May 6th Plotting Workshop at the Pickerington, OH Library
On May 6th from 11am-1pm, I’ll be leading a free writing workshop for teens and adults at the Pickerington Library in Ohio. “The Plot Thickens” […]
Writing Advice
Master of Fine Arts in Writing Popular Fiction
2022 update: I can no longer recommend this program. It, like many other MFA programs, relies heavily on adjunct labor and instructors are not fairly […]
A Writer’s Guide to Evaluating and Attending Conventions
Why should a writer attend a conference or convention? There are a lot of reasons to go to a conference or convention. Many people go […]
Who’s Mary Sue?
“Write what you know” is good advice for most any author. And authors typically know themselves better than anyone else (or at least they should; […]
What’s a tuckerization?
A tuckerization is the intentional use of a real person’s name in a fictional story without necessarily basing the fictional character’s personality or appearance on […]
The Gen Con Writer’s Symposium
Gen Con is first and foremost a gaming convention. It is a massive gaming convention. It completely fills the 700,000+ square feet of the Indiana […]
A Guide to Binge Writing
As I’ve noted before, I am not a slow and steady author. My life would probably be a bit simpler if I were. I see […]
On Urban Fantasy
On several occasions, I’ve heard readers bemoaning the comparatively small number of horror novels being released by major publishers. But the horror is out there; […]
Friends For Your Fiction
Very few writers are at a place in their craft and career where they can write in complete isolation, finish a story, send it off […]
How do you find time to write?
When Random Person discovers that you’re a writer, odds are that he will ask you any of several basic questions: How long have you been […]
How I Got My Agent
A few people have asked how I got my literary agent. Here’s the story. Before I was Gary‘s wife, I was one of his coauthors, […]
Book Promotion: Part 1
When people think about doing book promotions, they often think of an author going on a book tour. Doing a book signing or sitting at […]