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Telling Brianna’s story is important to me, even though I’ve had to relive some moments from my high school days that I’d rather leave in the past. I stop short of saying I was bullied, but the fact that I still remember how they made me feel 25 years later tells me that this is a story that needs to be told. Diving into why they acted that way wasn’t always fun, but if it helps a reader today, it was worth it.
Please give a big Hoosblog welcome to Michelle Lynn! And don’t be intimidated by how many books she has! [insert star eyes] Even her bio is a lessen in craft.
I’ve weaned myself down to a handful of lists and they all have REALLY GOOD ADVICE—and another because I LOVE HER—and every time I read the posts, I feel one step closer to having a grip on this whole indie publishing thing.
I’m so excited to introduce the third book in The Rules Series, The Edge Rules! Early readers have said it’s their favorite in the series, and as much as I love the first two, I might agree.
The number one criterion of being a writer is that you write.
Seems simple, right? In theory, it is.
For this edition of Writer vs. Business Manager, I’d like to talk about the struggle of not writing—when that’s all you want to do. Everyone knows what it’s like when life gets in the way of your plans, but as an indie author, it’s more than that.
Today’s the day!! The YA romance anthology that I’m in is now available!! My contribution to the anthology is a story called ‘The Friend Rules’. Cookie O’Gorman, bestselling author of Adorkable, wrote a perfectly adorable foreword and the rest of the stories will brighten your day.
The more novels I write, the more I learn about myself as a writer. My process has become more fine-tuned, I recognize when I’m going to get frustrated and start to question why I ever wanted to write in the first place (right about the 30k word mark), and I’m slowly weeding out my crutch words. But there’s one thing that is always new, and that’s the intricate dance of how I get to know my characters.
I have big news! I’m in a YA romance anthology that comes out at the end of this month!! Aside from the trashy stories I wrote in middle school, I’d never written a proper short story, and I’m very happy with how it turned out. There are EIGHT other stories in the anthology, and best of all — the anthology will be free!
I’ve been writing novels for about eleven years, and if I had to go back and change anything, I wish I would’ve started sooner. I first started writing as a kid, mostly short stories and poems, but I stopped when I got to college and started studying graphic design. Every time I read about a person in their 20s who’s already written half a dozen novels I kick myself for giving up on my passion.
I’ve written eight novels and the idea for all but one of them started with me thinking, “Ooh, what if there’s this girl who….” (the first is about a boy so I thought, “what if there’s this boy…”). I take that spark of an idea, let it germinate in my mind for days or weeks, then form a story around that initial idea.