For my second novel, Blindspot, I ventured into a new genre, that of psychological suspense. It’s the type of book I gravitate to as a reader and I’m a long-term fan of anything in the mystery realm (I devoured the entire Agatha Christie oeuvre when I was sixteen) How hard could it be? Insert hubris emoji here. What I quickly discovered is that every chapter—make that every scene—has to employ tension so that the reader is experiencing the same emotion my protagonist Rachel is, that of a mounting sense of  uneasiness and ultimately danger as she realizes she is being stalked by an unknown ..read more

I’ll begin with a John Dryden wrote: “If you be pungent, be brief; for it is with words as with sunbeams – the more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.” Brevity includes the marvelous art of saying more with less. Most people appreciate writers and speakers who know how to be brief. That’s why shortcuts (or initialisms) like LOL, BTW, OMG, IDK, and IMO have become so popular. They get the point across in less time. In creative writing, wordiness (the antithesis of brevity) occurs when the author uses two dozen words to send a message that could just as well be conveyed with much less. An ..read more

Success is dying knowing you did your best every single day. I have these words taped to the front of my planner which means I read them 3 to 5 times every single day. Every time I read it, it resonates deeply with me. Death is so final which is the reason that it is just so strikingly hard to deal with. We have so much living to do. Every. Day. There is some comfort, though, knowing that when it is time to move on from this world, if I spent every day in complete success then there will be an immense amount of peace. Let’s go over success, shall we? Though this is unique for everyone, one of ..read more

April is National Poetry Month. So why should that matter to fiction writers? Because poetry is the marriage of words and ideas, blending the two together to create something greater than the sum of their parts—which is exactly the same thing fiction does. Personally, I believe reading poetry (and, if you choose, writing the occasional poem, no matter how awful you think it may be) can help fiction writers hear language in new ways, play joyfully and unabashedly with words, and explore rhythms, metaphor, nuance, symbols, and imagery. In essence, when we fiction writers spend time reading or wr ..read more

When I wrote my historical novel, My Heart Lies Here, I did as much research as I could about the Ludlow Massacre in Trinidad, Colorado. The Ludlow Massacre took place in 1914 when the United Mine Workers of America organized a strike of the coal miners of John D. Rockefeller’s Colorado Fuel & Iron Company. The strikers and their families lived in tents on the windswept prairie through the coldest winter in Colorado history, while violence escalated between strikers and mine guards. The Colorado National Guard was called in to keep peace but instead, burned the tent colony to the ground, k ..read more

Hear Us Roar, the weekly podcast I host for the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, has been going since May 2018. The show has been downloaded over 27,000 times and the guests have ranged from authors who later hit the best-seller lists (Julie Clark, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai), won prestigious awards (Barbara Linn Probst, Jeannee Sacken), even started their own podcasts (Lainey Cameron, Kris Clink). The vast majority of them have gone on to write more books, as well as becoming writing instructors and book coaches, even co-founding a publishing house. They’ve beamed in from all over the United Sta ..read more

Honestly, I was kinda blogged out—until, after a multitude of phone calls and emails to kickstart a LOA from my night job, the following thought occurred to me: “Rainey, you forgot to give characters in your new WIP health challenges, and/or physical limitations.” Oh, for Heaven’s sake. Below, I’ve listed those that came to mind: Itchy skin, cough, fatigue = cancer (These symptoms could indicate a plethora of illnesses.) A whistle when someone speaks = false teeth Arthritis = can’t hold a handgun properly, or leaves a crooked finger print. Under the pseudo name of Robert Galbraith, JK Rowling ..read more

The full title of this book is: Make Every Word Count: a guide to writing that works—for fiction and nonfiction by Gary Provost. Gary, an author, speaker, and writing coach, had a unique sense of humor that flavored his writing and speaking.  While I’ve often found plowing through a grammar or writing book tedious, Gary believes in writing tight: That is, he gets in, gets to the point, and moves on.  Although he’s a word-count minimalist, he still makes room for humor.  I found his writing style delightful.    I’ve been writing since grade school. I’ve studied writing ..read more

A friend is getting ready to teach an online college-level course about “the business of creative writing.” He asked me for any strategies I would suggest along those lines and to pass along “things I’ve learned.” His prompt led me to write this note, below.  Here’s what I sent him. ++ Things I’ve learned … In other words, things I would have told my 30-year-old self as I started to take writing seriously. And that, in fact, is the main thing. Take it seriously. Treat it as you would a professional working your way into the business. Because there is no one, single way to go about this. T ..read more

Whether you’re waiting for an agent to offer representation, an editor to accept your short story or simply for the snow to melt, killing time can feel just that: vicious. Like the weather, there is little about this industry we as writers can control. We put words on the page or screen. We try again, with different words in a better order. We fling our darlings out into the cruel world for critique, rejection, or approval. And then, always, we wait. That’s all we can do, right? I’m sure you’ve heard well-intentioned advice from other writers on how to best manage the anxiety of waiting. The r ..read more