Questions to ask yourself before entering a romance writing contest

The first year I started writing romance, I entered shed-loads of writing contests. The next year, I was more selective and had learned that not all writing contests are equal. This weekend I spent some time looking through dozens of romance writing contests that have their deadlines over the next few months, and I found… Continue reading Questions to ask yourself before entering a romance writing contest

Tools for culling repetitious words from your writing

Before I started working in charity communications, I spent four years teaching English as a foreign language in Prague and London. One of my first classes was full of Czech bankers who gave up their Saturdays to learn English. They were an intermediate-level group, so they could make themselves understood but were far from fluent.… Continue reading Tools for culling repetitious words from your writing

Becoming pitch perfect

A couple of weeks ago, I signed up to take part in Savvy Authors‘ Pitch Practice Week (seriously, if you’re not a savvy author already, go join now! So many fantastic resources and opportunities). We were invited over to Pitch University, a site dedicated to helping authors learn how to pitch. The amazing Diane Holmes,… Continue reading Becoming pitch perfect

Brenda Novak’s auction o’goodness for diabetes research

I stumbled upon a link on Joanna Bourne’s blog where she mentions that she’s auctioning off a critique. It’s part of Brenda Novak’s 6th annual auction to raise money for diabetes research. And holy crap if there isn’t a boat-load of goodies on offer – from critiques by agents and editors, to a six-month mentorship with… Continue reading Brenda Novak’s auction o’goodness for diabetes research