Last month in San Antonio, I got the chance to listen to Hugh Howey speak. You know Hugh Howey – he’s one of the big selfpublishing success stories of 2013. He and his agent were talking about what it means to be an outlier. During his remarks, Hugh mentioned that he worked 80-100 hours a…
Tag: writing
Time Flies Books
I just finished reading The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig. It was wonderful. In my opinion, there are two kinds of books, those that you read and those that make time fly. The Ashford Affair was a Time Flies book. I couldn’t put it down, I was that compelled to find out what happened to Addie,…
Four Questions About My Writing Process
When New York Times bestseller Selena Blake tagged me to be part of the “Writing Process” blog tour, I had to say yes. After all, Selena was one of the authors who helped me with my RWR Article “Seven Habits of Effective Writers”. (You can read her amazingly helpful interview on productivity here) She asked me to…
Paying It Forward with the Brenda Novak Auction
Drop a pebble in the water: just a splash, and it is gone; But there’s half-a-hundred ripples Circling on and on and on…. (James W. Foley 1874-1939) I’m a big believer in the ripple effect – that like a stone tossed in a pond, one person’s action can build upon itself to have enormous ramifications….
Writing Productivity 2
An Interview with Maisey Yates USA TODAY Bestselling author, Maisey Yates, and I sold within months of each other. In fact, we were both plucked from the slush pile by the same editor. Now I could be bitter and jealous over the fact that in the same amount of time, Maisey has managed to not…
The Gratitude Jar
There’s a jar on my windowsill that I call the gratitude jar. I stole the idea from Facebook. (If you can call lifting an idea posted on Facebook as stealing.) Anyway, throughout the year, I’ve stuffed little notes in the jar reminding me of the many blessings in my life. Some are simple like “I’m…
Is Anybody Out There? I’ve been asking myself that question for a few weeks now. Since September, I’ve been showing up here every Wednesday and sharing whatever is on my mind. But why? It used to be blogging was a great way to connect with people. Readers, we writers were told, want to learn more…
It Was Bound To Happen…. My son, Tattoo has had a girlfriend for almost three years. She’s a lovely girl, and I have no doubt the two of them are in love. Until this year, his girlfriend lived in town, which meant he came home from school to visit her. Meaning I got to see…