Category Archives: Writing

Top Ten Reasons DFWcon 2012 Rocked Like Grohl

I belong to a great writers’ workshop, and we put on a writers’ conference every year. And this year, DFWcon melted my face off like Dave Grohl rocking during a Foo Fighters’ encore set. Lemme give you 10 reasons why: … Continue reading →

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Writing Young Adult Books Class: Meet the Special Guests!

I have news! The University of Texas at Arlington contacted me about developing/teaching a few courses for writers. This spring, I’m teaching Writing Young Adult Books. You do NOT have to be a UTA student. Anyone can enroll. The class … Continue reading →

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Don’t Feed the Dragon

So…exciting things are happening. Amazing, wonderful things! I blogged about 2012 being The Year of Impossible Things, and suddenly, some things are starting to look…well, pretty darn possible. But. Here’s the deal. Here be dragons. Okay, maybe there’s just one … Continue reading →

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Is Your Novel ‘Readable’ or ‘UN-PUT-DOWN-ABLE’?

A couple of weekends ago, I hosted a session at the 2011 DFW Writers’ Convention called Bringing Pages to Life.   The class was loads of fun–I met a lot of terrific writers, and since then I’ve been immersed in reading and … Continue reading →

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The Write Attitude

We’ve all heard about (or maybe even know!) writers with bad additudes–scribblers who are bitter, self-important, unrealistic, or just plain old hard-headed. I worry about that quite a bit–I don’t want that to be me.  I’m no expert, but here’s … Continue reading →

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Last Year’s Re(v)olution Revisited

I kinda hate New’s Years resolutions. They’re just so ubiquitous–so many people make them and break them. And blog about them. It seems like overkill for me to blather on about my goals. I mean, they’re so much less interesting … Continue reading →

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If SKYLINE was a NaNoWriMo First Draft…

**spoiler alert** So I saw the movie SKYLINE this weekend. It was dissappointing, to say the least. SKYLINE is a bad movie that could have been great. As I watched the big screen, I couldn’t help but see the movie as a semi-solid … Continue reading →

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Kate Klise: The Protagonist’s Journey

Recently, my school hosted Kate Klise for an author visit. We have one every year, and the kids are always excited to hear the stories behind the books they check out from our library. Have you read Kate and Sarah … Continue reading →

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Writing: Variations on a Theme

My agent once pointed out that both my current project and my new WIP explore similar themes. She meant this in the best possible way, and her observation holds true. I really do like to play with good vs. evil, … Continue reading →

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Writing Voice: SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR

I tend to think of  a book as a guided tour in which a character interprets everything for me. Between the pages,  I’m in new, uncharted territory and I’m relying on the POV person to convey the setting, the plot, … Continue reading →

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