• Courtney Milan doesn’t know me, but I’m going to thank her anyway. Why representation is my job because writing is my superpower.
Why #SWRepMatters – Disposable and Invisible Equals Unsafe
Saying Inclusion is political but exclusion isn’t leads to story worlds where most of us don’t exist. And if we don’t exist in fiction, our existence in the real world remains precarious.
Reblog: “I Am Not Your Plot Device” – Steven Spohn at Terrible Minds
Even as our bodies are strewn across the straight world’s entertainment landscape, we’re expected to be grateful to have even been included. Applause for the bravery of the mainstream writer for their diversity and daring.
REBLOG Steven Spohn’s essay at Terrible Minds: I Am Not Your Plot Device.
My Book is 114 Times Better because of Professional Proofreaders
After the writing comes the editing. After the editing comes the proofreading. Jedi proofreading.
Why I Love the Editing Phase
Karin Kallmaker’s Writer Brain and Editor Brain duke it out for supremacy, then a real editor shows up.
Why Change? 3 Things I Learned from Melissa Brayden Plus a Sneak Peek
I learned more than three things from Melissa Brayden at #gcls2015 – now to put them to work! Plus, here’s the current opening of Captain of Industry I read at the Con.
TheMarySue Casually Smears Romance (REBLOG Heidi Cullinan)
Heidi Cullinan nails The Mary Sue for a lazy, unresearched, hetero-only smear piece on romance writing.
This is What Computer Geeks Look Like
If you don’t know the name Grace Hopper, spend 16 minutes with the QUEEN OF CODE from the Signals channel at 538. Populate your scenes of computer science with Grace Hoppers. And Hedy Lamarrs. And the women they have inspired like Brittany Wenger.
How “Strong Female Characters” Still End Up Weak And Powerless – Reblog from « terribleminds: chuck wendig
Comments on and links to Chuck Wendig (Terrible Minds) blog on real agency for female characters, and Ada Hoffman’s excellent Twitter series about agency in plot, not character.
Confess This: Envy and Loathing Get You Nothing.
In which Karin Kallmaker answers Jowita Bydlowska’s (“Confessions of a Failed Romance Writer”) breathtaking disrespect of romance writers and readers. There is cursing.
Dear Dairy – reblog from KG MacGregor
y example is from Love by the Numbers: “She loved her beautiful back hair.” I caught that in the last proof before the book went to press. Take the time to read KG MacGregor’s hilarious examples of exactly what Spellcheck won’t do for you!
No Rage Stalking Here – Why I Welcome Critical Reviews
Authors behaving badly. Readers retaliating. This is why we can’t have nice things? Like a viable feedback loop that helps writers grow and readers get better books for their money?
Writing a Book – Mowing the Lawn
The quip above was almost an aside, but I have thought of it often.
Autocorrect and Anatomies of Typographical Errors
How do weird typos still find their way into final manuscripts? Let’s start with “balsalmic.”
What Romance Writers Actually Do
My take on the “What We Actually Do” meme for Romance Writers. The art displayed is either public domain or licensed for non-commercial use. Creative Commons SSA-BY Copyright.
Roller Coaster – Before and After the Self-Edit
What the editor will focus on, I hope, is if this scene is where the book should begin. For this book, choosing the opening has been the single most important decision I’ve had to make, and I’ve agonized.
Two Weeks for Self-Doubt
How can something that happens with every book always come as a surprise? Even in the throes of self-doubt I don’t recognize it.
Is it Six Thirty? Nine Fifteen?
This seems to me close to my personal rule, “If I read it aloud and pause, that’s where the comma goes.” This after years of being told that was not how to do things.