“Chefs, please open your baskets.” With those words, the competition on Chopped, my favorite Food Network show, where four chefs compete against each other in elimination-style appetizer, entree, and dessert rounds, begins At the start of each round the chefs open baskets containing four ingredients that must be used in the dish—unusual ingredients such as… Read more »
The digital world is constantly evolving, and big shifts occurred in the social media landscape as we head into 2020. TikTok continues to grow rapidly, Instagram decided to remove its Like counts, Twitter changed up its format–and those are only a few of the changes that took place this year. For authors hustling to make… Read more »
There are times when I need to escape my normal routine and immerse myself in another world for a little while – to re-discover my inner child and head out on a mini-adventure… or, as I lovingly refer to them, field trips. I’ve discovered attending book fairs is a great way to get my “field… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Constance Sayers talking about her debut novel, A Witch in Time, which is forthcoming in February. A finalist for Alternating Current’s 2016 Luminaire Award for Best Prose, her short stories have appeared in Souvenir and Amazing Graces: Yet Another Collection of Fiction by Washington… Read more »
When, if ever, is it okay to make pop culture references in fiction? And does that rule change when you’re writing for children or teens? This much-debated topic has no easy answer. First, an overview of the debate, then we’ll discuss how the dynamics shift when your target audience skews younger, and how to make… Read more »
It’s time for the final installment of our series on the WHY-WHAT-HOW of your writing life. In the first post, we discovered our writing purpose. In the second post, we turned that purpose into specific goals. Today’s focus will be on creating routines and habits that bring our purpose and goals into reality. Step One:… Read more »
I spent most of my working lifetime teaching students at London University, and, after immigrating to Southern California, at USC, UCLA and California State University, Long Beach. During that time, under pressure to publish, I wrote seven nonfiction books. Some were works of literary criticism, others included a biography, a genre study of autobiography, and even… Read more »
Hey there word nerds! Today, I have the pleasure of interviewing Janae Marks! Janae is an award-winning children’s book author living in Connecticut. She has an MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in Writing for Children and Young Adults from The New School, and is an active member of the Society of Children’s Books Writers… Read more »
This column was due on December 24th. Anyone surprised that my thoughts turned to the season and to celebrations of the winter solstice? If you and your story live within the Judeo-Christian tradition, you’ll no doubt have a good handle on Christmas and Hanukkah. But, for Christmas in particular, how did some of the traditions… Read more »
I love a good story that explores the theme of man and the natural world. Maybe it’s because I’m a nature lover at heart. Or maybe it’s because I often draw on nature for inspiration for my poetry. Regardless, when a book’s jacket copy hints at a unique natural setting, a character’s fight for survival… Read more »
