One of my critique partners has closed in on the finish of Poggibonsi, my romantic comedy. He has these kind words to offer. (Best. Critique. Ever.) . “You, on the other hand, have a gift. The whole crazy story of marital angst, betrayal and reconciliation is spot on. The whole thing was a sleigh ride […]
Hi Gang! Today we have with us my friend Sharon Ward Keeble, an international journalist for over two decades and author of the fabulously inspirational book The Horse Girl, about the London subway bombings in 2005. She also penned a personal memoir about her adventures as a young lady from Great British backpacking around China, […]
I recently read a brilliant piece by my friends at WriteOnSisters (are you not following them? Why not??) that touched on word count. Agents and publishers have word count goals by genre, and you should be within it – and then the post discussed how to do that in their typically brilliant way. READ about […]
I read another great article on Stephen King and stole the best parts (hey, the writer stole them from King’s book “On Writing” anyway, so fair’s fair). Here they are. If you create a meme from them, a little picture and maybe Mr. King’s image, I’ll post it here and tweet about it on Twitter […]
So if you wanna read my blog today you have to go there: http://authorcjandrews.com/2015/07/20/comfort-zone/ See ya there! Dan
The illustrator for “Stinky Toe” sent some new images over. Love these. This project is SO fun. What do you think? (CLICK the image to see it LARGER) Isn’t she amazing? Such freshness and energy. I’m very lucky to be working with her! Let me know YOUR thoughts!
I was updating a story chapter with the critiques from my critique circle and one author friend mentioned I used the word “look” too often. She looked up at me. I looked around. Stuff like that. I did it enough that she noticed it, so I scanned the 3500 word chapter and saw “look” 17 […]
Originally posted on J. A. Allen:
If there’s anything you should know about how I write, it’s that I am a cheater. I have cheat sheets. Loads and loads of cheat sheets. You might be surprised when I say this, but learning to write (well) is almost like learning another language. The language of capturing EXACTLY what you…
Here’s a great question I got recently from a fan. If a writer’s first book isn’t the best but is the beginning of a series, should the writer continue with the series? I’ve learned a lot from the reviews of my book. I re-edited once according to these reviews, but I’ve decided to step away […]
Yesterday we discussed the very frustrating reality that many successful authors admit they don’t know why they are successful. Luckily, I have some ideas. Let’s explore them together. The lesson I take from the big authors who profess that they don’t know what they’re doing, that they don’t know why they are successful, is they’re […]
DAN ALATORRE