Why Punctuation is your friend

Since I am deep into the world of Act Four and the Climax scene – I shall leave you with this gem, which is not very reassuring about the terrible punctuation howlers I… Continue reading →

2008 RWA Conference Workshop Handouts

  The Romance Writers of America Conference 2008 in San Francisco may have come to an end, but there are lots of photos of gals – and a few guys – having a… Continue reading →

Tips for the First Three Pages

Time for some lateral thinking outside of the pants box. As a follow on from the previous post, ROMANTIC TIMES has a number of articles on ‘Tips for the First Three Pages’ .… Continue reading →

Top Three Sites for Romance Authors

  Okay. I love having visitors. But wow, it is nice to have the house to myself again. So. Resources. I need all the help I can get for these revisions, so here… Continue reading →

How NOT to start a story

  The fantastic J A Konrath has just been reading and judging TWO THOUSAND short stories and has seen the same mistakes over and over again. Here are his pet hates: ‘DO NOT START… Continue reading →

Free Guide to Publishing Your Novel

Happy days. The wonderful and thought provoking crime writer, J A Konrath, had collected the posts from his terrific Blog into ‘The Newbie’s Guide to Publishing – Book.’ AND IT IS FREE for… Continue reading →

Do I have enough Emotional Conflict in my Romance?

I am now in Re-Write Land. Sometimes it feels like I am sitting an exam where I open up the exam paper, and there is not a single question that I can answer.… Continue reading →

Blake Synder and Wedding Crashers

Did anyone see the film ‘Wedding Crashers’? It was a strange piece of Romantic Comedy which was clearly designed to appeal to the modern US male – the perpetual teenager, and the antics… Continue reading →

When you are ready to give up

   What do you do when you reach the point in your work when you are so sick of this piece of Drek that you are writing or re-writing, that all you can… Continue reading →

Word Salad

Stuck for the right word? I believe it was Robert Southey who said, “It is with words as with sunbeams, the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn. “Project Gutenberg has available… Continue reading →