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Writing Teen Romance

Writing Teen Romance

Why the BIC method of writing is bad for me

I was pondering what to write for this blog post. Some advice I’d heard when you are unsure what to write -- just put your butt in the chair and write. There’s a cute acronym that goes along with that mantra – BIC. But the BIC method is not for me and probably not you either… Eckhemmm… A few months ago my husband told me about a study that claims spending a lot of time sitting throughout the day at a desk job will kill you. At first, I pshaw’d that study -- I exercise. Although not as fit as I

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Writing Teen Romance

Fortune Cookies and Writing

fortune cookie n. A cookie made from a thin layer of dough folded and baked around a slip of paper bearing a prediction of fortune or a maxim. Definition courtesy of The Free Dictionary and The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company . What do fortune cookies have to do with writing one might ask? Hang with me a moment and you’ll see the connection. It’s all about

Writing Teen Romance

Writing is an Art

Every month, I take at least one writing workshop so I can add more tools to my Writer’s Toolbox. After all, one can’t just sit down, write a book and then voila, it’s a publishable piece of work. In actuality – it’s almost certainly a piece of crap. And then after writing and rewriting and revising and re-visioning it still might not be good enough for publication. Sobering isn’t it? That’s why we have to keep learning the art of the craft. It takes time and practice. A whole lot of practice.

Writing Teen Romance

Meeting Simone Elkeles

I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Simone Elkeles, and NY Times bestselling author of Perfect Chemistry and Rules of Attraction and… well I could list all her titles, but why don’t you just go check out her awesome website. Isn’t the animation cool? Anywhooo, late last year, Ms. Elkeles did a school visit at CHS, the school where my brother-in-law teaches. Is it okay if I call her Simone? For some reason I feel weird doing so. She did autograph my book and give me a hug. She even commented

Writing Teen Romance

Back from Hiatus

Sometime in November, my kids charged into my office while I was plucking away on my keyboard. “You’re always working on your computer,” said my seven year old. “Or your book,” the nine year old chimed in. “You never play with us.” What I didn’t hear, but could see in their eyes and hear in their tone – you love your book and your computer more than me. Of course they exaggerate slightly. I’m not always working on the book. But it does consume a large amount of my already limited free time. With

Writing Teen Romance

A Note on Writing Male POV

First a word of caution. There is a long preface to the point of my post, so please stick with me. I promise; my rambling is worth it. So…my seven year old son is playing 6-7 year old football in the local youth league. The kids are assigned to teams based on which high school they’d attend based on where we live. Early in the HS team’s season, the “little” Wolverines got to go on the field, under the Friday night lights and get introduced. Then we stayed for the game to cheer on the varsity

Things I Love

Book Review: THE DEATHDAY LETTER by Shaun David Hutchinson

Imagine a world where impending death was announced by a Deathday Letter. When it was your time to go, you’d receive a letter telling you that within twenty-four hours, you’d be dead. What would you do with that time? This book is about fifteen year old Ollie Travers and what he does with his last day. It’s morbidly hilarious with wonderful insight into an adolescent male mind. Which by the way is why it was on my To Read Pile. Remember how I need to work on “manning up” my male characters?

Writing Teen Romance

My Thoughts on LINGER by Maggie Stiefvater

I hate to admit it took me longer to finish LINGER than I wanted. Life just got in the way… It was one of my most anticipated reads of the summer, since SHIVER, the first book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series, is one of my favorite books. EVER. Maggie Stiefvater didn’t disappoint. The book was a slower read than SHIVER, but it was me. Not her. She alternated POV between four characters and I found myself wanting to analyze the novel as I read it. Which slowed me down. Aside from that – her