Early on in my writing career, I submitted a manuscript to Harlequin. To my extreme excitement, they responded asking for exclusive consideration. As I’m sure all newbie authors have done at one point or another (to our collective chagrin) I thought I’d made it. I’d get a publishing contract, I’d have a dedicated team of... Continue Reading →
This month I am fortunate to be joining the staff at a book blog as a reviewer. I’m thrilled to be welcomed to such a close-knit community, and look forward to the opportunities it may bring. With this new opportunity, though, comes new trepidation. Until now, I’ve avoided doing book reviews, even though it’s been... Continue Reading →
*Note: this post is being re-blogged. It was written when I was using Blogger as a platform. I am revisiting it now that I've switched to WordPress. Cheers, V. I love Twitter. It's full of tips and tidbits for writers. Even if I already knew some of the things my fellow Tweeps are tweeting about,... Continue Reading →
Lately I've been pretty wrapped up in the arduous task of building my author platform. So many authors have more followers than me, get more Facebook comments than me, and write more blog posts than me. With a personal goal of catching up to "them," I've picked up the pace with my social media efforts. It's what you have... Continue Reading →
I've made an executive decision. I'm switching to WordPress! When I started blogging, it was because I kept reading (through posts I found on Twitter) about how authors needed to blog. It's the way you build up your platform, they told me. If you don't blog, you won't get your name out there. Typical me,... Continue Reading →
A writing tip I see often concerns character building. You hear over and over that you want real characters, characters that live and breathe. It's an important piece of advice. Creating a real character is vital to your story, but what exactly is a real character? What is that extra, indefinable something you, as an author, need to give your... Continue Reading →
I do a lot of web-surfing for writing tips. It’s part of the job ... or, well, if you can call what I do a “job,” which is debatable ... One of the most prevalent topics I see (which is discussed forward and backward and every which way) concerns drafts. Here’s what to do after you’ve... Continue Reading →
In life, we meet countless people who are secondary characters to our life story: our neighbours; our colleagues; the servers at our favourite coffee shop. These people don't exist solely to serve our life stories. They are their own entities. They have their own back stories, their own personalities, and their own actions, reactions, thoughts... Continue Reading →
If you're an indie author, you've got to blog. At least, that's what I've been told by, like, just about every "how to" blog post I've seen. Blogging increases your following. Blogging makes you more visible. ... It's also a major time-suckage. Whether it is, or is not, necessary, I've gotten myself into it, and I'll... Continue Reading →
This morning, as I was scrolling Twitter looking for tips, tricks and things I can re-tweet, I came across a link to a blog post about the problem with quantity-driven writing. As an author of romantic fiction, this is something I—along with my legion of fellow scribblers—struggle with. You need to stay relevant; you need... Continue Reading →
Veronica Bale's Blog 