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Four Writing Apps to Help You Get Organized

Every time I turn around there is another program I need to check out. I think it’s because I recently started reading reddit. All of the people who create apps are there, I think. And they all mention their apps at some point or other (or, more annoyingly, every time there is a post that is even tangentially related to their app). Most recently I discovered three new-to-me writing apps:…

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Write What Feels Right

Imagine, if you will, that you get a great idea for a character. You put them into a situation in which you know they will thrive. You even give them an emotional conflict and perhaps even an external one. This all sounds like the perfect start to writing a great book, doesn’t it? If you’re a plotter, like me, you next begin plotting the story, coming up with the major turning points and thinking…

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How to plot a romance novel

I was recently asked for references on how to plot a romance. As someone who’s been writing in the genre for years and reading as many books on the craft of writing as I can, I had very few recommendations for romance-specific craft books. It’s not that romance writers don’t share how they create their stories—they are some of the most generous people with their time and knowledge. It’s just that…

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Make This List

With the new year, a favorite thing for many to do is to pause and look back at the previous year. The end of December is filled with lists of things that have happened, people who have left us, fashions that have come and gone, even new words and phrases that have come into common use. One thing I like to do is to look back over my achievements from the previous year. Because I keep a daily…

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Marvin is Quite Amazing: A Review

I live off my to-do lists. I have also tried many different ways of keeping them. I’ve tried keeping them on paper in my daily planner (I still do that), I have tried writing them on a little mini easel white board (I do that when I’ve got a ton of things I need to keep on the top of my head), and I’ve tried a number of apps on my phone and computer. There are so many to-do apps! Todoist, Things…

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Do Your End of Year Wrap-up

Usually at this time of year there are thousands of wrap-up the year blogs and articles. Maybe it’s me, but this year I’m just not seeing so many. Is it because, like me, so many have been caught off-guard by the fact that the year is already over? Or are people just tired of writing (and reading) the same thing every year? Whatever the reason, I’m not eager to buck the trend. Instead, I’m just…

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The Conflict Box

Continuing on with the theme of conflict (because I’ve been having so much trouble resolving the conflict in the book I’m writing and because the book I’m editing doesn’t have nearly enough), I was recently reminded of the conflict box. I’m not entirely sure who came up with this idea, but I know that Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer discussed it when they were co-writing Don’t Look Down, the first…

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What's a Plotter to do?

I am a die-hard believer in plotting. For the way my mind works there is no other way to write. But what to do when plotting doesn’t work? I’ve tried writing by the seat of my pants and always end up plotting a few scenes in advance, the major turning points of the story, and/or pre-writing before I actually get to the dialogue and, you know, the actual writing of the scene (pre-writing is…

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This Story Right Now

Writing a novel is not only multifaceted, complicated endeavor, it’s also a lot of fun! But one of the lessons I have come away with in my twenty year career is that no two books are the same. You don’t write them the same way, you don’t plot them the same way, hell, I don’t even use the same writing software for every book. I know there are some people who are absolutely wedded to Scrivener, and…

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Is SuperNotes Super for Authors?

I can hardly believe I am trying out yet another system for keeping track of my characters and my plot, and yet… I recently heard of a relatively newcomer to the PKMS scene (that’s Personal Knowledge Management Systems, just to remind you). The developers were very sneaky and posted on a reddit group I’m in asking people to comment on the new on-boarding video he’d created. Of course, I watched…

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Intuitive Editing: A Review

One in an occasional series of writing book reviews. Today, I’ll talk about Intuitive Editing by Tiffany Martin. I came across this book when I went to the home of a fellow author who was hosting a write-in. She had very cleverly put out all of her craft books as decoration in the center of the dining table where we were invited to sit and write. Intuitive Editing was among many books, most of…

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Writing Through Reality

No matter what your feelings are toward current events in the US, we are all feeling something. Some are happy and hopeful, some distraught and scared of what will happen in the future. But the most important question is whether you are going to allow this to affect your writing. Now, you may be saying, “What do you mean ‘allow’?!” Many people are having a really hard time focusing so deeply are…

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Backstory Timeline

It was recently brought home to me the importance of creating a timetable for my characters’ and their family’s backstory. The dates when things happened and how they interrelate can be vital to a story’s viability. And especially when writing historical fiction, you need to know not only what happened to your characters and those connected to them (friends, family) as necessary, but what was…

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I Missed My Anniversary!

I can’t believe I missed my anniversary! Well, actually, I can. My husband and I regularly miss our wedding anniversary—if it wasn’t for my mother-in-law calling to wish us a happy anniversary every year we’d never remember. But I’m not talking about that one. I’m talking about the one of January 1st of 2004 – twenty years and nearly 11 months ago. Would you believe that is the date my very first…

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Kortex: A Review

In my continuous quest for the perfect writing/PKMS (Personal Knowledge Management System) for authors, a new app has come to my attention: Kortex. (Warning: this is a pretty long post.) This is so new, they have a wait list of people who would like to give the software a try, although it’s ridiculously easy to by-pass that and get right on (I’ll tell you how later). The app hasn’t officially…

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Style Sheets

This week I want to tell you about something that you would never think would aid you as a writer, but now I can’t imagine writing or editing the work of others without it. Style sheets. What is a style sheet? Well, if you work for a publisher or a company that produces a lot of written work, you’ll know that a lot of companies have their own style sheet. These are company-wide rules of grammar…

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Writing to Your Strengths

Image by Casey Colton on Deviant Art I am a very strong believer in trying new things—whether it be a new food, a new experience, or something new with your writing. With just about every book I write, I try to use a new tool or a new way of organizing my writing. I try new programs—Scrivener, Atticus, Novlr, or Plottr. I use a virtual notebook, or a physical one. I write long hand, or type away…