Evolution
My blog is going to be undergoing a change over the next couple of weeks. For the last couple of months I've felt like I was in transition, unsure of which direction to go. Ironically, it was as I was pumping the water out of my basement yesterday that I had an epiphany of sorts. By using my blog as only a chance to share my writing tips I feel as if I've limited myself. I want to share my passion for Maine, as well. So stay tuned, changes are coming...

On Writing... faith
Having faith isn't about getting what you think you want immediately. It's about holding onto that faith until it's the right time for what you need to be received.This is my quote... It's something that I try to live by. I'm not an overtly religous person, but I do consider my

Do you really know?
It isn't until I started working on my first non-fiction book proposal that I truly realized how wide and varied are the markets. I was intimidated by the idea of analyzing the competition and listing them within the proposal. Surely, to compare my work to another would be a process in the egotistical, but frankly, what I found was it was an endeavor that promises to weed out any weakness within my own work and truly look at the place for my book within the market.As writers we like to believe that our ideas are unique. But once you truly look at and analyze those other books then you begin to see where your own could be strengthened. Perhaps your topic is too broad, covering too much

Goals and other things that I avoid... But shouldn't
I have one of those Google alert thingies set up to notify me when someone posts a blog involving "writing" and "mysteries". I find helpful to be able to see what others are saying in order to be able to get my creative juices flowing. This morning I opened my mail to find that there was a blog post from a YA author named Justine Larbalatier, called Writing Goals Redux. Apparently, at the beginning of the year she'd posted her goals to write and publish under several different genres, pov and formats. She was now, toward the end of the year, looking at how much she'd achieved. It's impressive.

On the trail of a new project... The Non Fiction Book Proposal
I've written bits and pieces of for the last year. But it isn't until the last month that I've really started looking at writing a proposal for my current project.Now, I've written tons of query letters. I've the rejection files to prove it. But it wasn't until I garnered the idea for my non-fiction that I found something that truly makes me quake in my boots (short boots,very nice, black, simple). For those who quiver over the dreaded synopsis, and I have heard tons of writers lamenting them over the years, then take a look at just what goes into a nonfiction proposal.1. Title Page (with it's own layout. Those who write manuscripts are generally familiar