Aspiring Novelists

Hello Everyone, I hope all is well with you.  No complaints here in my neck of the woods. Yesterday,   hubby watched the boys while I checked out the West Virginia Book Festival.  This was the first year I attended the event and boy oh boy, I sure didn't know what I was missing.  The civic center spilled over with writers and publishers from all over the state.  I met Rick Robinson, author of Manifest Destiny (political fiction).  His book was a finalist in the Indie Excellence  Book Awards.   Rick was very personable and clearly knew his way around the publishing industry. He even gave me his e-mail address in case I had questions about the business.  I bought a copy of his book and though I'm only a couple of chapters in, so far it's pretty interesting.  A review will follow after I'm done.  I also won a full manuscript e...

Hello All, First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who participated in last week’s word count challenge. It was a tough commitment to make, but the reward was worth the effort. Our winner, Deniz Bevan is proof of this. She came in with a whopping seven-thousand words for the week. Great job Deniz.  Enjoy the chocolates and the book. You earned em. Denise's dedication to the craft had a galvanizing affect on me.  After dedicating a  couple of months to developing my characters, I finally put the finishing touches on their bios.  As you all know, characters drive a story, so it's important to create individuals with poignant and unique personalities.  This can mean the difference between a character who has the charisma of a cardboard cutout, and one that is extraordinary and inspiring.  Since I hoped to achieve the latter, I decided the best way to draw inspiration for characters was ...