The Best Kind of Busy

The last two weeks or so have been insanely busy. I'm not complaining, though. This is the kind of busy I like. Village season is in full swing. I made a new skirt for House Divided, our big Civil War reenactment (pictures...eventually. I have some really bad ones right now, but I'd like to get…

Best Book/Writing Podcasts on Youtube

Last week I shared my favorite knitting podcasts, and this time I thought I'd show you a few of my favorite book related podcasts. Some of these are just review shows, others concentrate on the craft of writing or on publishing. If you were daunted by the long episodes on the knitting list, fear not.…

#MHMon Guestpost: Manic Pixie Nothing

If you've just wandered in off the internet, #MHMon (Mental Health Monday) is a recurring feature to talk about staying creative while dealing with mental illness. If you would like more information, or to know how you can participate, check the MHMon tab above.  This month's submission is courtesy of M.K. Anderson.  I’m open about…

Mental Health and the Evie Cappelli series

The representation of mental health issues (specifically anxiety and depression) are a huge part of the Evie Cappelli series. The very first scene is Evie preparing to leave an in-patient facility, three months after a failed suicide attempt. Throughout the entire series, she struggles not only with the outside influences trying to destroy her, but…

An apology, a cover, and a really long Twitter thread

Friday was...interesting. Some of you may have noticed a mad scramble as I tried to track down any posted images of THE SPIDER'S WEB. Some of you may not. It all started with Twitter. Well, with a blog post, really. Not mine. You see, last Friday an interview I did with Dianna L. Gunn on her…

#MHMon: Staying Motivated Through Rejection

We have all been there. You think you're a shoe in for the job, but you don't even get a call back. You send out the best query letter of your life, but the agent just sends back a form rejection. You get a book deal, only to have the publisher back out. The common…

Quarterly writing check in

How can 2017 be a quarter over already? I'm so far behind! Back in January, I posted a list of books I wanted to write or edit this year. I've gotten a lot done, but I've also been moving a lot slower than I wanted to. ALL FOR ONE: This is done and with my…

Querying Multiple Projects: a How-to Guide

The Basic Query Process Pretty much every writer who hopes to be published has to query at some point. A Query letter is an email/letter sent to a publisher or agent, introducing yourself and your work. It may or may not be accompanied by a synopsis or sample pages, based on the requirements of that…

Writing Under the Influence: Mental Health Mondays

I am not a doctor. I'm not a shrink. I took a couple of psychology courses in college and I've read a lot of self-help, but the only thing I have a degree to treat is artwork, not people. But I do have anxiety and depression. Does that surprise you? Anymore, it seems like everyone…

Tips for Transitioning from Short to Long Fiction

I recently got into a discussion on Twitter about transitioning from short fiction to writing novels. The person I was talking to had difficulties, because by the time they wrote a one page synopsis, they basically had the entire story on one page, from beginning to end. They'd become so used to writing short stories…