I spent the weekend at WANACon – well, I spent the weekend in my jammies, with no makeup, and listened to and chatted in real time with some best selling authors at WANACon. This is the beauty of a digital writer’s conference. I had been sick all week. If this…
How To Build Compelling Character Conflict
Wondering how to build in effective character conflict? How does one create the kind of inner turmoil that drives a character to outrageous page-turning decisions and mistakes? Try drawing a line in the sand. I love that scene from the Fellowship Of The Ring where Gandalf screams at the Balrog:…
Writers Behaving Badly on Facebook
Did you know there are rules of etiquette on Facebook? Facebook is my happy place, and I like to try and make Facebook a positive environment when possible. So, when an online acquaintance posted a link to her own blog on my timeline (personal wall) I left her a short…
The Tricky Art of Pacing
I’ve got a great guest post today from Becca Puglisi, the co-creator of The Bookshelf Muse and The Emotion Thesaurus. Before I hand over control, I always ask two probing questions: LHW: What are you reading right now? BP: Right now, I’m reading Lovely, Dark, and Deep, by Amy McNamara….
How To Write For Newspapers
How many books does it take to make a NYTimes bestseller? Some float the number (there are a tonne of variables) that you need 100,000 books sold to make it on that list. That’s a lot of books. Reader’s Digest had a monthly circulation of over 500,000 in Canada and…
Business Of Writing
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Where I Come From
I am from family dinners of meat and boiled potatoes at the table each night, from Coca-Cola and road-trips for ice cream and chip truck fish and chips (french fries), salt & vinegar potato chips that leave your mouth numb, soccer games with the boys, and always had two or…