Liz Flaherty's Blog, page 154

Blame It On The Muse

Every October I get bit by the NANO bug. I plan what I'm going to write. I write a blog announcing my intention and I update my NANO page with my new title and a blurb. I seriously consider going to the Halloween midnight write-in at PDX--but never seem to get there.

Then November is here. And the words aren't.

You'd think I'd get a clue. But, I always have faith that my muse will come out to play and bless me with fresh ideas and a bounty of verbs.

This year, the Fates have conspired with the e...

Finding The Right Fit

I'm going to start this post with a disclaimer: I'm in not a Professional Agent Hunter. I've had one agent in my career and I love her. She gets my writing, she gets me and she works hard. What works for me, though, may not work for you. Okay, we can get on with things.

For all the fun parts of writing there are - creating, researching, extreme situations - there are also not-so-fun parts. There are the rejections from publishers. There are bad reviews. There is the slush pile. Sure, The Call...

The Writer as Editor

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Thank you, Veterans

This is, I must admit, not a new post, but tomorrow is Veterans Day so here it is again. I've used it several times in several different places. I update it and add a little each time, but apologize if what you're reading is of the "oh, crap, again" variety. For the sentiment and the memories and the pride, I don't apologize at all.
A few years back, the fifth graders at my grandson’s school performed their annual Veterans Day salute. They sang and shook hands with veterans in the audience. Th...

#AuthorInterview: Julie Miller On Writing 50 Novels!

Happy Friday, WordWrangler readers! We're taking a week off from Question Friday to welcome Julie Miller into the round corral. Julie writes spine-tingling romantic suspense for Harlequin Intrigue - and she's releasing her 50th book this month! Julie's going to give us a peek into her process...and offer up a bit of advice. So lets get to it!

Kristina: This month your 50th book is being published by Harlequin, so we'll start off with a huge congratulations to you!! That's amazing!! How have yo...

OPTIMIST PRIDE

 I think as a whole, writers are an optimistic bunch. Just the fact that we keep sending our babies/stories out into the world--whether it's as a blind submission, a query, a critique, or a published book--we have to have hope that someone somewhere will be touched by what we created.

Romance writers are especially optimistic. In world plagued by divorce and unhappy endings, we strive to make readers believe in the Happily-Ever-After.

When I picture the future, I see two scenarios--

1--Esca...

A Little Laughter

Orison Swett Marden once said, "A good laugh makes us better friends with ourselves and everybody around us."

I love a good laugh. I've been known to laugh until I cry and my favorite thing in the world is a good belly laugh. RadioMan's goofiness, bebe's thoughts on, well, anything and my own silliness make me laugh. A great 'you won't believe this' kind of story. Last month at my RWA chapter retreat there was a running joke about assisted living facilities and - one several occasions - I laug...

Hooray for Writers Groups

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That was then, this is now

          I don’t remember when I started reading romance novels, only that Harlequin Romances were—I think—40 cents apiece. I say “I think” because I read used ones whenever I could get them and that may have been their price. They were easy to read, exciting travelogues, and no one believed them.           No one believed them because, good grief, the heroines were children and the heroes were ped...

Question of the Week: What's Next in Publishing?

Hi, everybody. It's Liz with today's question. Hope you're having a great week and oh, we forgot...

If anyone had told me 10 years ago where publishing would be today, I would have laughed, said, "Oh, yeah, right," and gone on about my business. We've seen so much happen: indie-pubbing, MM, FF, and erotica stories becoming part of the romance genre, NA becoming a new sub-genre, chick-lit coming and--in large part--going. I'm big on "what's next?" these days, so here's my question for the week...