Category: Musings

The January 2011 issue of RWA’s Romance Writers Report included an article titled “The Seven Habits of Highly Ineffective (Has-Been) Authors.” Although I can’t quite be a has-been when I’m still a never-was, it got me thinking about my own bad habits. In the article, Diane Farr asks: “What bad...

In about 12 hours, I’ll be at my RWA chapter meeting. I’m definitely looking forward to it — all the more because I do not have to rush back to the office afterward. That’s right: I have the whole weekend off. I fully intend to take advantage of it...

Strange coincidences seem to be following me everywhere. In November, on the day I shipped off my GH entries, I got the call about finaling in the Beacon contest. Today, as I left the house for a write-in at Starbucks, I thought to myself, “I wonder why I haven’t...

I already wrote a post sharing my 2010 accomplishments. Although I remain agentless and unpublished, they weren’t inconsequential, for sure. In that post, I also outlined some goals for 2011. Those tasks included building my blog. While I still want to do that, it turns out I might have...

Jan. 10 will be here before I know it. That means it’s time to craft my goals for the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood Winter Writing Festival. But before I do that, I feel a need to create some writing resolutions for 2011. 2010 was a very successful year for me....

We had a write-in/brainstorming session at Starbucks this afternoon before work, and I lamented the fact that I’ve only written about 600 words since the end of NaNoWriMo. I’ve had days when I want to write, but the simple fact is this: I’m stuck. The (finished) NaNo novel has...

I doubt this will be my last post of the year (I certainly hope not!), but I thought it was as good a time as any to look back at what I’ve done this year. That’s right: I was catching up on my Word Count Countdown spreadsheet and realized...

I took a short break from editing Golden Heart entries today to let Bethany and Cody out to play. Their conversation took a turn (for the better or worse?) to that age-old question that has plagued the males of our species since the debut of “Gilligan’s Island”: Ginger or...

With all the re-reading of my old stuff I’ve been doing, I have way too many characters running around in my head. Suddenly, they’re all jockeying for attention. As a result, I’m getting a lot of nothing accomplished. Why is it that more ideas does not equal more productivity?...

No writer — or reader, for that matter — should let the American Library Association’s Banned Book Week pass without note, so here goes. Censorship has always angered me. It’s one reason I haven’t followed in the footsteps of my college adviser, who specialized (I believe) in media law...