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Interview on Moving Forward Podcast
Recently, I was interviewed on a podcast about my books and my author’s journey. It was both exciting and gratifying to be invited and to be interviewed by a celebrity. Yes, John Lim is a celebrity with an incredible resume—a Tedx speaker, actor, author, and voice artist, as well as an awesome podcaster. So, you…
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Finding Your Author’s Voice
Finding your voice is an answer to the question “Who is your reader?” Is this person looking for something serious, suspenseful, authoritative, humorous, spiritual, entertaining, dark, deep, light-hearted, or something else, that you may find parallels in a category on the booksellers’ shelves? Regardless of the central thread, your voice is uniquely you. It’s ironic how your…
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Sneak Peek: Mistaken Identity
As you know, this is the first book in the series currently being shopped to publishers by my literary agent. I was thrilled when she called to let me know that she wanted to represent my book. Of course, I was also over the moon when she shared that this first book in my SAT…
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Setting Writing Goals
Every author has a differing and uniquely personal approach to writing. But authors share one process in common—setting and achieving word count goals. Your writing goals are everything. It’s how you get the ideas out of your head and on to the page. But it’s not just about word count. Writing goals include pages completed,…
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Plotter or Pantser? What About Quilter?
Authors love to chat about whether they’re a plotter or pantser. It’s an enlightening topic that pulls back the curtain to see how novels make the journey from idea to bookshelf. Do you start your book by plotting out the scenes? Once you have a solid outline from opening image, through the various acts and…
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The Allure of a Great Book Cover
It blows my mind each time I look at my bookshelf or e-reader library, how diverse my taste in books is. From business books, to historical, and non-fiction, to contemporary, I have a wide range of interests and what books delight me time and time again. Honestly, it’s pretty funny and always evokes a comment…
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Start With Your “Why?”
Go back. Way back. Back to the day you decided you were going to write a novel. Why did you make that promise to yourself? Did you think, “How hard can this be?” Did you want to become famous? Did you covet J. K. Rowling’s lifestyle? Did you want bragging rights? BUZZ! Wrong answer. Though admittedly,…
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When The Call Comes… Answer It!
Don’t Delay Writing The Story You’re Meant To Share With The World. Every writer anticipates the phone call from a literary agent offering a partnership. Or that call from a publisher sharing the news that they’d like to publish your book. Of course, there’s the rare call from Oprah announcing your book has been selected…
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Writing The Old-Fashioned Way
I wrote my first novel longhand. No, I’m not that old that I didn’t have a laptop, but I didn’t have the sleek light-weight versions we do today. You’re probably wondering why I would do such a thing when I had a laptop and desktop in my apartment. Let me take you back a ways.…
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Girls (and Everyone) Just Want to Have Fun.
Hey, don’t we all just want to have a little fun now and again? Don’t we deserve it? My point? Reading is one of the greatest luxuries in life and yet, it truly does provide a path to fun. But sometimes the respite of reading brings a little guilt. You’re trading time with family, friends,…