Recently, I had the pleasure of reading two books by Heidi M. Thomas, and I enjoyed them both. They are part of the American Dream Series, and if you like history delivered in story-form, you should consider these books, as well as her Cowgirl Dreams Series. Seeking the American Dream : Book One in the American Dream Series BOOK BLURB:   As a nurse, Anna Schmidt deals with the aftermath of a war-torn Germany on a daily basis. The destruction and suffering of WWII frame her existence until she meets American GI, Neil Moser. His stories of ranch life in Montana, his quiet kindness and compassion, and the attraction that blossoms give her hope for a different life. Before their relationship develops, Neil is suddenly shipped out of Germany, and Anna is left with nothing but a yearning for what might have been. Anna’s dreams are renewed when Neil writes to declare his love and propose that she join him in America as his wife. After two years of endless paperwork, she is final...

This top post of 2016 was first published on April 21. It's spring in the northern hemisphere, and a good time to check in with our goals (especially those we might have made a few months ago at the start of the year). But what about our characters? To create a life-like character the reader will identify with, like, and root for, we must give that character motivation and goals. What does your character care about? This element of caring sets the character up in how he/she is going to live life, how he’s going to react to certain things. Giving your character something to care about commits her to a stance to live by. What next? We know what our character cares about, so now what? We have to challenge him, threaten her and what they care about. You throw them into a situation that challenges the part of them that cares and threatens the thing they feel is important. A precious collection is stolen. A girl enters a dangerous relationship. Perhaps it’s a parent whose c...

This Top Post of 2016 first published on May 17. Just when you think you’ve figured out this thing called Point of View, you get an editor who says “go deeper.” So, what does deep POV mean, anyway? Basically, it is taking the author completely out of the story, leaving the reader inside the head of the character. As readers we want to experience this character’s adventures vicariously. We want to see, smell, hear, taste and touch the same things the character does. The character is interpreting the story for us just like we interpret what happens in our lives. That means that in deep POV even the “less exciting” parts like description become exciting because they show emotion and personality. Part of going deeper into POV is the “show versus tell” technique. Because we want to become Indiana Jones or Bridget Jones or whoever we’re reading about, we don’t want to be TOLD that Indiana is afraid of snakes. We want to FEEL his fear, to taste it, smell it. We don’t want to be told ...

Image by Susan , via Flickr I watched the movie adaptation of Brooklyn the other night. In it, the protagonist snubbed someone. I admit the person snubbed could get on anyone's nerves. Still, the charitable thing to do would have been to be nice to that person. The snub made me lose some respect for the protagonist. Since up to that point I really liked her, a dilemma presented itself. Could I be charitable enough to forgive her shortcomings? If I didn't, wouldn't I be following her bad example? When I thought about it, I realized real people aren't perfect, so why should I expect a book or movie person to be ideal? If a fictional person is too perfect, that can be just as irritating as one who slips up. Still, there's only so much I'll forgive about a book or movie protagonist. Once that line is crossed, I'm very disappointed. I can't tell you exactly when or how that will happen, because I never know. If an author or script writer is adept...

Following our Amazon theme this month, I’m talking with critique partner John J. Rust about his experiences publishing with CreateSpace. Welcome to the Blood Red Pencil, John. When you were first ready to publish a book, did you explore other avenues before you came to CreateSpace? (If so, why did you veer away from those choices?) I did go to an ebook self-publishing site for my alien invasion novel Dark Wings . I’ve heard other people have had success with it. The publishing process was not very difficult, but I found I wasn’t making the sort of sales I expected. From that point on, all my ebooks have been done on the Createspace site via the link to Kindle. Was there a substantial learning curve the first time you published? Is this something the average writer can do or does it take some knowledge of layout and formatting? What about cover design? Oh yes, there was a learning curve for the first couple of novels. A lot of it is due to the formatting of the interior, mai...

Welcome Scott Eagan , and thank you for participating in “romance month”. We’ve been talking to and about male romance authors, but you have a little different perspective in that you are a male agent who specializes in romance. How did you come to the decision to be a romance agent? When I first opened Greyhaus Literary Agency , I looked at representing a lot of different genres. After looking at the market, I realized there were a lot of benefits of focusing in on just this genre. At that time, there were few agents who were this focused. With this market always shifting, I felt that trying to keep track of trends, editors and lines of just the romance and women’s fiction market was going to be tough enough. I also believed that focusing my attention this much allowed me a chance to better work with my authors. I was able to really study the genre and know all the angles of it. On a personal level, I just love this genre. I like the fact that we get the chance to explore human...

This is the time of year when we are “supposed” to be thankful. And I am. I’m thankful all year for the many, many blessings I’ve had throughout my entire life. But having gone through a major loss within the past year and a half, I see a glimpse of why some may feel this season is an additional emotional burden. We are “supposed” to be happy. We are “supposed” to be grateful. Bah, humbug, right? Well, maybe it’s attitude that either overrides or expresses gratitude. (And maybe this human emotional roller coaster can be good fodder for our writing, our character development!) So, here’s what I’m grateful for:         I’m healthy         I live where the sun shines most days        I can go hiking in 60-degree weather in November and even some days in December and January         I have great friends     ...

For us “creatives”, putting on a marketing hat may be the most difficult part of the book process. Many people mistakenly think that selling and marketing are the same. They aren't. Selling is the “instant gratification” we all like—you hand someone a book and they hand you money. Marketing is a little like planting seeds in your garden. You put them out there and water and fertilize and you hope they will bear fruit (or vegetables.) With marketing you are putting your name or your books out there and maybe some people will buy it right away and maybe two years from now, someone will come across your name and decide to buy. You may not be able to tell how many sales you make from a website or a virtual book tour until you receive a royalty check from your publisher. Global management consultant Alan Weiss says, "There is no music if you don‘t blow your own horn." Like it or not, these days authors HAVE to get involved in the business side of publishing. And I’...

“What is your genre?” they ask. Well, it’s a story of a dream, of heart and courage. It takes place in the West and it’s about old-time rodeo cowgirls, so it's also historical. It has a sweet romance and it’s suitable for Young Adult as well as grownup readers. So it could be “Women’s Fiction”, “Young Adult”, “Western” or "Historical". How do you decide? When I first started writing, I attended conferences and workshops and I kept hearing, “Write something different and new. I don’t want to see the same old thing.” So I did. I wrote what I called “Christian Fairytales.” But when I pitched it to agents or publishers, they would sigh and scrunch up their faces, and after a long pause, they’d say, “Well I really like the stories and your writing is very compelling. But…it doesn’t fit our niche.” Huh? But you said… I do understand that publishers need to know your audience so they’ll know to whom to market. I understand that bookstores need to know where to ...