Book Update – Don’t Miss it!

Ookkaayy, time for a book update. As some of you may know, I’ve been writing for months to finish the first draft of my YA portal fantasy with the working title, One Light Shining. And now . . . . . . I FINISHED IT!!! Please celebrate with me and throw confetti! 🙂 Of course,

Writer’s Doubt – the Epidemic and the Cure

It’s something that plagues all of us, no matter our field, no matter our dreams, no matter our security. It’s something that holds us bound to failure and limitations, to our fears and our confusion. Doubt – a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction – when you look at it, is really a nasty

The Blades of Acktar Book Release and Review

Today there’s something exciting going on the book world – a release of the final Blades of Acktar story! Deliver can be found on Amazon, so I highly recommend you jump over there and grab this incredible book. But before you do, let me squeal about it a little longer. Actually, I’m squealing about all

My Take on Time Travel in Fiction

Otherwise known as portal fantasy, time travel in fiction goes back a long ways. If you’re not too familiar with this as a genre, you are likely aware at least of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. Today, I’d like to share my take on portal fantasy. Pros, cons and where we authors may be able

Emotion in the Written Word

Emotion in the written word is one of the most important things to learn when you’re starting out, or if you’ve never taken the time to learn it before. Emotion is everywhere. We feel happiness, we feel joy, we feel fear, and we express that through words, through actions, even through facial expressions. So why should

Once Upon a Kitten Part 2

It was a beautiful Easter day here in Maine – temperatures flirting with eighty in some places and just the right amount of cloud cover over our homestead to keep the heat from becoming too much. Best of all, we were able to get together to enjoy the day with friends and family, to cement

The Days of Simple Beginnings

“Do not despise these small beginnings . . .” We, as writers, tend to think of the big picture. The biggest dream, the best novel, the perfect plot. Writing, like absolutely everything else, requires time, effort and patience. Our simple beginnings can be described as the first tottering steps of a child, or maybe even the first

When Words Don’t Work

We’ve all been there. A great story idea that just doesn’t stick. An outline you can’t get a handle on. A deadline that’s driving you crazy. Sound familiar? There are millions of tidbits of advice out there on overcoming the void of writer’s block. I’ll happily share with you a few things that have helped

Indie e-Con Writing Contest Winner

So, as I explained in my last post, I wrote a little story for Kendra Ardnek’s writing contest when she ran this year’s Indie e-Con on her blog. I entered under the category The Magic Jacket, and the story I wrote won in this category. Quite exciting! You can read this story below. And .