Novel Revision To Do List

I'm looking forward to the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers Conference this year.

I'm less than excited, however, to say that I've got a lot of work to do in the coming weeks before the conference.

At the top of the list of priorities is my novel.  While I do have a completed version of it (and I should since I had been sending out queries) I've decided that it needs more work in a couple of areas. In fact, I stopped querying after listening to The Successful Novelist: A Lifetime of Lessons about Writing and Publishing in the car to work on the revisions.

Author Interview: M.V. Montgomery

10 Questions with M.V. Montgomery

1. How long have you been writing and what got you started?

I’m sort of a born-again writer, having done a lot as an undergraduate, then taking a break for grad school and to raise my kid. I got back into it about ten years ago, mostly by keeping a dream journal, taking notes on what I read, and participating with my students in short exercises.

2. What is the best piece of advice you have for new writers?

The Pearl Driver posted at Theme of Absence

The latest story is online at Theme of Absence.

Click to read 'The Pearl Diver' by M.V. Montgomery

Five Links Friday 8/8/14: Five Cool Authors

I attended OSFest 7 in Omaha last weekend and had a great, educational time.  Yes, only I would go to a science fiction convention hoping to get educated.

While I am a big fantasy/sci-fi fan, my main objective at these types of events is to learn more about writing in those genres.  So with that motive in mind, I attend as many of the author panels as I can.  There were more authors this year than when I attended a few years ago, so I thought I'd share a quick link to the authors that really stuck out or inspired me at the event.

Quickie Book Review: The Successful Novelist: A Lifetime of Lessons about Writing and Publishing

The Successful Novelist: A Lifetime of Lessons about Writing and Publishing by David Morrell


I thought I had never heard of David Morrell until I started listening to this book in the car. Then I realized that not only I, but most of the civilized world was very familiar with him, due to a character he created. David Morrell is the author of First Blood, which introduced the world to Rambo.

Under the Bed (August 2014) Available Now

The latest issue of Under the Bed magazine includes my short story "A Reunion In Cloverbrook."  You can check it out from the publisher's site, and it should be on Amazon soon.

Under the Bed (August 2014).  Available electronically for $3.99.

Writing Confessions and my Goals for August (and beyond!)

I have to look at why June and July weren't my best writing months.  I set some specific goals and just couldn't get them done.  It wasn't like I wasn't writing, but I wasn't working on the right things.  For example, I missed some simple goals such as finishing a synopsis in June and short story in July.

I found myself sending out queries while ignoring some major flaws in my novel only because my habit was to send out a query once a week.  I found myself resubmitting rejected stories without re-editing only because I "didn't have enough time" to read them over again.  I found myself constantly avoiding real writing by browsing listings for anthology ideas and then starting something new and working on it until I got bored and moved on to something else.

Autor Interview: Lela Marie De La Garza

10 Questions with Lela Marie De La Garza

How long have you been writing and what got you started? 

I have been writing for over 60 years, I started my my third grade teacher asked us to write a Christmas story. I'd been reading since I was four and somehow had the idea that every thing I read had really happened and that someone had written it down. But when my teacher gave us that assignment, I realized that stories could be made up, and that I could do it.

Five Links Friday 8/1/14

Five Links Friday!

1. Lolly Daskal tells you What Nobody Tells You About Being an Entrepreneur in the current issue of Inc.  Read this as an entrepreneur, but also read it if you're a self-publishing author, since you really need to think like an entrepreneur to successfully self-publish.

New Flash Fiction at Theme of Absence: Little Yellow Eyes

 The latest story at Theme of Absence is online.

Check out Little Yellow Eyes by Lela Marie De La Garza.