How long has it been since you ate a hot juicy steak right off the grill? Well pardner, that's too long. You know those ads right? The ones where Sam Elliott proudly proclaims ... Beef, It's What's For Dinner I tried to get him to guest blog and say this ... How Long has it been since you read a post on here about writing. Well pardner, that's too long. But Sam was busy, so it is solely up to me to deliver a meaty post on the subject of writing fiction. However, there is one

I have a couple of personal motto's that I steadfastly follow ... Lettuce is the Devil. (Actually lettuce is merely the ringleader. I eat no vegetables unless they are fried a deep delicious golden brown) Never do today, what you can put off until tomorrow. Yes, my friends, I am a procrastinator. Ever hear someone say, everyone is good at something - they just need to find their niche? I believe that to be true and I am hear to say luckily I have settled in quite nicely with

I've never let that stop me before, so here I go again. I started this blog with the idea I'd talk about nothing but the craft of writing and my pursuit to sell a novel. About three people read my blog in those days. Then I started talking my view of the world outside of the business of writing. The Feedstore Chronicles kind of started the story-telling flavor that the blog has developed. Now they are on hiatus while I have moved on to Tales of the Yellow Flag. I hope the r

What makes a writer? I once heard an agents say, "Anyone under the age of thirty-five should attempt to write fiction. " Now this was a reputable agent with a good many projects sold to big houses. But I still say the idea you have to be a certain age to right is utter nonsense. Everyone is a writer in some sense. Don't think so? I'll wager a dozen T-Bone steaks to a head of lettuce that not there's not a single person in this world who hasn't already wrote a conflict sce

Write like your momma is dead. This was one of the first pieces of advice Jodi Thomas gave me back in the very first creative writing class I took after I decided that I wanted to become an author. At the time I chuckled along with the rest of the class and didn't think to much about the statement. But over the years I've come to realize all that this statement means. It's not just your momma you have to clear from your mind. It's your spouse, your friends, maybe an entir

So there I was yesterday playing in a Texas Hold 'Em Poker tournament with the slowest bunch of players I've ever encountered. And as always when I have time to just sit and think my mind turned to writing. Now playing poker and not giving the game your fullest attention can often be an early ticket to poverty, but like I said this particular tournament's pace was excruciatingly slow and when your dealt deuce seven as you down card you have no choice, but to fold and wait f

Right now I'm in the process of starting my fourth novel - character sketches, a loose plot structure, deciding on character names and so forth. Doing this has made me think of how unprepared I was when I started my first. Let me first tell how I did it then, and then I'll tell you how I would've done had I known then what I know now. My first novel started as an assignment for a class. A class taught by RWA Hall-of-Famer Jodi Thomas. RWA stands for Romance Writers of Ameri