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I like to watch a character having two conversations at the same time, one in her/his head, and the other out loud. In Members of the Cast, Margo's inner voice…

I have no stake in Kindle Vella. This article is to inform other writers, not to advertise an Amazon product. One of the problems with self-publishing is getting noticed. Even…

One of the first things we learn about writing is the old saying, “Less is More.” In keeping with this simple truth, the opposite is true: “More is Less.” More…

If you are hoping to find an agent and have a trade house publish your book, tomes don’t sell. I know that several Harry Potter books are massive, but publishers…

One of my current works in progress (WIP) is The Ship from Wolfskill, a steampunk-ish tale of a levitating riverboat. As I discussed in my earlier blog about backstory, sometimes…

The em dash ( — ) is a handy way to show a character has paused. In the blog “Better Dialog,” I mentioned that “Mother” has a tell in her…

As I help our 13-year-old granddaughter with a book she is writing, I find myself harking back to my teaching days and have been explaining dialog tag “forms.” In my…

Members of the Cast is set in 1959 and follows a 17-year-old girl’s year in a new high school. Margo suffers all the angst of a high school student, and yet…

When writing a book, there are no shortcuts. One time an author, speaking at a writer’s conference, told this story: Minnie McGillacutty, and author of a lengthy series, remarked that…

For almost 30 years, I designed, programmed, marketed, and supported the Pretty Good Grading Program, a computer grade book for elementary teachers. The manual for PGGP says this: There are…

I want to give an honest report of what one might expect when self-publishing on Amazon Books. I call Members of the Cast successful but certainly not rocketing toward the…

Killing Tags Tags are the little identifiers, telling the reader who is talking. One of the cardinal rules in writing is “show, don’t tell.” Tags like, “said Kate,” tell us…

The "Look Inside" feature of Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is a powerful marketing tool if your book has a powerful opening. I don't know how many books I have purchased…

I'm not sure I am the best person to be talking about getting noticed. Getting the news out about a new book is not overly easy. This is called "platform."…

Kindle Unlimited is Amazon Kindle's brand of a lending library. For $9.99 a month, a reader can join the Kindle Unlimited program. Any book sold on Amazon with the little…