Commas. Where do they go? Why did I throw one there? Does this phrase need one? Are seventeen commas in one sentence too many??? (Yes.) I consider myself at intermediate level when it comes to comma placement. No matter how much I edit, I always find spots where I've misplaced…
It's been a tad busy here with summer baseball still going strong and a few deadlines I'm hurtling toward, so I'm keeping this short. Last Saturday at writer's group, we discussed various three-act plotting beat sheets. I thought you might enjoy them, too. Michael Hauge has a fantastic Structure Chart…
I was at the library last week--shocking, I know--and came across a delightful book in the new nonfiction section. Wonderbook: The Illustrated Guide to Creating Imaginative Fiction by Jeff Vandermeer has an engaging, whimsical cover, and I had to pick it up. With stunning graphics, author essays, and entertaining chapter subheadings, Wonderbook was…
On Saturday I gave a presentation at the Researching the Romance academic conference (#BGSURomCon18) hosted by the Browne Pop Culture Library at Bowling Green State University, which happens to be the official repository for Romance Writers of America (RWA). It was an amazing conference. I learned so much from professors, university…
One thing I love about internal conflict is that a character recognizes she is emotionally protecting herself from something and thinks she knows why, but as the story progresses, she realizes the reason goes deeper. Until she's willing to be vulnerable and admit the emotional walls she's erected are stifling…
I used to spend a few hours every day on social media sites, but a while back, I found myself wondering if it was all worth it. I wasn't engaging with people as much, and I drastically cut back on sharing content. The majority of my time was spent merely…
Last Thursday was a bad writing day. After lunch, I threw my hands in the air and suppressed a scream. I knew where the story needed to go, but I wasn't sure how to get there. I had several scenes to write before my next "sure" scene. Everything inside me…
Last weekend I was blessed to speak at Maumee Valley Romance Writers, Inc. Every January we have our annual goals discussion. The first half of my talk was about basic goal-setting: taking time to think about professional, health, emotional and personal goals for the year and deciding how and when…
One of the essentials of an author platform is establishing a mailing list. The easiest way to do this is to sign up with one of the numerous newsletter providers. I confess I resisted starting a newsletter list for a long time. When I was an aspiring writer: I felt…
I've been going through the archives of my old blog (https://jillkemerer.blogspot.com) and came across a few articles I'm going to share here. They are still relevant and may help you. The first is "Strengthen Weak Areas in Your Writing" (linked). Here is a snippet: I'm writing a first draft. I'm…