“It’s called picking up the game, people. So from now on, every. Single. Story that we do is gonna have to be sensational. We’re gonna me more aggressive. We’re gonna work harder. And we’re gonna do it right now.” When Rachel McAdams’ character said the above quote in Morning Glory, her crew behind the scenes [...]

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GIVEAWAY: I am so very excited to announce the Nov. 2012 release of my newest book: CREATE YOUR WRITER PLATFORM. It’s a book all about how to build your visibility, brand, network and discoverability so you can better market yourself and your books. I’m giving away 2 copies to random commenters based in the U.S. [...]

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  Here in Australia, season one of the ABC fantasy-drama series Once Upon a Time recently came to an end. The series concept is this: in the magical world of fairy tales, the evil queen lays a curse that transports everyone to Storybrooke, Maine. The evil queen does this to punish Snow White who, as [...]

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Typically we hear about books being turned into movies. Occasionally, it happens the other way; a movie gets “novelized.” My friend Denene Millner recently turned the screenplay for the movie “Sparkle” into a book, and I asked her to share with Writer Unboxed what that experience was like. Following is our Q&A: How did the [...]

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Aside from the immediate benefit of getting yourself away from the computer screen and the blackhole of the Internet, studying movies and TV shows is a great way to enhance your storytelling skills. No, writing a script is not the same as writing a novel. But if you look beyond the differences in written format [...]

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Tonight is the night! Carleen Brice’s lauded debut novel, Orange Mint and Honey, was purchased by Lifetime Movie Network and has been transformed into a made-for-TV movie for the network called Sins of the Mother. [Read our interview with Carleen here.] Check out the trailer here, and be sure to tune in to the Lifetime [...]

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I’m a late adopter when it comes to entertainment. I don’t usually go to movies or buy books or music until I’ve read reviews or talked to trusted individuals that I’m not going to waste my money. Such as it was with the wildly popular new scifi movie Avatar. To be honest, I did not [...]

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Last week, you heard me whine about how fried I was after finishing the draft of my MS. In reward, I’ve taken a week off to detox, ventured outside my cave to go to a movie. Since it was hubby’s turn to pick, I found myself jostling in a packed theater to see The Hangover. [...]

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First, my happy news: The Last Will of Moira Leahy was involved in a four-way book auction in Germany, and sold to the highest bidder! Foreign sales can be important because the advance that foreign publishers pay to your US publisher goes against your US advance (unless you retained foreign rights, which we didn’t). Put [...]

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I turned in my final draft the day before Thanksgiving. It. Is. Done. I’ve been enjoying some R&R over the last few days and even went to see two new movies: Twilight and Australia. Maybe I was just full up on being critical of story because of my own work, but I really enjoyed both [...]

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Right now I’m in a bit of a movie glom. Books are my first love, always, but for some reason I’m slavering over watching a few good movies. This holiday season has got some toothsome choices to pick over. Tops on my must-see list is Baz Luhrmann’s Australia. I’m a sucker for WWII movies. Throw [...]

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Last weekend, my DH and I had a rare night to ourselves and we decided to see a movie. In a sign of my old age, nothing seemed appealing. Demographically, I’m in the target audience for Mama Mia but I really didn’t want to expose myself to Colin Firth and Pierce Brosnan capering about a [...]

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