This is a topic I don’t see addressed often, but it’s done wrong so often that it’s become a pet peeve of mine. It’s like a cheese grater on the nerves. Once you see the difference between smooth, essential thoughts and ‘throw away’ thoughts, you won’t be able to unsee them. And that’s a good… The post What Were You Thinking? Showing Thoughts in a Compelling Way appeared first on Laura Drake ..read more

We’ve all read it. We’ve all written it. The overexplanation. Even published books are rife with it (though I’ll bet, not many bestsellers are.) Is it small? Subtle? Often. But enough of it sprinkled in your writing will invite skimming. And as Margie Lawson says, skimming is death to a novel. She’s not wrong. But it’s insidious. There are MANY forms of Authorsplaining, and they creep in when you’re not looking. Here are a few, and how to spot and banish them: Overdescribing –It’s easy to get carried away with descriptions – you’re seeing it in your head and using pretty words to paint a pic ..read more

Please excuse the formatting – if you’d like to have my quarterly newsletter sent to your inbox, just sign up HERE. For Roger wins an award! She breathes life into characters who make you stop breathing. I bet Jodi Picoult wishes she had this idea, wishes she wrote this book Seriously. Grab this book now!        Margie Lawson Laura Drake takes on a topic that most authors wouldn’t be equipped to touch, and she does it with grace and humor.       Lainey Cameron Don’t miss FOR ROGER. I ..read more

Thrilled to announce that For Roger finaled in the Women’s Fiction Category of the National India Excellence Awards! The post Kudos to FOR ROGER appeared first on Laura Drake ..read more

It’s not natural ability. Many bestselling authors didn’t start with that. Not skill. You can work and study until you learn it. Not even stubbornness (though that helps). Writing is wonderful. But breaking into authorship, whether you choose indie, small press or NY, is an endeavor that will tear you up, break you down, and has killed the love of writing for many. Suffice it to say…it ain’t easy. From the outside, it looks like a blast. This is what it looks like to others:  You spend your days playing with characters and the story in your head. By the end, you’re published to the sound ..read more

This is a book of my heart. I’ve started, stopped and changed it four or five times. When I completed my last contract, I picked it up again and finished it. Turned it in to my agent, who thought it would be a very hard sell in the current state of world affairs…that readers wouldn’t want sad right now. Well, I’m 69 years old in a couple weeks – I don’t have time to wait, because you can’t enjoy being published posthumously (at least I think you can’t), so I’m self-publishing it. Meet For Roger:   Joan Merritt lives a charmed life. Happily married to her soulmate, she delights in followi ..read more

You’ve seen the blinders that racehorses wear to keep them focused on their own race, and not what’s going on around them, right? Well, writers need them too. Significant others, children, day jobs, Netflix, the internet, chores! We all lead gloriously busy lives, and it’s not easy to get ten minutes of uninterrupted time. But that’s what you need for creating, so what’s a writer to do? I hear it all the time, and this may be the biggest writer’s lament – no time, no focus. I’m retired now, but I started writing when I still had a teenager at home. Believe me, I had all of the above, and stil ..read more

Was at an informal writer’s get-together a while back, and we did a writing exercise. Had to finish the sentence, ‘I wish I’d never met’. This is fun! Take any topic and write for five minutes. You might surprise yourself! AMOS I wish I never met… Amos. My life was fine. I mean, it sucked, but that was usual, so it was fine. I don’t like change. Might as well tell you that right off. See, I’m alone since Betsy up and died on me, seven years ago. They say I’m lucky to live to ninety, but they’re not, so what the hell do they know?  I was content, watching tv all day, even though daytime t ..read more

I’ve said it before – I love words. I love how they swirl together into sentences to form beautiful, horrible or sensual images. I also love my Kindle. I use it almost exclusively, and one of the main reasons is the ability to highlight. When I read an amazing sentence (or two), I highlight them and can refer to them whenever I’d like. By the way, there’s an easier way to access your highlights. Just go to: https://read.amazon.com/kp/notebook. When I need inspiration, I refer to them. Here are only a few of my stash. Know that there are MANY more. You can probably guess my favorite authors fro ..read more

A writer friend alerted me to an article recently, 10 Awful Truths About Book Publishing. Go ahead and read it – we’ll wait. Okay, if you know anything about my books, you know I won’t leave you in a sad place, so read on. A bit discouraging? I’d say yes, and no. Would we all love to be NYT bestsellers with every book? Laugh on the way to the bank (does anyone go to an actual  bank anymore?) Be able to quit the day job and sit home writing all day, churning out those bestsellers? Every single one of us. But that’s a lightning strike: rare, spectacular and impossible to predict (even for ..read more