by Bethany Jett, @BetJett Someone will critique your work – it’s inevitable – and you don’t want the first experience on your project to come from your publisher. Therefore, having a few trusted people available to review your work can be helpful for your writing career. Officially or unofficially, this is your critique group.…

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Last week I finished a book and sent it to my publisher. Celebration time! Relief and satisfaction soared through me for completing the writing project. As always it was difficult from the time I researched my story idea until the editing stage. Editing is as much…

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills We writers have habits, some quirky, that help us begin new writing projects. Today I’d like to share with you how I organize my thoughts and preparations before writing chapter one, line one of a new novel. I’m mostly an organic/pantster writer, but some things I…

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills I live and breathe story—most writers do. And we’re always looking for ways to ensure our characters and their predicaments are exciting and unique. Some of the places we look can be a bit . . . different. But the exploration is worth it. Here are…

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills I bet you’re thinking that this article is about fishing. Well it is, and it isn’t. We all have our favorite novels, rich stories that send us into the lives of our characters—and even become our friends. We’re walking with them, sharing their joys and sorrows,…

By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills A bowl of M&Ms might propel your creativity, but I want to talk about the kind of candy that sweetens our writing, the books that take our craft to the next level. When I’m stuck on creating a character with unique goals: The Art of Character…