Yes, that’s right, we’ve reached December again! That magical time when the weeks fly by in a flurry of to-do lists, gift buying, and trying to finish the goals we wanted to achieve this year before next year’s new ones kick in. It’s a frantic time, especially for writers on deadlines or those fresh off …
Continue reading More Holiday Gifts For The Writer In Your Life
Welcome to the November 2021 roundup! Well, I guess I shouldn't have spent last month's roundup boasting about my latest work in progress being only a few beta reads away from being ready 😂. The feedback showed I still had plenty of work to do, so that's what I've been doing this month for Blackbirch 3—draft …
Recently, I received some feedback from beta readers after sending them what seemed like the millionth version of my latest WIP. Already up to draft 9, I was hoping this was the one where I’d ironed out the problems raised in the previous round of feedback. I had not. The issues were still there, and …
Continue reading What To Do When You’ve Made A Mess Of Your MS
Well, you did it. You took that spark of an idea, fleshed it out into an entire book, edited the last page for the last time, and finished one final read-through. The book is done. At least it should be. As proud as you were, there was a little voice in your head as you …
Continue reading Editing Tips: What To Check When It Feels Like Something Is Missing
Welcome to the October 2021 roundup! After spending 262 (non-consecutive) days of the last 18 months at home, we're finally out of lockdown! Unfortunately, our case numbers here in Victoria are still high (relative to our country, I know case numbers are higher elsewhere), so we still have restrictions in play, but our vaccination rates …
Regardless of whether your story uses a world full of fantasy-filled adventures or one as mundane as our own, there’s an art to world-building. And it's an art that can be overwhelming for writers who’ve never created a world before, or ones attempting their biggest yet—such as a foray into a book series. But world-building …
As writers, we’ve all had those moments when it’s been hard to sit down and write. It could be because other responsibilities have kept us away from our writing desks, or illness has sidelined us. Then there are those times when we’ve been able to write and we just… don’t. When that happens, it’s down …
Continue reading How To Stop Self-Sabotaging Your Writing Progress
Welcome to the September 2021 roundup! And here we are at the end of yet another month. Despite it being a string of Groundhog Lockdown Days, some things were different. Here in Victoria, we had an earthquake! Thankfully it only lasted a few minutes and didn't cause any injuries, but it sure was scary. I've …
If you read last week’s blog post, you’ll know we looked at some common writing gremlins, such as overwriting, multiple gestures, extra staging, etc (check out the full post here). When the post went live, a few readers commented on underwriting being one of their gremlins. As a chronic overwriter, underwriting hadn’t occurred to me, …
K.M. Allan 