In response to my spiralling self-doubt, I discovered many a strategy to cope with it. One method is to write a letter, personifying your internal enemy. Here’s an example from author Elizabeth Gilbert. In her book Big Magic, she wrote a letter to … Continue reading →

Jennie, my book coach, provided her feedback on her read through of my manuscript. She writes: “A couple of big, but TOTALLY EASILY SOLVE-ABLE issues.” I read: BIG ISSUES Jennie writes: “A couple of medium issues.” I read: Even more issues? … Continue reading →

My book coach Jennie is editing my full manuscript. It’s her first time reading it all the way through–before now, she’s only read the scenes out order. She knows the book; she likes the book and yet still I found … Continue reading →

It’s my new title. Like it? Because you’re loyal blog followers, I’ll let you in on the secret of its meaning (instead of making you wait for the book to be published and finding out from the story what “Amaranth” … Continue reading →

Why I’ve had no time this week to improve my own writing: I’ve been revamping my Writer’s Craft class to help other people improve theirs.

Turns out that as much as my first set of beta readers liked my book, it ain’t perfect. A number of them picked up on the same issue, and when more than one notices the same thing, you have a … Continue reading →

After months of feedback from only book coach Jennie, my story, which is now flying on its own out  in the world, (well, the small, beta-reader world), is garnering quite the buzz. From all of three people. But that’s three … Continue reading →

Eight months ago, I wrote a post–“The First Verdict Is…” It was about the feedback I got from my first beta reader (my daughter) on my previous manuscript, the one I thought was great (until I realized how much it … Continue reading →

It’s all there. The whole story. On paper! All my scenes, edited separately, are now in order. Now I can start on page one, chapter one, and flip through the whole thing. Very cool. Or not… Because as soon as … Continue reading →

Let the revisions begin… And yet again, I have a lot to learn. Going solely on past experience, I assumed one made revisions chronologically. Even though I wrote the scenes and chapters out of order, I figured that since I … Continue reading →