Going Over the Rainbow · lgbt · writing

Pride Month Diversity Commitment and a New Workshop!

June is here and for those of us in the States, that means Pride Month! It is a month to celebrate the MOGAI (Marginalized Orientations, Gender Alignments and Intersex) community and how far we've come and where we are headed. It is also a great month to look at our writing and see where we… Continue reading Pride Month Diversity Commitment and a New Workshop!

excerpt · writing

A Small Gift: Daggers of Ariyon Excerpt

  If you've been following anything about the state of the writing industry these past few weeks, you'll be well aware of the kerfuffle that has gone on. Many much more talented and eloquent writers than myself have weighed in on the #cockygate and KU issues. In fact, I'm not going to discuss anything to do… Continue reading A Small Gift: Daggers of Ariyon Excerpt

Characters · writing · Writing FUNdamentals

Blood on the Keyboard: Writing When it Hurts

Okay, so that title is a *little* misleading. I'm not talking about actual blood. Unless you're like me and tend to have random nosebleeds. Not good for your keyboard. No, the hurt I'm referring to is more emotional than physical. But how so? You've no doubt come across the adage to 'write what you know' and likely… Continue reading Blood on the Keyboard: Writing When it Hurts

Characters · writing · Writing FUNdamentals

Writing a Healthy Romance

Romance novels often get blown off by the wider reading community (and especially the literary) as frivolous emotional porn (and sometimes actual porn) lacking any real substance or plot. This couldn’t be further from the truth. However, like all genres, romance does have some troublesome tropes. Some of these tropes are perpetuated in common advice… Continue reading Writing a Healthy Romance

writing

The Pitfalls of Pleading Insanity: How jokes about being a ‘crazy’ writer hurt all writers.

  Ah, the crazy writer.  Edgar Allen Poe, Jack Kerouac, Ernest Hemmingway, Slyvia Plath. The names conjure the image of tormented, alcoholic, or strange souls destined to be on the outskirts of society while they penned the next literary masterpiece.  Several famous writers have suffered from mental illness and have even succumbed to their disease or… Continue reading The Pitfalls of Pleading Insanity: How jokes about being a ‘crazy’ writer hurt all writers.