writing article! I tell you, they have some great stuff. This is about building a character, by Rose Tremain, author of Sacred Country. Original article here. ...

Another BBC - Get Writing article, this one by Glenn Patterson, and about integrating "believable dialogue for your narrative." You can find the original article here. Once again, ...

This is an article I found on the BBC - Get Writing website, written by Sue Chester. I took out the exercises and etc, focusing mainly on the content. If you'd like to see the orig ...

Here are some helpful links for character development: * This BBC Character Builder is fun, I think. It lets you literally "build" how your character looks from a set of hair, n ...

Title: Deerskin Author: Robin McKinley Genre: Adult Fantasy Length: 309 pgs Summary: Deerskin by Robin McKinley is fantasy only in its setting: a generic kingdom with a hand ...

Title: Winter Rose Author: Patricia McKillip Genre: Fantasy Length: 272 pgs The lyrical prose of Winter Rose by Patricia McKillip made this book a delightful read. This stor ...

Title: Chasing Shakespeares Author: Sarah Smith Genre: Contemporary Fiction Length: 352 pgs Summary: If you like any sort of research-based/mystery-type fiction, this book m ...

Haha you can tell it's summer, because I have a lot more time to play around with the blog and write. 3,000 words written today! If you haven't noticed, I'm somewhat of a binge wri ...

Title: Elantris Author: Brandon Sanderson Genre: Fantasy, Science-Fiction Length: 496 pgs What happens when the city of the gods becomes the city of the damned? If you li ...

All right. I thought you all would like to know about this book I just read: The Book of Atrix Wolfe by Patricia McKillip (352 pgs). I would say the theme of this book (which is pr ...

Well. It's been four months since I've written anything here. All right, well, let's see what happened. For a while there I really didn't have time to write anything. There were de ...

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day. I survived my weed out class, obviously, but this current quarter has been a lot more intense than I expected. All the same, I've g ...

Weed-out class this quarter. I'm glad I got so much writing and research done this summer. Look for me in January.

Still researching during my last two free weeks before school starts up again. In the meantime, I made more giveaways, so check those out.

Well, summer classes took up a lot more time than I thought they would last month, but hey! I got all A-'s! I'm still researching a lot for The Winslow Charade, and at the 40,000 w ...

So, we're getting some good editing on The Winslow Charade, which is now officially the working title of the new novel. I consider it the working title because it does not, in fact ...

Working on a new layout, so bear with me while I try to get this all together. Apparently, my image map in IE doesn't change the web address, so refreshing is sort of iffy. And the ...

Happy New Year. We are now celebrating the two year anniversary of Catching the Rose's publication, so Happy birthday, CtR! In other news, it's a new quarter at school, meaning all ...

New layout complete! I hope you all like the new, muted look. Work on the new novel is coming along pretty well, I've been doing a lot of research so actual formulation has slowed, ...

We are getting ready for the new year by completely changing the entire website's layout. This is bound to take a while, so I'm putting the website on a slight haitus as I get this ...

Changed The Winslow Charade main page, because right now, that plot isn't cutting it for me. I feel badly for this story...I think this is the fourth time I've scrapped a main part ...

Can we say school-mania, anyone? I'm sorry I haven't been around. School is a lot tougher this quarter than I bargained for, hence the lack of updates or work on the new novel!

Major updates to all pages. Historical images added, and the resource for those images is found on the Links page. I know I need to change the main picture of me, and we're working ...

The Winslow Charade welcome page is up, along with plot summary. Novel is currently 32,971 words.

"The Wilson Girl" changed to "The Winslow Charade."

Prologue added to "The Wilson Girl."

I feel a new novel brewing...

Catching the Rose is now available for purchasing! I screamed when I opened the box to see my beautiful book sitting there. And now it's going out into the real world. Be kind!