Category Archives: advice

The “My Writing Process” blog tour.

I’m hunkered on my spot on the couch, my creative place. It’s a brown leather loveseat, I’m on the left cushion, on the right is a stack of books I’m reading, including a book my main character finds in my … Continue reading

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On the writing of a fantasy versus realistic historical fiction

Duck Boy is an urban fantasy. The writing of that book was difficult because one had to figure out a logic to the world that the main character inhabits and make sure it all worked, and all made sense. In … Continue reading

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The editing process begins for “Coup de Grace.”

The editing process begins for my next YA novel. Bitingduck Press Editor-in-chief, Jay Nadeau, just sent me her comments after a first read through of my next book, scheduled to be released in Spring 2015. The story is tentatively titled … Continue reading

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Bitingduck Press is planning to release another of my YA novels!

It’s a lovely bit of news for any writer. My novel has been accepted! Bitingduck Press has accepted my YA novel, Coup de Grace, Spring 2015. For those of you who follow twitter and other accounts, you’ll know I was … Continue reading

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Make sure you have a walking stick

Writing is a bit of a psych game, as I’ve learned. With the publication of “Duck Boy” I’ve rollercoastered up and down the hills of opinion, and lots of people who have ideas about how valuable and well-written it is. … Continue reading

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Committing to paper: draft 2

After 6 months of steady writing and editing, I finished. I wrote the original draft, then edited the entire thing again. That was the original plan, and I did it. It’s time to commit to paper. Large principle of editing: … Continue reading

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Character accents: the deliberation

My first draft is complete. Plot’s in place, the right characters in the right spots, with the right objects. My visit to the story site provided lots of detail for the descriptive texture. I’m currently braiding contextual detail into the … Continue reading

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Toe crossing, and the current YA market

(Sorry about the picture. It was the only one I could think of to go with this post.) Jay, editor-in-chief of Bitingduck Press, asked me the other day, what makes your story unique? It was time to create another blurb … Continue reading

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Editing, dummies for dummies

The editing process has several phases. Once the manuscript has been accepted, there’s a close read for plot and its problems. The details have to be right. Right? In our case, we’re working from a Word file and ping-ponging it … Continue reading

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Marketing a book: in with the old & in with the new

As you probably know, marketing of a book is a very big deal. In some ways, like the  music industry, the marketing can be a bigger deal than the work itself. It’s also the most difficult for most authors. I … Continue reading

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