Using Scent to Develop Characters

Posted Apr 15 2010 in

This afternoon, I was leaving the gym when a woman walked past me.  There was a moment, a split second, where her scent hit me.  She reminded me so much of my dead grandmother, I froze in my tracks and just stood there, steeped in a flood of fond memories.  It was a few minutes […]

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Golden Heart Scores Arrived

Posted Apr 12 2010 in

Funny.  I’d been waiting for this envelope to arrive for months.  When I arrived home this evening to find it, I couldn’t open it.  The little voice in my head,  you know, the Anti-Muse? She’s sitting back on her chaise, frothy umbrella drink in hand, regarding me over the tops of half-glasses, while a tiny […]

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Take ’em to Hell and Back

Posted Apr 7 2010 in

I love reading ‘master the craft’ books and find they inspire me whenever I am blocked. I have a library full of them (see earlier post on Hooked! by Les Edgerton). I’m currently reading Donald Maass’s Writing the Breakout Novel. In it, Maass devotes page after page to raising the stakes, asking us to ask […]

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It’s in the genes

Posted Mar 28 2010 in

Nearly eighteen years ago, I fell in love. Blind, complete, awe-inspiring, breathless love. In May of 1992, I met my newborn son and life began for me…  everything up until that moment was just a prelude. In the years that have passed since his birth, I’ve run the emotional gamut. Up-all-night exhaustion when he had […]

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Get Hooked!

Posted Mar 25 2010 in

I love reading books devoted to improving our mastery of the craft. King’s On Writing, Maass’ The Fire in Fiction…  every time I read advice from a seasoned veteran, I’m inspired to greater things that are (I hope) evident in my writing. I’m just finishing Hooked, by Les Edgerton. It’s a book devoted to writing […]

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New “Send” Opening

Posted Mar 24 2010 in

New opening scene for Send: God must have been bullied as a kid. Only a supreme being with a deep appreciation for irony would put me, a former bully, front row to a varsity football player built like some Cro-Magnon neanderthal about to pummel a skinny freshman. I searched the empty parking lot. I had […]

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I goofed…

Posted Feb 18 2010 in

I have started querying “Send” and heard back from one agent so far, who said Send is an adult romance and needs to be longer. I’m so thrilled I got feedback instead of form rejections.  But I’m so embarrassed that my research was incomplete. I didn’t realize YA meant no older than 18 and still […]

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Work in Progress – “Head Lines”

Posted Feb 15 2010 in

About two years ago, I finished a romance called “Border Lines” and thought it could be the first in a series.  I spent the weekend outlining a sequel and this morning, penned the first two chapters in what I’m tentatively calling “Head Lines”. I love starting new projects. I love finishing them even more, but […]

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Now, I’m proud

Posted Feb 14 2010 in

Ahh. The revisions on Send are done… at least, for this round. I’m finally happy with it. I like the balance struck between the protagonist and antagonist – both slightly insane, though the former’s is from guilt and the latter’s is from grief. Nothing on earth tops the sense of accomplishment I feel when I […]

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Once upon a time…

Posted Jan 19 2010 in

I love to write. I mean, LOVE to write.  A blank page or screen doesn’t fill me with dread – it fills me with excitement. Will I write fantasy or reality? Fact or fiction? In first person or third? I’ve been telling stories for years. I enjoy the slow, delicious build of tension with every […]

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