Writer Unboxed

I’m going to write a whole post without using a certain 8 letter word describing something short people and aspiring writers can build and climb up on in order to be more visible. That’s not to downplay the value of other contributors’ recent posts about balancing your writing time with your visibility time, or the [...]

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Last month we began to look at premise development. I argued that developing a premise through writing a first draft is a natural practice, one that most authors follow. Yet a bit more attention to deepening one’s premise at the beginning of the process will both enrich that first draft and avert later shortcomings. The [...]

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Writer Denise Scotti McCurdy recently sent me this note: I was browsing through Writer Unboxed… but I had a question. Do you have any articles or suggestions about how to END a story? I’ve been muddling around with a story I would like to write, but I keep stopping because I have no idea how [...]

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This is a big month for me in my effort to make the most of the brave new realm of indy publishing. Beginning with a launch party at the Wisconsin Writers Institute, I will introduce to the world (or will have introduced, depending on when you read this), my new novel, Lucy in the Sky, [...]

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My new book, The Garden of Happy Endings, has just hit the shelves. It began with a single question: how can a benevolent being/Universe/Higher Power/etc allow young teenage girls to get kidnapped and murdered? It’s the thing that bugs us the most, right? If there is a God, what the heck is s/he doing when [...]

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Kimberly Reid is author of the Langdon Prep series of YA novels about a girl detective named Chanti Evans whose mom is an undercover cop. Chanti lives in the hood but goes to a private school in a swanky neighborhood. The 2nd in the series, Creeping With the Enemy, pubs today! A little of what [...]

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Therese here. If it’s a terrible thing to love the terrible mind of Chuck Wendig (of the blog Terrible Minds, for those of you who don’t know him) then Kath and I are terrible. Chuck’s blog is full of great advice, delivered with shrewd wit and an edge Chuck himself calls “unmercifully profane. It is [...]

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Anyone else out there a fan of ABC’s hit crime drama Castle? Anyone else out there totally frustrated by the direction the show has taken in the most recent episodes? I’ve been watching the show since it first started airing–it was a show about an author! Starring Nathan Fillion, whom I seriously would watch in [...]

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Kath here. Today’s guest is literary agent and author Jean Naggar. Jean was born in Alexandria, Egypt. She grew up in Cairo, moving to England, and then New York City, where she currently resides. She is the founder of the prominent Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency, Inc. Her work has been published in the New York Times, the Village [...]

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I want to do something a bit different today. My new book The Boggle Hunters, a fantasy adventure novel for kids aged 8-12 has just come out this month in Australia (Scholastic Press Australia) and I want to talk about the sheer magic of creating this book and the fun I’ve had creating a new [...]

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Kath here again! Bestselling author and valued contributor Barbara O’Neal’s latest novel The Garden of Happy Endings, has released today, and we’re thrilled to be able to have her share her writer’s journey with us. Kirkus calls it a warm romance “about the healing powers of nature, love and community.” Fans of Barbara’s writing know that [...]

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Kath here. We’re so pleased to share the news that valued contributor M.J. Rose’s latest book, The Book of Lost Fragrances, has released! When Therese and I met with M.J. last summer in NYC, she was deep in the throes of writing — and as soon as she described the premise to us, I knew [...]

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