Hypnotic Research
One of my favorite writing activities is research, and I've written several posts about it. Here I talk about a bath house and ice cream shop in Charleston, and here the history and the places that inspired my soon-to-be-finished book Faith Can Move Mountains. One...
Tweaking the Premise of My Book
For the last three weeks, I've been working on how to improve my Protagonist's character arc. After talking to my editor, I went back into my WIP and tried to track her arc. I realized my MC remained fairly static. Ruh roh. So I decided to research characters that...
Prep for Talking to My Editor
Although I had to cancel my Zoom meeting with my editor yesterday because of a migraine, I've rescheduled for Tuesday of next week. In case you haven't worked with an editor before (this will be my first time), I thought you might like to know what I've done to...
Lessons from the Glucose Goddess
Lately, I've been listening to podcasts while I do housework or cook. If you listen to them, you know just how many podcasts there are to choose from, but I am drawn to podcasts about how to improve my health, which has been my quest since I stopped teaching about six...
Me, Myself, and I
Have you noticed the preponderance of the word myself in our lexicon lately? If you haven't, allow me to bring your attention to it so that you, too, can be as annoyed by it as I am. Maybe you won't be quite as annoyed as I am since I am an English major, a former...
February 2022 Reads
I started my February reading adventures with All the Salt in the Sea by Tammy Harrow. Tammy does not hold back and amid beautiful settings she makes readers feel betrayal, love, heartbreak, regret, sorrow, terror, and satisfaction. I loved this one! Though the book...
Eat the Frog: Revising My First Manuscript
Last December, I did something scary and expensive but necessary to advance my writing career. I sent my novel to Tim Storm, founder of Storm Writing School and an excellent editor, in Madison, Wisconsin. Why? I had finished my first novel, revised it as well as I...
My January Reads
Most of the time, I spend so much time writing that I don't read as much as I would like to. I didn't set a a reading goal this year, but I decided to make a conscious decision to read as much as I could because books bring me joy. During December 2021and January of...
An Interesting Year (Part 2)
Last year was a busy one! When I look back at what we did, I'm thrilled. The highlights of my year last year were the trips my husband and I took to see family in Georgia, but we also had the opportunity to help our church out by creating a garden out of a small area...
2021, An Interesting Year (Part One)
Hey friends! It has been a long time since I last wrote to you, and I've missed writing and your comments! I will do better this year, I promise. With everything going on last year, I have not had the chance to process the year, which I usually do through writing. I...