When it comes to getting the scientific details right in fiction, the clichéd advice to “write what you know” is one of the best pieces of literary advice. Why? Because if your actual background is well-grounded in science and you can turn a proper phrase, your science-based novel is going to be a hundred times more authentic than even… Read more »
Music has always been a huge part of my life since I was very young. My mom tells stories about how to get me to go to sleep at night, she often had to put me in the car and drive around listening to music. In our house, music was always playing. And despite the fact that I couldn’t sing… Read more »
Does music inspire me to write? I guess you could say it inspires me to do just about everything. Okay, almost everything. By that, I mean that music puts me in a certain mood and place, and that, often guides whatever I’m doing. If I’m trying to decide what color to paint a wall and a lively song comes on?… Read more »
Since before I left home and went away to college, I can always remember having quite an avid interest in anything pertaining to the way the mind works. I tended to always enjoy the “whydunit” (to coin my own new phrase) rather than the whodunit type of movie. It always came quite easy for me to quickly solve the mystery… Read more »
A quick diversion if I may. What I think you will love about this series is that Tay, Ash and I are very different. We think differently. We were raised differently. We write in different genres. We live in different areas of the country. We have different likes and dislikes. We are not ALL female. (Hee hee.) I know… Read more »
I lived off a steady diet of cartoons growing up. Disney, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Dream Works, Don Bluth, Studio Ghibli, and probably more I don’t remember. If it was animated, odds are I watched it or at least knew about it. I liked plenty of live-action stuff too—I watched Jumanji a million times, despite the nightmares, and Disney Channel… Read more »
In 2015, 18-year-old blogger Gweneth Batemen conducted a personal experiment: when men on social media complimented her on her appearance she would acknowledge that what they said was true. The men would usually revoke the compliment as if Batemen’s confirmation somehow voided the fact that she was physically attractive. Whether she was polite or snarky to the people in question,… Read more »
Blogging isn’t my day job, but it is my passion and my super power. I am like Clark Kent in my office, doing spreadsheets and going to meetings. And then…BAM!…book blogging superhero. It may not sound like a very exciting super power, but I can be at a Wizard’s school one day and in the court of Henry the Eighth… Read more »
He Said: The question put to us is: How many beta readers are enough before you publish? To answer this, I first have to define where I put beta reading in the editing process. For me, there are three steps in getting your book ready to publish. The first two, proofing and beta reading, can be interchanged (time wise) and are… Read more »
Romance. You see it everywhere, in movies, tv shows, plays, books. Especially books. Now, I don’t know about you, but personally, I am a lover of the Fantasy genre, and I expect epic battles and torn worlds and little limitations on creativity for races (werewolves, vampires etc.) and alliances between worlds. I mean, you could literally get away with anything because it’s fantasy. I… Read more »
Despite popular mockery and academic criticism, it continues to outsell every genre, including Classic Literature, year after year. In 2014 alone, Americans spent 1.08 billion dollars on these books and it has sparked some the most people, and most hated, franchises in the last ten years with no signs of slowing down. I’m, of course, talking about Romance: A genre… Read more »
The picture above is me. My father is a fair-skinned black man and my mother is an EXTREMELY fair-skinned white woman, which is why I look the way I do. Due to my mixed heritage, I have a very complicated relationship with my unbelievably curly hair. When it grows, it doesn’t get long, it gets big. And by big… Read more »
He says: Yes! Uh, No. Uh, kinda both. (I’m very confused. But then, I’m a love story author so, what did you expect?) I was taught to say “Thank you for reading my book and taking the time to do a review. I appreciate your comments and your helping me grow as an author.” Seriously, as an author, we know… Read more »
No matter the medium, it seems like entertainment is playing a key role in society’s acceptance of LGBT+ people. It still has a long way to go, like the rest of the world, but one can’t deny that queer characters are showing up more frequently on our screens and in our books. From Cam and Mitch on Modern Family, to… Read more »
Small towns in Georgia exude a charm that can’t be beat. Most are like a time capsule of a bygone era. While I grew up in Atlanta, I had relatives who lived in the hills of North Ga. and visited on a regular basis. There is a beauty and simplicity to small-town living that is attractive, especially to those who… Read more »