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paranormal author

Faking It: Making Our Actions Count

Woman with arms outstretched with text: How to Fake Confidence

We’ve probably all heard the phrase: Fake it until you make it. The idea is that we’re supposed to act the way we want others to see us, and we’ll be treated the way we want. The concept can be applied to our personal life as well as our professional […]

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January 17, 2013

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Introducing the Query/Blurb Exchange Club!

Arrows connecting to each other with text: Queries and Blurbs: A Place to Get Help. The Query/Blurb Exchange Club

The response to my request for help on my query in my last post was amazing. I really shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, we all know you are amazing, right? *smile* But the tremendous outpouring of offers to help also made me feel guilty. I’ve heard stories from others about […]

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January 15, 2013

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What Writing Step Are You Afraid Of?

Dark door cracked open with text: What Writing Step Are You Scared Of?

I’ve said before that I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. However, I do have several writing goals for this year. Like many writers, my big goal has to do with making progress toward being published, and that means I have to face my fear. For me, that translates into… *dun […]

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January 10, 2013

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The “New Adult” Genre: Why Does It Exist?

Graduation cap with text: The "New Adult" Genre: Why Does It Exist?

Publishing industry news has exploded with stories about a new genre, called New Adult. The New Adult genre is meant to bridge the supposed gap between Young Adult (teen) books and general Adult fiction books. Every news site from the New York Times to Publishers Weekly has been giving their […]

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January 8, 2013

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12 Tips for Recovering from Writing Burnout

Tire burnout mark on pavement with text: 12 Tips for Recovering from Writing Burnout

As I write this, I’m suffering from acute sleep exhaustion after pulling an all-nighter. I stayed up until 5:30 a.m. to finalize not one, but two entries for RWA’s Golden Heart contest (the big contest for non-published romance writers) before the deadline. I’m glad I completed everything on time and met […]

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January 3, 2013

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Do You Make New Year’s Resolutions?

Drawing of confetti with text: Toss Those New Year's Resolutions For Something Better

New Year’s Day. The time of year when society tells us to make New Year’s Resolutions. We vow to eat better and exercise more. We promise ourselves we’ll carve out more “me-time” for reading or other enjoyable activities. We hope to become better organized or more charitable. Most of those […]

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January 1, 2013

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Four Tips for Fixing the Infamous “Info Dump”

Old VW Bug in a dump with text: 4 Tips to Avoid Dumping Information

While I’m on holiday vacation this week, I’ll share a post from my early days of blogging. We’ve all heard of those eye-rolling, telling “information dumps,” yet at some point, we all have to get chunks of information across to the reader. My usual technique with world-building is to show, […]

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December 27, 2012

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Merry Christmas! Some Gifts for You…

Christmas ornaments and candle on a tree with text: Sharing Christmas Fun and Cookie Recipes

I’ll be offline for most of this week, but I wanted to leave you with some fun (and yummy) gifts. If you’re celebrating this week, I hope your plans all unfold smoothly, your travels all go safely, your family members all behave perfectly, and all your dreams for the New […]

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December 25, 2012

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‘Tis the Season to Be Chaotic, Is Reblogging the Answer?

Chaotic colors with text: Is Reblogging an Easy Way to Handle Chaos?

I don’t know about anyone else, but this is a rough time to get any writing done. I did great throughout November for NaNoWriMo, but since then I think I’ve gotten in only 7,000 words. And most of those words were written the first weekend of December, right after NaNo […]

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December 20, 2012

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Protect Your Wrists: Exercises for Writers

Exercise dumbbell with text: Wrist Exercises for Writers

Back in August, the keyboard I’d used for forever (about ten years) died. I tried using several other keyboards of various ergonomic configurations, but they all made my wrists hurt by the end of the day. After weeks of these inferior (to me) keyboards, my right wrist got so bad […]

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December 18, 2012

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