HI, everyone!! I’m trying to keep up work on a new project as well. I am aiming for 10-20 pages a week.

@maddiejay  I am in the same boat! I write during naptime for my 2 year old : ) It’s easy to get distracted!

oh, wow. Then you definitely space, too lol.

I’m trying to learn that same thing!!

Oh, wow! That would be a challenging story to tell. I can give advice on the Mom aspect, though I am not a teen, so that would be different. I was nearly 30 when I had my first child. Let just say that not sleeping well, waking every couple of hours etc., is…[Read more]

Ah! Thanks for the link. I’ve queried different books over the years, the normal/slow route and NEVER heard of a service like that before. Very few publishers accept unsolicited submission, so I don’t tend to look at publishers anyway.

@evelyn Thanks!

@H-jones  Aw… thank you soo much! I really appreciate that! It is definitely a challenge to find the time to write with the kiddos, but it’s a great hobby that is sort Me Time.

Everyone starts somewhere with a story! I have been one of those huge plotting types, but am learning that sometimes it’s good to have super basic ideas and WRITE. Even…[Read more]

I don’t know much about Kindle Direct either. Only that that is considered self-publishing and not a vanity press. The good news is that you don’t HAVE to decide immediately. Have you looked into querying agents or at publishers that accept unsolicited, aka unagented, manuscripts? There are lots of smaller, independent publishers, too.

Oh wow,…[Read more]

@the-fledgling-artist Oh wow! A graphic novel sounds fun and definitely challenging!

The beach is lovely in summer! I’m enjoying the mountains and snow the past few years though.

I have tried acrylics and I’m awful lol. I usually watercolor flowers.

All VERY fun hobbies : )

@MaddieJay That’s essentially what I do as well! Getting to the THE END of any draft feels so great that I can actually see who and what I want to work  with and become excited about revisions. Usually the next draft is a blank page.

Draft 0 is great idea! My first draft usually changes voice styles…first person or third person or whatever.…[Read more]

@the-fledgling-artist What are you working on btw? Sorry! I had to reply and run : )

I’ve been working on it off and since last year, but I am really to try to make time and make a goal to finish the first draft and a couple of months.

@mariposa Hello!! Where are you from?   I’m a couple of hours from the beach, way over in the mountains, but I used to live near the beach : ).

I try to get outdoors as much as I can with my husband and kiddos. I also watercolor! I think I have too many hobbies lol : ) How about you?!

@bama-rose Vanity Presses are little different from self-publishing, say on Kindle Direct, because they charge the author to do things editing or making cover or digital files for ebooks or printing the book. They don’t, as far as I’m aware, make money from selling the actual book, so what is their incentive for the author to sell copies? I have…[Read more]

I’m going to chime in here because I have thought about this A LOT lately. Basically, I’m looking into the following things myself:

1) WHERE does the magic come from? You can name God anything you like in your world. If there is dark and light magic, I’d say be sure there is a little bit of gray area. How does your system/world tie into…

2)…[Read more]

Depends which one I’m working on : ) Which is my issue at the moment.

The newest WIP, I’m about 100 pages into the MS, is a historical fantasy. My premise is NOT tight on this project, but it is about two magician sisters living in 1911 San Francisco. At their graduation ball, one is attacked and her magic is stolen. When she fails to get into…[Read more]

Hi, @bama-rose!

I am not published, but that’s my goal! I think it’s great if you are taking a serious look at writing. It really is a lot of fun and hard work : )

Well, I would say that it really is a personal choice to go self-published or traditional. I want to be traditionally published because I hope, (okay, dream!) of having a career. Both…[Read more]

My favorite writing books:

Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass …MUST read. Seriously.

Goal, Motivation and Conflict by Debra Dixon. Essential for characters!

45 Master Characters by Victoria Schmidt

Writing Monsters by Philip Athans

Really, there are a lot of great books at Writer’s Digest.

I just ordered Walking on Water:…[Read more]