Before you dive into editing your first draft, you have to know what you’re working with This post is part of the Editing Your Novel series. Click through to read about beta readers, the macro-edit, and the micro-edit. After you’ve taken a step back from your novel (however long that…

From sci-fi to romance to literary fiction, did any of your favorites make the list? I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that 2021 was a HARD year. BUT, there were good moments — including plenty of great books! …

Even if you’ve never used Notion before, this guide will walk you through the easiest way to keep track of what you read A new year is only a few weeks away, and if you’re anything like me, it means you’re in full “how do I better organize my whole…

The winding journey of “O Holy Night,” from a poem written by an atheist to a rousing pub song to an abolitionist anthem One of my favorite things about this time of year is Christmas music. I’m the person who is secretly listening to it the day after Halloween, and…

Something about fall means “historical fiction” to me, so when I found out about The Reckless Kind, a YA historical fiction novel featuring characters who are both queer and disabled and also love horses, I was immediately excited! …

A few simple design tips to make sure your website shines Recently, I updated my website, with the main new addition being a homepage, rather than my most recent posts being the first thing you see when you come to the website. …

Life is busy, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have time to write In every author’s dream, we have hours upon hours to idle away in a coffee shop, writing and reading and daydreaming about characters. In reality, however, many of us have day jobs, school, family to take care…

3 ways to practice and 2 common mistakes — Unless you’re writing an experimental, edgy book that has zero direct dialogue, your book will probably heavily rely on having characters speaking to each other. It can be easy to take dialogue in a book for granted, especially because when it’s well done, we often don’t even notice it. …

These are the books that got me through this year Every sentence I start to write to describe 2020 either sounds trite, or is a massive understatement. So I’ll just let you fill in your own sentence about how 2020 sucked. I’ll let you know that, in additional to all…