#amrevising #amwriting #fiction #TheRomantics 2018 writing goals book marketing novel book promotion book publicity new year new year's writing goals setting goals writing novels travel to italy women's fiction writers groups writing fiction writing tips

Happy 2018! New Year’s Writing Goals

Happy 2018! What are your new year’s writing goals? Someone in one of my writers groups asked me, while wishing me a happy 2018. I was shocked to realize I don’t have many. My debut novel launches on January 23 — The Renaissance Club, my time-travel love story, available now on Amazon for pre-order. I have a poetry collection coming out in August — Arabesque, from FutureCycle Press. And I’m finishing the last revision before…

Continue reading

#amrevising #amwriting #fiction #NaNoWriMo 2017 Uncategorized women's fiction writing schedule writing tips

10 Days of National Novel Writing Month – #NaNoWriMo Survival

It was the best of days, it was the worst of days on Day 10 of National Novel Writing Month. Because I wrote for an hour first thing, it was the best. But actually, mostly it was the worst of days. Consider having: Your heating installed over a 3-day period of mistakes, confusion, and changing personnel. Three of your 4 website disappearing for no reason — all paid for and not hacked. The world’s stiffest…

Continue reading

#amrevising #amwriting #fiction #NaNoWriMo 2017 Uncategorized

Day 8 of #NaNoWriMo — and I’m Still Here

On Day 8 of #NaNoWriMo — National Novel Writing Month — I’m still fulfilling my commitment to spend two hours every day working on my new novel, The Romantics. NaNoWriMo is a marathon, an endurance test for writers. The official goal of participating is to draft a new novel of at least 50,000 words. Yes, 50,000 words. That divides up into more than 1,600 words a day. Remember having to write essays in school? This…

Continue reading

#amrevising #NaNoWriMo 2017 revising Writing writing time writing tips

Thriving in National Novel Writing Month

I never thought I’d be writing about thriving in National Novel Writing Month, but November 2016 changed my perspective on what I could do in my writing life. I learned the discipline of trying to write an entireĀ  novel in one month. I had had nothing but challenges trying to find a publisher for my first novel, The Renaissance Club (forthcoming January 16, 2018 from Fiery Seas Publishing). They say the best thing you can…

Continue reading

#amrevising #amwriting #fiction #NaNoWriMo 2017 novel novel writing Uncategorized

Preparing for National Novel Writing Month – 4 Writing Tips

Preparing for National Novel Writing Month can be hard if you’re allergic to plot outlines. And with any method, it’s a steep climb to write 50,000 words in a month. But if you have the urge to join the 34,000 people who last year completed a novel in 30 days, and your pen is poised over the paper (=your fingers poised on the keys), here are some tips. Thanks to Editor Barbara Bos and Women…

Continue reading

#amrevising #amwriting #fiction Italy novel Shelley siblings sisters women's fiction

The Story with Sisters

Sibling relationships and specifically sisters is what I’m thinking about. I’m finishing a new novel. It’s about two half-sisters who feud about an inherited cottage in Italy with its resident ghost of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Sisters — we love to explore these complicated lifetime pairings. In real life and literature, sisters stand out. From Jane Austen with her siblings, to Emily Dickinson and hers, to those fabulous Brontes, the stories of siblings have…

Continue reading

#amrevising #amwriting #fiction first drafts novel writing poetry revising writing fiction

First drafts – just get the words out

I post this advice from author Neil Gaiman with some trepidation, having just spent a solid twelve months fixing words that were relatively easy to draft. But it’s true, if you let your inner critic sit in your lap while you type, you’re going to get your hands and words bitten all over until there are almost no words left and no hands willing to make them appear. So in the words of Anne Lamott,…

Continue reading