Book Review: The Sisters of the Winter Wood

Back in January, I was browsing my favorite bookstore and came across The Sisters of the Winter Wood. I’d heard about and seen this book on Twitter and couldn’t resist buying it even though I had gone in to pick up a different book that I had special ordered. I never leave a book store…

Read More

2018 Publication Round-up

2018 is just about over, and while it may not have been my most fruitful year for producing new work, it was a fantastic year for publishing. My first novel was published. My short fiction and poetry appeared in nineteen publications Of all of these, my favorite is my novel, Power Surge. For short stories,…

Read More

Book Review: The Razor

I received a free copy of this through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. The Razor is both the title of the book and the setting. It’s a small strip of habitable land on an otherwise inhabitable planet: one side is firestorms and radiation, the other is ice and cold that will…

Read More

Power Surge & Trigger Warnings

Power Surge’s road to publication has been long and bumpy, but as it gets closer and closer to publication date, I want to take a minute to discuss the age category, trigger warnings, and mature content. I’ve rarely thought of Power Surge as anything other than Young Adult (YA). However, you may notice it listed…

Read More

Like Birds is on Wattpad.

Wattpad has fascinated me and scared me since I started getting serious about my writing. Even before I knew what it was, I liked the idea of serially posting a story online. The problem was, traditional publishing just holds too much allure. Now that I have one book signed with a small press and another…

Read More

Twitter Pitch Parties Are About More Than Just The Likes

When seeking an agent or publisher for a novel, I participate in every twitter pitch party I get the chance to. So far, no one “like” or “heart” has landed me an agent or a book deal, but I still participate. They help me figure out what agents like the kind of stories I write, and…

Read More

Beta Readers & Remembering my Characters are NOT me.

Good beta readers and critique partners are essential for writers, not just because they make individual manuscripts stronger, but also because they can make writers aware of problematic patterns. My beta readers often comment that my characters don’t react or show emotion to big things – like finding out demons exits, losing a loved one,…

Read More

IWSG November: I will win NaNoWriMo!

November 1 question – Win or not, do you usually finish your NaNo project? Have any of them gone on to be published? Because I was so into national novel writing month, I completely forgot to blog on the first of the month with the Insecure Writers Support Group Question. Half way through the month and…

Read More

Book Deal = Happier than a Puppy Off- Leash

This blog post should’ve been up a few days ago, but with storms, a family member’s health issues, and the start of NaNoWriMo, I neglected to write it. However, if you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, then you probably already know the information I am going to announce. I signed a contract with NineStar…

Read More

Room for Discovery in Planned Novels

When I was taking a creative writing workshop in college, my professor (Andre Dubus III) told me he never planned novels. He encouraged us to avoid outlines, claiming they would make our writing feel forced. He said if we outlined, our characters wouldn’t feel real, and they wouldn’t come to life on the page. Shortly…

Read More