Writer Unboxed

Want to know what a real editor will do for your manuscript? So did we, and we wanted to know some of his secrets as well, which is why we’re so pleased that Dave King, professional editor and co-author of Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself Into Print, granted us this interview. Read […]

Hot off the presses…the RWA board met at the association’s annual conference and decided to make several changes to the status quo, including the following:
• RWA has updated the definition of Subsidy or Vanity press to mean, “any publisher that publishes books in which the author participates in the cost of production or distribution in […]

Sorry for the long silence. An unexpected family emergency derailed my orderly world, and I had to beat it across the country on short notice. Of course, this travel emergency coincided with a terrorist attack and the midwest’s worst thunderstorms in US history. So it was a crappy time for air travel.
But […]

Since posting here a few weeks ago about the challenges of revising my fourth manuscript, I’ve gotten a deadline extension and a new sense of perspective. While some writers work best with clocks ticking and whips cracking, I’m not one of them. I need room to stretch out, to let the characters run wild, to […]

Every speculative fiction writer seems to have a personal blog these days. The better ones provoke some great discussion on writing—see, for instance, the Romance discussion on recent Andre Norton Award winner Justine Larbalestier’s blog.
Some writers’ blogs include as much about the minutiae of their health issues / crises with pets and children / […]

This from the BBC News Entertainment Section:
Author JK Rowling has said she felt euphoric but “devastated” as she penned the last words of the final Harry Potter book, The Deathly Hallows.
Speaking on Jonathan Ross’ chat show, she said: “When I finished one chapter near the end I absolutely howled.” …
She was in a hotel […]

There are many reasons why Jasper Fforde’s novels have become a publishing phenomenon: originality of ideas, witty dialogue, sharp characterization.  But in my opinion, the reason the reader keeps going back to purchase a Thursday Next or Jack Spratt detective novel is because they know they are going to get a gripping read with razor-sharp […]

I thought missing a week of publishing news would mean missing a lot, but really, not so much. Catch up by checking out the new entries at the WU Google Notebook HERE. And if you haven’t yet read my titillating late-night retelling of my New-Yorker-goes-west adventures, click HERE. Leave a comment in the bucket before […]

My advice this week to aspiring writers: Try not to have a book come out in the same week as a hundred-year flood.
If you’re not in the midst of it personally, you’ve probably heard about the record rainfall taking place right now across the Plains states and Texas. When it first started falling, more than […]

First, a quiz: Where did I take this photo?
A. Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah
B. Bryce Canyon National Park, Bryce Canyon, Utah
C. Grand Canyon National Park, North Rim, Arizona
Thanks to the wonders of technology I was able to pre-load a few posts last week, but I was actually busy exploring these three parks–plus visiting a rodeo, […]