Digital Age Authors & The Ugly Truth About "The Good Old Days" of Publishing

A large percentage of writers have waited until the kids are out of the home and out of college to begin pursuing their dreams of being authors. They’re also writing books they’d like to read. Romance novels with a sixty-year-old protagonist finding love, not a twenty-two-year-old. Is traditional publishing ready to invest in older writers writing drastically different books?

Focusing on the Positive and Why I Think DELTA Airlines Should No Longer Burn in HELL

An elderly couple found me crying in a hallway and took pity on me and made sure I got back to DFW. By the time I got home? I was in full seizures AND had pneumonia (because DELTA rerouted me through a FREEZING New Orleans with no jacket and no meds and I slept the night on cardboard boxes (from Christmas decorations) to stay warm.

Do You Have a Psychic Vampire Critique Partner?

Too many writers get into this business for the wrong reasons. They really aren’t interested in the life of a professional and just enjoy “playing author.” Writing is for attention and ego-stroking. Their goals are about THEM and this means anyone on board with them will go the wrong direction.

When Is It Time to Start Building an Author Platform?

I spoke on Saturday here in Florida for the STAR folk in Melbourne, and I had a new writer comment that she couldn’t start building her platform because she had no finished books and nothing for sale. I don’t believe in Self-Help-Kitten-Glitter. I believe in hard work. But hard work needs a solid foundation or we’re no better than Skippy the Hamster running in his little wheel.

The Seven Deadly Sins of Prologues

To prologue or not to prologue? That is the question. The problem with the prologue is it has kind of gotten a bad rap over the years, especially with agents. They generally hate them. Why? In my opinion, it is because far too many writers don’t use prologues properly and that, in itself, has created its own problem.