your mental health

Be Like a Tree for Your Mental Health

What have you done recently to nourish your mental health? In fall, trees slow down in preparation for taking time for rest. They stop producing chlorophyll and drop their leaves, knowing there will not be enough sunlight to create the chemical reactions for the sugars they need. Trees are smarter than we are as humans…. Read more »

cli-fi

How to Write a Cli-Fi Novel

I didn’t set out to write a cli-fi novel and yet, I’ve written two literary cli-fi novels (that is, novels about climate change) released within two years of each other. What if Spring Never Came Back? When I started writing my novel Road Out of Winter, I had had a dream: an image of two… Read more »

organize a collection

The Poet’s Toolbox: How to Organize a Collection

Welcome back, poets! In my last article, I talked about some of the techniques I use to generate ideas and inspiration for poems, especially when on a deadline. Today, I want to take things a step further and talk about what to do after you’ve written and revised a bunch of poems, and are ready… Read more »

collaborative storytelling

Creating Characters Using Collaborative Storytelling

Writing may seem like a solitary practice, but writers have made use of writer’s groups and feedback circles for a long time. There is incalculable value in receiving outside input about your writing. Other people can see things about your writing that you may be blind to. However, writers’ groups can only critique the work… Read more »

romantic-gestures-create-heat-waves

Romantic Gestures Create Heat Waves

Talk is cheap. Rather than words, supply your characters with romantic gestures to back up their sweet little nothings. Your reader will love your character’s creative actions and so will an agent who considers your manuscript.  A reader plucks your romance novel from the shelf to lose herself in a world she can only imagine…. Read more »