-
Where Novel Ideas Come From
One of the questions I tend to get when it comes to writings is the following: “Where do you get your ideas for your novels?” That’s almost always followed by, “You have such a vivid im
-
Getting Ready for Christmas
Preparing for Christmas has been a hard road this year. It all started in November. I knew it would be busy. That particular month always is in my line of work. What I didn’t expect was the
-
How to Survive a Breakup with Your Agent
It happened one summer day. The breakup with my agent. I met her at a conference. One of my manuscripts had caught her eye. We talked. She asked for a proposal. I delivered early. The nex
-
How to Deal with Life’s Little Messes
Our hot water heater died last night (Friday) at 11 PM. It happened like this. I’d had a very long and busy week. When I finally stumbled through the door at eight o’clock last night, my
-
Numbers in Writing: Scene Chords
This is the last post of my series on numbers in writing. I want to talk about scene chords. In his book, Plot and Structure, James Scott Bell discusses four scene chords. He defines a c


