by Kathleen Y’Barbo When I mention that my historical romantic suspense series, THE SECRET LIVES OF WILL TUCKER, includes a dash of steampunk, I usually get one of two responses: a wide grin or a confused expression. For those of you who best identify with the confused expression crowd, let’s talk about what steampunk is. Wikipedia calls steampunk “…a subgenre …
A Room of One’s Own
by Deborah Raney “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” –Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own I started writing to help put our kids through college. But it’s a good thing I hadn’t read the above quote by Virginia Woolf before I wrote my first ten novels. Because, you …
Writing Preparation
by Carolyne Aarsen My husband had to replace a window in my office awhile back. He drove to his brother’s place, a twenty minute drive one way, borrowed a set of scaffolds, came back and set them up to install the window. Then he got his tools and brought them to the scaffold. All tallied, this took him all morning. …
A Journey Worth Taking
By Dan Lewis Campbell I am a writer. I weave words into stories on pages of white to inspire those who read them. But what if nobody reads them? A haunting question to be sure. I have pondered it more times than I wish to admit, but still I write. When asked why, my answer is always the same. I …
Moments in Time-Bringing Characters to Life
by Ann H. Gabhart Not long ago I got to thinking about the odd moments that can rise from the murky depths of my memory, nudged out to my consciousness by a chance word, an image or even a sniff of some aroma. Of course, we all have those moments of tragedy or world changing events so intense we remember …
5 things to do to prepare for the ACFW Conference
by Susan May Warren The ACFW conference is less than two months away and I can’t wait! Even now, I’m gearing up to hang out with my favorite peeps, fellow authors and the My Book Therapy community (The Voices.) And, just like you, I’m training for the day when I see editors and agents and pitch them my newest idea. …
What, No Adverbs?
by Donna L. Rich So many “how to” books tell me to weed out weak adverbs, and as I look at my own work, I’m paranoid. However, I’m not paranoid enough. In writing this post, I referred to my current edit in process. I wanted to see how many times I used an ly word when a stronger verb would …
The Hard Choices Every Day
by Sherri Stone I have been a life-long dieter. Actually, a more appropriate way to say that is that I’ve been a life-long thinker about diets and losing weight. You know the syndrome: • First resolution every New Year is to lose weight • The resolve to eat less and eat healthy is never stronger than immediately following a pig …
Reviewing the Review
By Cynthia Ruchti Why do people write reviews? • They want to help spread the word about a great book. • They have been asked to give an honest review about a new book by the publishing house or publicist, the author, or the review team on which they serve. • They feel compelled to warn potential readers about a …
Have You Considered a Launch Team?
by Ian Acheson Over the last two years there has been an increase in authors establishing teams of readers, or a Launch Team, to assist in the launch process. I’ve been a member of a few such teams for authors in both the fiction and non-fiction worlds. Some teams have ended with the launch and others have continued on to …