Writers cling to rules. Perhaps it is because creative writing is such a slippery and chameleon undertaking that we like to believe there are some dependable guidelines that we can trust. By eliminating the rules, creative writing grants the writer permission, with less fear, to fully express what he or she wants to say. And, if by writing   [ Read More … ]

Publishing companies do less and less marketing and many are not accepting manuscripts, leaving more and more authors to head out on their own. Writing and publishing are different things and it can be daunting to do both.The number one concern is producing a quality manuscript. You will quickly discover that good editors are expensive   [ Read More … ]

Beyond the treachery and treason there is the excitement of the chase, the thrill of a grisly event and the sense of peering through a window into the hidden recesses of a criminal mind. And when justice is served, with the wrongdoer punished, the morals are absolute. Then you can close the book and think that all   [ Read More … ]

The synopsis has to be revealing, interesting and convey a book’s entire arc, to show what happens and to whom, and it has to reveal the ending. It will possibly be the single most despised document you might be asked to prepare and should include: plot, characters, setting, style and mood. There is no escaping this task   [ Read More … ]

No matter how brilliantly written, how contemporary, how weighty in literary subject matter, unless your story outline grips it will be hard to find a publisher. The plot has to be consistent, clear and authentic. The protagonists and antagonists must feed off each other – building the momentum.  Every scene and chapter must keep the reader off-balance.   [ Read More … ]

Audio books enable you to read. The mind does more or less the same thing when listening to an audio book as it does when reading the printed word. Listening to an audio book might make comprehension a little easier. Narrated rhythms can clarify the meaning of ambiguous words and help the listener assign syntactic roles to   [ Read More … ]

I have been from hither to thither before becoming an author. My childhood was spent on a farm. As an adult and mother, I was immersed in the economic shifts of Alberta’s oil industry, seeing the booms and busts, while working in the financial industry. Much later, I lived on a sailboat, on Canada’s west   [ Read More … ]

Forest bathing, or micro-dosing on nature, is all about immersing one’s self in the healing properties of trees and plants. Enter a forest, walk slowly or sit, open all your senses, meditate, don’t apply effort, just breathe. The concept behind this Japanese tradition – ‘shinrin-yuko’ – is to take in the forest atmosphere. Timeless wisdom never goes out   [ Read More … ]

Writing is hard work and there is no guarantee of success. But don’t be put off. Enjoy it. Grow as a writer. Learn things you had never before considered. Reach new people with your writing. Explore unrealized possibilities. Novel writing allows the author to spend a lot of time in a fictional world, apart from the worldly problems.   [ Read More … ]

Despite substantial national and international measures, few nations offer equal access to basic education, health and life expectancy, equality of economic opportunity, income, job placement and political empowerment. Women are unprotected against violence, femicide (murder of women and girls), rape and honour killing (when a female member of a family is killed for the perception   [ Read More … ]