I’ve been re-watching an old 80’s sitcom that recently popped up on one of the streaming services I subscribe to. One thing I never noticed while watching it when I was a kid was the unusual use of the passage of time. This probably wasn’t so jarring watching episodes sporadically, but watching them back to […]
I’m always on the lookout for a new fun toy for Sean and Addi, the pair of tuxedo kittens we adopted. (Yes, they do both look like smaller versions of Ruffles, the cat that occasionally shows up in my Bean to Bar Mysteries.) Example items are from Amazon, and these are affiliate links. Crochet […]
My Bean to Bar Mysteries are set on Galveston Island. How could I celebrate that setting without having a list of everything I like to bring for a perfect beach day. (Of course, there’s so much to do at the beach, there’s no way I could cover everyone’s perfect day. Just mine.) Example items are […]
I know this is something I’ve talked about before, but I just want to re-emphasize the need to be kind to yourself when it comes to judging first drafts — especially if it is one of your first projects. It’s easy to discourage yourself, right at the time when you should be proud of finishing […]
This section of my novel writing class at UTA is covering techniques for writing different kinds of scenes. Often, when I teach this class, students will insist that their book doesn’t need one of the scene types — typically either action or relationship building scenes. I think new writers tend to shy away from whatever scene […]
