By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills Summer is in our rearview mirror, but the overwhelmed writer syndrome lingers like triple digits—hot, unbearable, with a longing to step into the cool breezes of overcoming the stress and doubts of managing the writerly life. What’s a writer to do? Acknowledge the overwhelmed emotions. The…

by Blythe Daniel @BlytheDaniel How many times have you thought, “I can’t write that book. That’s for someone else to write.” But deep down, you and I know that the best books often come out of a person’s pain. Fiction and non-fiction books can produce a well of emotions that…

by Maggie Wallem Rowe Have you ever been given a new opportunity to write or speak only to realize with dismay that you were not fully prepared to do your best?  It’s been several decades ago now, but I clearly recall how excited I was to be offered a position…

By Darlene L. Turner @darlenelturner What are the trademarks of a villain? Do they have dark, piercing eyes, a snarly grin, crooked-yellowed teeth, knobby fingers, an evil laugh? Or is there more to it than that? The antagonist can be the hardest character to write but also the most fun. How…

By Aaron Gansky @ADGansky You’d think deserts would have predictable weather patterns: Deathly hot, Hot, and Not as hot. But here in the High Desert of California, we enjoy (or suffer) unpredictable weather patterns. The desert, for us, is not so much a lack of weather. It’s weather at the…

by Cindy Sproles @CindyDevoted Book reviews are a necessary evil. Writers need them to spur readers, but at the same time, those reviews can become long, daunting, and sometimes hurtful. The truth of the matter is that if you have a published book, you're going to need those reviews. It's…