Writing Categories
- The Craft of Writing
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- Dialogue
- Editing
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- Finding Ideas
- Writing The First Draft
- Plots & Plotting
- Research
- Setting & Description
- Showing versus Telling
- Theme/Premise
- Writing Different Genres
- Point of View
- The Business of Writing
- Agents
- Branding/Promotion/Marketing
- Career Planning
- First Sale
- Pitching Your Novel
- Writing for the Market
- Writing Query Letters
- Writing a Synopsis
- The Writer's Soul
- Finding Time
- Staying Motivated
- Surviving Rejection
- The Writer's Life
- Writer's Block
- Writing Retreats
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Nancy Warren
Nancy Warren is a USA Today bestselling Harlequin and Kensington author who got her big break when she won Harlequin's 2000 Blaze Contest. Her sensuous, humorous romances have won numerous awards and appeared on the Waldenbooks bestseller list.Awards and lists are great, but nothing beats the thrill of hearing from readers. Most have commented on how much they enjoy the mixture of humor and sexuality in Nancy's books�which is good, because she works darned hard to put them in there.
Nancy holds an honors degree in English literature and lives in the Pacific Northwest. She spends her days sensibly employed inventing men who combine amazing sexual prowess with sensitivity to a woman's needs, and women who aren't afraid to fight for their dreams.
Visit Nancy at: www.NancyWarren.net
Articles by this Author
What is it about coffee shops that kick start a writer’s muse? I first tried hauling my laptop to my local java hut after reading Natalie Goldberg’s books. Natalie, author of Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind, suggests writing in coffee shops and I was at the point where if someone had advised painting my face blue and chanting to the moon in order to get some writing done, I’d have tried that too. Usually, I need absolute quiet to write, but oddly, I’ve discovered I love to write in coffee shops. I think the reason is that there is always a drama taking place. Not just one drama, but many tiny scenes from many different lives.
Have you ever noticed how a theme will suddenly develop around you? Serendipitous events occur, snatches of speech overheard begin to form a pattern, and you think, I need to pay attention to this.
I was thinking about how often we refer to good dialogue as ‘sparkling’. For some reason, thirst perhaps, the word sparkling immediately made me think about my favorite beverage’champagne. Then, probably to keep my mind off drinking in the afternoon, I began to think about how much in common champagne has with good dialogue, and with good writing in general.
Here’s what I came up with.
I’ve been really looking at my days lately, trying to work out where my time goes and how to get everything done. I’ve read umpteen books with titles such as: Time Management for the Stressed, Housework in Ten Minutes a Day or Less, Organize Your Life Right Now--you know the ones. Some smarmy expert makes it sound so easy and next thing you know you’re filling out charts and planning next month’s meals and losing even more writing time. After trying any number of systems and failing spectacularly at each and every one, I’ve come to a single conclusion. You have to make time for the things that matter most and do it in a way that works for you. That should be so obvious, and so easy to do, but it’s frankly tough, because the things that matter most aren’t always the easy ones to accomplish.
Who, What, When, Where, Why? Every journalist and journalism student has those five questions burned into their brains. A reporter tries to answer the five Ws within the first paragraph or two.
Few things strike terror into the hearts of conference goers more than the dreaded editor or agent appointment, and yet few opportunities at a writing conference are more valuable. Here, then, are a few tips to make the experience less terrifying and more valuable.
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