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The Joy of…Drafting

Osprey's Flight

Most of my past year has been spent editing and revising, but for the past two days, I’ve been able to write fresh stuff for a shiny new project.  Oh, drafting, how I love thee. Really, is there anything more freeing than starting with a newborn idea and exploring?  Every scene, every line, every character’s […]

October 19, 2010

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When Is Faking It Okay?

Question Mark

After disclosing in my last post that my Muse is a perv, he’s been rather quiet.  So apparently he’s also shy.  Or the strong and silent type.  But that means I have no inspiration for today’s blog post.  That’s okay—I’ll fake it. Yes, yes, I know, I railed on faking story tension in another post.  […]

October 14, 2010

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Is Your Muse a Perv?

Aqua Notes

This post was inspired by a funky sort of cosmic pile-up in which I had several experiences over the past couple days all involving Muses visiting people in the shower.  Yes, writers are insane—more on that later. First, Christine Bell and I were discussing on Twitter how we get ideas during the most inopportune times.  […]

October 12, 2010

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Story Tension: Real vs. Fake

Worried Woman

In my last post, we had a lively discussion in the comments that prompted me to think about things authors do  to trick readers.  Some of these are good and some of them I call “cheap author tricks”.  What makes the difference?  Whether or not the trick is faked. We love surprise or twist endings […]

October 7, 2010

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Is “Romance” a Bad Word?

Woman Hiding Face

Recently, two best-selling authors have insisted that they don’t write romance novels.  In fact, they both acted like romance novels were beneath them.  No, they’re writing more important stories about life and death and war and taxes.  Well, maybe not the taxes part. Why all the hating on romance novels? First of all, if someone […]

October 5, 2010

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Tweet Week: Twitter—A Social Media Love Story

Mercedes M. Yardley signing her Agent's contract

Last time, Kristen Lamb guest blogged for me about how Twitter can be a writer’s BFF.  And maybe some of you weren’t convinced.  (Really, Jami, we know you’re just trying to justify your time on that thing.  Of course a social media expert would say social media is important.  Duh.) So I brought back-up with […]

September 30, 2010

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Tweet Week: Twitter—A Writer’s New BFF

Kristen Lamb

If you’ve seen some of my previous posts (Are Writers Conferences Worth It and Finding Life’s Balance), then you know I’m a big fan of Twitter. I’m not alone. Today, I invited Kristen Lamb, social media expert, to guest blog about how Twitter can help writers.  Take it away, Kristen… Twitter—A Writer’s New BFF Jami […]

September 28, 2010

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Critique Week: Building a Relationship

Steel Truss Bridge

During this two-week long Critique Week extravaganza we’ve looked at how criticism can help us improve, we’ve learned what a successful critique partnership looks like, and we’ve identified our strengths and weaknesses so we’ll recognize our perfect critique partner.  Now let’s put that all together and talk about how to build a supportive, helpful relationship […]

September 22, 2010

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Critique Week: Finding the Perfect Critique Partner

Step Pyramid

It’s probably a given that all good writers want to get even better.  Last week, I talked about how we can use criticism to improve our work, and I gave a peek inside a successful critique partnership. My critique partner and I work very well together, and we certainly lucked out by finding each other.  […]

September 20, 2010

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Critique Week: Secrets of a Critique Partnership

Fiction Groupie Blog Logo

Today marks a milestone for me.  My first ever appearance guest-posting on another blog.  Woohoo! I’m at Roni Loren’s blog today with a post on a critique partnership that works: mine.  With help from my critique partner, Margeanne Mitchell, I put together a humorous peek inside our relationship and tried to identify what makes it […]

September 16, 2010

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