I belong to a couple of Yahoo groups for cozy authors. One subject that’s been hot on the boards lately is the way some authors argue with their readers on (mostly) Amazon. It’s [...]

I have a subplot in my current WIP that wants to take over the world. In the same WIP, I have a small subplot that stays meekly in its place. Subplots are a [...]

Photo by Dana Geary Kit Dunsmore is a contemporary fantasy writer living in northern Colorado. She’s currently working on a novel about a witch who tries to rescue her best friend from a [...]

Today I’d like to welcome Kathy McIntosh to the blog. Kathy is an editor, PR expert, professional speaker, and professed word lover. BRAINSTORMING FOR FICTION WRITERS: Get Drenched in Ideas Whether you have [...]

All day on Monday, I had the feeling that something was wrong. I’d set my writing goal for the day. I had a couple of errands that I needed to do. But I [...]

Potholes aren’t usually a problem here in Matthews, North Carolina. That’s because we’ve been in a drought for years–there wasn’t any moisture on the roads to cause any potholes. Now, of course, we’re [...]

You wouldn’t think those three inches of snow we got Friday would make such a mess of the roads. The brine and the melting, muddy snow was tossed up on my car from [...]

I have a hard time keeping my seventh grade son in books. It’s a nice problem to have. After scouring some book blogs, I came up with four books that had been highly [...]

First of all, I wanted to mention that Cleo’s interesting discussion on genre blending continued far into the comments section yesterday. She made some fascinating points about transitioning into a mainstream author if [...]

A former journalist, Alice Alfonsi is a multi-published author in several genres and a New York Times best-selling media tie-in writer. Under the pen name Cleo Coyle, she pens two nationally bestselling mystery [...]

Today I have the pleasure of having Margot Kinberg guest post on the blog. Margot is a mystery writer (her newest, B-Very Flat has just been released.) But Margot is also a mystery [...]

Literary snobbery has been a topic on a couple of blogs lately. So today, I’m blogging at A Good Blog is Hard to Find about how writers can handle encounters with book snobs. [...]

I was in—as usual—the grocery store on Saturday afternoon. As soon as I walked in the door, I was greeted with a big smile by a couple of men at a table. I [...]

I’ve gotten to that point in my manuscript where it’s time to include some secrets. I love secrets in books. They work really well for mysteries—in fact, it’s fun for all of the [...]

I’m one of those writers who doggedly writes each day, no matter what. Frequently? I’m not inspired. I think that’s the dirty little secret of a lot of writers. We may get ideas. [...]

One reason I don’t look back over the previous day’s writing is because I know what I’ll usually see: Blah, blah, blah. When I get an idea or have characters in a conversation, [...]

First of all, thanks to my guest blogger, Charlotte Bowen today! Charlotte blogs at http://www.fictionette.org/, is revising her first novel and writing her second. She’s on Twitter at @acbowen. ****************** Historical Research. Those [...]

Our antagonists sure do like to cause a lot of trouble. They’re working against our main characters at every opportunity, trying to make sure they don’t reach their goals. My antagonists sometimes even [...]

I’m writing this Tuesday morning at the coffeehouse. There’s a lady sitting at the table in front of me who keeps looking at me and smiling like she knows me. I hope she [...]

I frequently have classical music playing in the background at home while the kids are eating or while I’m writing (no pesky lyrics to get me off-track.) My daughter perked up when one [...]

Alan Orloff at A Million Blogging Monkeys had a great post last week dealing with scene pacing. As he mentioned, it’s best to start a scene late in the action and end the [...]

I wrote for a couple of hours in the coffeehouse last week. A couple of hours is a pretty long writing session for me. I got nearly a chapter written on the second [...]

I thought that, after writing a post on James Patterson—the top book marketer—that I’d write a short post on J.D. Salinger—the anti-promoter. James Patterson and J.D. Salinger shared the same publisher: Little, Brown [...]

Thanks to Terry Odell for guest posting for me today for my Writing Process series on Mystery Writing is murder! Terry’s books straddle the mystery and romance genres and you can find out [...]

“I have a saying,” Patterson told [the interviewer]. “If you want to write for yourself, get a diary. If you want to write for a few friends, get a blog. But if you [...]

“Where do your ideas come from?” Writers frequently tag that question as the single most frustrating inquiry we get from non-writers. It’s frustrating because it’s nearly impossible to answer. We get ideas from [...]

Maybe your protagonist is an international spy. His days are rarely boring since he’s always hopping a plane to a dangerous spot on the other side of the world. Or not. For most [...]

There are books out there where the protagonist works his way through the plot solo, without friends to bump ideas or thoughts off of. Without close advisers to interact with. Without friends to [...]

Headshots and short bios are useful to have around. Even if you don’t yet have a book deal, you’ll need a picture and biography for any contests you might win or guest posts [...]

I read a lot of blogs during the week and get a lot from what I read. Sometimes I read something that really stops me cold and makes me think. When I read [...]