Here's my last post in which I'm sharing some of the writing craft wisdom my friend, Lauri Klobas, shared with me during a few intense months in which she taught me how to edit my badly over-written prose. Not all of the advice she gave me had to do with trimming back...

This week on the blog I'm sharing the writing advice I received from Lauri Klobas, a friend I will always consider my first editor. Lauri had a lot to teach me about trimming and tightening unfocused story elements and overwritten prose. I still over-write my first...

This week I've spent time reading over the emails exchanged with my friend Lauri, during the months I began the huge task of editing Kindred down to a manageable length. An element I'd struggled with was back story: where to put it, and how much needed to be included...

This week marks a year since my friend, Lauri Klobas, author and gifted critter, passed away after her third battle with breast cancer. Lauri and I had known each other only on the Compuserve Books & Writers Forum when she graciously and unexpectedly volunteered...

There I was sitting at my computer at 5-something AM this morning, wondering what to blog about today, when I took a quick gander at my blog rolls over in the sidebar, and there's Jody Hedlund, one of the most consistent, prolific bloggers I know, blogging about what...

I identify with that feeling of despair in seeing some scenes hit the cutting room floor. There’s one, out of all the scenes and parts of scenes I’ve cut from several novels, that haunts me still and I’m determined to slip back in between the pages one day, if given a...

Today was a productive writing day. What that means for me is over 2000 new words on the page that didn't exist when I got out of bed this morning to turn off the 5am alarm. It also means I stayed focused. It means I sat here in this increasingly padded chair and kept...

Thanks to everyone who paid an extra visit to this blog yesterday, to help skooch me up over the 10,000 hit mark. Very silly of me and very kind of you! I appreciate everyone who visits, reads, and comments here. It's been a interesting few years, keeping up a blog...

Having reached the customary point in my first draft where I start fretting about rising word count (roughly seven chapters in), I needed this timely reminder from author Patti Hill, over at the excellent Novel Matters blog today. Taming The Perfectionist Monster It's...

Pressing on despite not being able to see the path ahead can be hard. And a little scary. It's where I am right now in regards to writing. I've been in a working and waiting mode for so long I'm not sure I'll know how to "be" whenever God opens a door and one of my...