One positive thing has happened during this first frightful pandemic month of 2021. I find myself able to read again. I mean, really read. Focus on pages, stick with a novel from chapter to chapter, finish
Category: Writing Fiction
Writing fiction for adults, teens and kids. Topics include the building blocks of plot, character and setting. Next, tips on drafting, revision and editing. Also includes in-depth looks at verse novels, mysteries, and contemporary fiction.
Happy New Year! Here in the Pacific Northwest, 2021 has begun with… rain. That’s no surprise. Rain is the forecast from something like October to June. I must admit, it’s a touch harder to bear than
2020 has brought with it an unusual dilemma for contemporary fiction writers. What are the odds of selling a novel set in the pandemic? The timeline for a manuscript to travel from final draft to bookstore
If you haven’t read King’s ON WRITING, treat yourself to a copy this year. Even if your TBR pile is already too high, I give you this useful nugget of King-ly wisdom.
The great, compelling and prolific speculative fiction writer Lois McMaster Bujold penned these choice words. And, as we go back to work, school or whatever reality awaits us today, let’s hold on to this truth and
For the first installment of this month’s promised “Wordy Celebrations,” may I point you to the wonderful writings of Barbara Dee. Barbara stopped by my blog way back in 2016 to celebrate the publication of
SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 2019, 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM Woodinville Library, 17105 Avondale Road NE, Woodinville, WA First Pages Interactive Workshop hollycupala.com stasiawardkehoe.com Are your first 250 words ready for a professional review?
It’s weird, you know, when you see your book on one of these library “issues” lists. It’s cool, of course, to know that someone actually has a hard copy on a shelf somewhere. But there’s always
Backstory: It’s been a fallow year for my novel-writing career (intentional rhyme) but a delightful twelve months at the day job. I’m learning, creating and indulging my passions for consonance, rhyme and catchy turns-of-phrase. All of
Every year around this time, as I frantically bake cookies and wrap presents for the family, I vow that I’ll give myself the gift of writing time. Sometimes, it’s overwhelmingly difficult to tear myself away from