Do I Really Need a Newsletter?

Brandilyn Collins.Deb Raney.DiAnn Mills.What do all these people have in common? You guessed it. Newsletters. And not just any newsletters. Fabulous newsletters. Newsletters with layouts the editors at Cosmopolitan would be envious of. In depth articles. Current news and facts. Writer’s helps. Sound like a lot of work? I thought so, too. So why do they do it?Author and speaker, Randy Ingermanson said it best in a workshop he taught at the 2007 ACFW...

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It's All About the Content

Horror stories…I’ve heard horror stories about authors who got pages and pages of content edits back from their editors. Deep down, I’ve secretly been biting my fingernails to nubs thinking I’d be one of them. Worse, I had visions of my editor contacting me and apologetically informing me she’d been wrong--my plot was terrible, my writing weak, and she was mistaken to ever have signed me.Instead…My first ever content edit came back surprisingly...

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Death Becomes Her - Research

It's hard to believe we're into our last week already! Hopefully, this last lesson will cement everything we've gone over so far, as well as tie up any loose ends we still have hanging out there. And speaking of tying up the loose ends...Part of any good novel is believability. If the plot isn't believable, or the resolution isn't believable, the reader is going to walk away feeling cheated. So, how do we make our crimes believable? You guessed...

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Death Becomes Her - Plotting

Plotting can be an awful word--depending on whether or not you are step-by-step, plot out your whole story kinda gal, or a SOTP (seat of the pants) type of writer. Either way, mysteries can throw a monkey wrench into the best laid plans, especially if you aren't careful to keep notes on where your story is going. Here are three important keys to developing a solid plot:Creating a list of suspects:Part of plotting out your story is creating a list...

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Death Becomes Her - Introduction

Welcome! I’m so glad you’ve decided to stop by. For the next four weeks, I am completely at your disposal. Pick my brain. Ask questions. Post comments. I’ll be glad to help you in any way I can.As we all know, the market for mysteries has really opened up in recent years, and cozy mysteries are one of the fastest selling of all mystery genres. If you’ve been considering trying your hand at writing a cozy, this series of lessons is designed just...

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