Anytime there is a protest that includes even the slightest hint of violence (or more than a hint of it in some cases), a cry goes up wondering why “these people” can’t just protest peacefully… why, we’d all listen to them then! Ahem. Really? Because we’re all doing such a fucking amazing job listening to […]
… is never done. Let’s skip all the “how did you get here” fun… because to be honest it wasn’t fun. Though it was kinda cool. After many misadventures and a few side trips, I finally landed a literary agent. Yay! One step closer to my goal of traditional publishing. Writing the book is the […]
It’s a question that plagues most writers at some point – where do I start this story? Don’t start with waking up. Start in the middle of the action. Don’t start with an info dump or backstory. Open with a hook. Do this. Don’t do that. The advice on how to craft the opening scenes of […]
Scene 1: At an inner-city self-storage facility, I’m the only person in the lot when a nondescript panel van pulls in. I’m busy unloading the now empty bins of holiday decor, set to go back into storage, when a guy climbs out of the panel van. Nothing strange here, right? We’re at a storage facility […]
Protests will make people sit up and listen. I think it may be effective in uniting those with common concerns. I think it sends an important message – to those marginalized folks? You are not alone. You have allies. I am determined to be a part of the solution for a better tomorrow. I cannot change the past. I cannot change today. But I can sure as hell make sure I do my damnedest to bring about a country where ALL of my friends and family are treated equally.
There are generally two types of writers… those who plot and those who do not. Okay, obviously, there are hybrids… folks who do a bit of both, and the world is never quite as extreme black and white as all that, but… for the sake of this post, let’s go with it, m’kay? (cue the […]
It’s been a challenging month. In the midst of the usual familial stuff, we’ve also been dealing with a major fracture among some of our closest friends. I’ve been fortunate to have plenty to distract me from over-thinking the whole mess – kids, home, family, etc. plus putting a lot of effort into PitchWars (a writing contest), […]
So the idea of Pitch Wars is basically pairing unagented authors with a more experienced author to tackle improving their manuscript before submitting to agents. (extremely short version there) In years past, hopefuls selected the mentors they thought would be a good fit and submitted their query and first chapter to them. You had a limited […]
I’ve spent most of my career as an editor. I know damn good and well the work a writer turns in usually goes through multiple rounds of edits before it approaches publishable status. Still, as a writer, there is that little ego trip that says, “No, this is my creative baby, and it is perfect, […]
...Rochelle Karina... 