I’m just popping in — between swimming lessons, concerts, and barbecuing burgers on the deck — to leave a couple of great links. One is a caution, and the other an encouragement. I ran across them when I was in the middle of the scene-by-scene editing series, so I held onto them until now. But they’re worth clicking through.
First, the caution. Beware of hubris! We all need an editor, so even if you’re self-publishing, get a professional editor to clean up your manuscript. Otherwise, you may fall prey to the …

Ready for the final installment of THE GOLF SPACES, my Scene Checklist?
I’m going through every scene of my WIP with this checklist — and it appears to improve the writing by a level previous works took many revisions to reach. Maybe it will help you too.
We’ve previously discussed THE, GOLF and the SPA of SPACES. Today, we finish up with CES.
C: Conflict
This one is easy. Does the scene have an antagonist? Is the POV character opposed by something or someone? If not, you need to create conflict.
It doesn’t have to be hand-to-hand …

I know, I know! I said I was going to do SPACES today. But it turned out to be an incredibly long entry, even when I barely blitzed over a couple of the topics. So I’ve split the last word in half, and I’ll finish it next time.
This is the third installment of the Scene Checklist I call THE GOLF SPACES, a powerful tool for making sure each scene has all the elements of strong fiction.
In the first entry, we covered THE: Tension, Hyperbole and Emotional Shift. Last week, we discussed GOLF: Goal, Object, …

As I mentioned two weeks ago, I’ve started the first revision of a rough draft that I wrote from scene cards. I go over each scene with a checklist, to make sure all the elements of a strong scene are included.
When I’m finished, with rare exceptions, the scenes just sing. I think I’m leap-frogging over several revision passes by doing it this way.
I created an acronym to remember each element: THE GOLF SPACES, and I thought I’d share the tool with you. Last time, I covered THE: Tension, Hyperbole and …

I’m in the middle of my last big revision ( edit #umpteen-thousand-and-five) on East of Jesus. I examine every scene in detail, going down a checklist to make sure all the elements of a snappy scene are included.
As you know, I’m a big believer in writing in scenes. Scenes are the basic unit of fiction. I’m also a big proponent of using scene cards to make sure structure is built into each scene (and to ensure a solid story arc, but that’s not the focus here). In the past, though, I …

I’m having a rough week. I’m dealing with a very personal issue that has derailed my work, and I’m struggling just to get through the days (yeah, some weeks are like that).
I woke this morning at 4 a.m., hurting inside. I needed comfort, but I didn’t want to wake my sweetly sleeping husband. After an hour of watching the clock change, I had a brilliant inspiration. I got up, went to my computer, and wrote myself a love note.
Dear Katrina, (I wrote)
I know you are going through a difficult time …

“How did that make you feel?” It’s a cliché to have your psychologist characters ask the question, but like all good clichés, it exists for a reason. Counselors do ask the question. Because it’s important.
Feelings are important — and even more so when writing fiction. But it’s not your emotions I’m talking about. It’s what your characters are feeling that matters. Characters’ emotions drive the story. They help the reader empathize with your character, understand the stakes, and want to keep turning pages.
But what emotion your characters feel is important …

Years ago, I battled a bout of insomnia. I’d wake in the middle of the night and simply be unable to sleep, and then I’d drag myself through the next day in a fog of fatigue.
Eventually I changed the stressful situation that was causing my brain to race, and the insomnia went away. But I still follow one piece of advice because it was so incredibly important:
Don’t do anything in your bed except sleep.*
Seriously. Don’t watch television, play games, eat, or read books. When you do nothing in bed but …

I logged on today to post about creating an internet presence, but I see Jeannie beat me to it! And said almost everything I was going to say.
I want to reiterate something Jeannie said though: don’t start a blog just because all your friends have one. Blogs take a lot of time to maintain, and it cuts into your writing time. If your writing time already short, don’t blog. And don’t do it unless you think it’s fun. There are more efficient ways to promote your books.
If you’re determined to …

I don’t seem to struggle with traditional writer’s block. I could write for ten years without ever coming up with a new idea.
But sometimes I do lose steam. This is such a solitary life, and there’s no external prod, at least not until you’re agented. Nor are there external rewards, at least not until after you’ve invested an enormous amount of work. Sometimes my self-motivation just putters out.
A few weeks ago, I got up one Thursday morning, sat at my computer, and realized I’d lost interest in writing. Completely lost the …