"The editor is there to do two things: to make the book as polished and professional as she can and to help you and the publisher avoid infringement suits. There are no brownie points for refusing reasonable edits. My first editor [Suzanne James] taught me: "An editor...
Read. You'll probably hear this from every published writer you meet. You'll probably hear it at every conference you attend too. It really is important to know how the romance genre works and the classic hooks that are popular with readers. Analyze each book you...
Go to the source: Want to know how it feels to sit in a Mercedes Benz, or the smell of a horse, or the sound of a forest? Go to the source. Window shop at a high end car dealer, visit a horse veterinarian or enlist the help of horsey friends. The woods are not silent....
Don't be afraid to experiment with your writing. So what does that even mean? For five years I targeted Harlequin Mills and Boon because that was the house I wanted to be published with. I did eventually progress from form rejections to personal ones and then onto...
"I have a feeling my writing tip is one that’s been shared, but just in case it hasn’t, I wanted to remind everyone that writing comes in all forms. It can be a stanza of poetry, a blog update, a letter, a book review, a diary entry, or actually sitting down to write...
"Goals and Goal Timelines Writing goals are fabulous tools. They get us to put the words on the page, they motivate us to submit our manuscripts, they push us over hurdles when we’d rather give up. You’ve sent goals, right? Finish the first draft – or better yet,...
"Something I started doing a couple years ago has really helped me a lot. I keep a notebook next to my keyboard. Every morning when I start my day, I write the date down. Then whatever I do gets written in my notebook. If I go through all email, spend an hour catching...
"Revision is your friend. Nobody writes a perfect first draft. It's in the rewrites where you turn an ordinary story into something special. Don't be so in love with your words that you're afraid to cut them. If they don't serve the story, they have to go. It doesn't...
"Figure out what kind of story you want to tell and stick to it. Cross too many genre barriers and the booksellers won't know where to shelve you. Begin as you mean to continue. If you start out with snarky comedy, don't end up with a chainsaw toting serial killer....
