The words that changed my outlook on life. As I sat at my parent's kitchen table early last year eating a meal I didn’t have to pay for, my older brother spoke the words to me that shook me and everything I ever thought about being a writer. “You’re not…

Sometimes it’s too easy to tell apart who is a novice novelist and who has been within the writing rings before. The things they do stand out and although they may not all be bad things, they are the sort of things that shout ‘newbie’ to any publishing house or…

Writing a book takes time — but what if it didn’t have to What is fast-drafting? Fast-drafting is exactly as it sounds. Write the first draft of your novel as quickly as possible. That’s it. Too often writers get hung up in the drafting process that it becomes a common joke amongst our…

If you’re bad at writing — should you quit? Some say that there are two types of writers in the world. Those that can — and those that shouldn't. I’ll be honest there have been sometimes when I’ve bought a book from my local used book store and when I…

Filling the empty room for your readers. The empty room. Every writer has one at some point in their writing. What is ‘White Room Syndrome’? “Amanda walked into the room, threw her bag on the table before noticing Jason in the corner. The window behind him showed nothing but the day outside. …

How to read when technology gives us every reason not to. With TV shows to binge, podcasts to listen to, grams to scroll through, posts to like, 180 characters to share, and ticks to tok, there is more content in your hands now than your grandparents would have known in…

They’re just books. Every once in a while I’ll be having a conversation with someone and I will casually mention that I am an avid reader. Books are one of my favorite things next to Halloween and coffee so I find them an easy conversation starter and it helps you…

Is there a perfect time for penning your novel? One of the most common questions asked of any author or writer is always asked in a way that is believed to impart deep wisdom to the want-to-be writer. “How do you find the time to write?” Whenever I’m asked this…

Is there a line between historical fiction and writing inspired by history? I’m going to be using my sister as a preface to this post and if you’ve been reading my posts for a while you’ll already know her feelings on historically inaccurate historical fiction. My sister majored in teaching…