In the month of November, hundreds of thousands of people will participate in National Novel Writing Month, in which they attempt to write fifty thousand words of a novel. And like every year, people will write blog posts and columns about why they hate NaNoWriMo. To be clear, NaNoWriMo is not for every writer. Not everyone likes to write fast –

I’m so excited to announce the launch of my reference book for writers! Master Lists for Writers grew out of some popular posts on my blog, but most of the content is new. Whether you’re getting ideas for a brand new story, developing your characters, or searching for the right words as you write, I think it’s going to be a great resource.

Recently, someone I don’t know well in one of my (many, I’m afraid) private online groups vented about the guy she was seeing: a not-quite-boyfriend. She was most often the one to make plans, and he cancelled at the last minute about a third of the time. She was asking the group how to get him to back out less often

This is one of my favorite tips for how to write good dialogue… Give your characters something to do while they talk! The wonderful movie Warrior has a great lesson in how to write good dialogue. In one scene, a science teacher who moonlights as a fighter talks with his wife late at night while he repairs his girls’ dollhouse

I will admit that of all the zodiac signs, Libra is the hardest one for me to pin down. But if I’m understanding the classic Libra personality type correctly, Libras themselves can be hard to pin down, because they go back and forth on decisions and often want to get along with everyone. Let’s take a look at Libra characteristics!