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Point of View: Writing to Distraction

squirrel - deposit photos

There’s a great skit in Portlandia where Fred Armison plays a character working on his computer, getting calls and messages on his cell phone, alerts on his iPad, and “Netflix” style DVDs in the mail, all of which drives him to distraction. It was hilarious at the time. Who would let themselves be sucked into … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: The Monster at the End of This Book

The Monster at the End of This Book

When I was a kid, I had a few favorite picture books. At the top of the list was The Wump World – and it’s so freaking relevant now in regards to the human-driven nature of climate change that it’s scary. Get this book for your little kids NOW (and read it yourself). In a … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Choosing Person and tense – First Person

First Person / Me - Deposit Photos

When crafting a story, every writer has to make some key choices: What’s the genre? What’s the tone? How about the setting? Who are the characters, and what’s going to happen to them? How will they react? And will it all end? But there’s another choice we all make, consciously or unconsciously, that can have … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Damage

Damage - deposit photos

“What’s your damage, Heather?” We all carry damage around with us in some way, shape or form, like an unwanted hitchhiker. Damage from things that were done to us as children. Damage from things we did to others. Damage from the world and society at large. I carry the damage of homophobia. Of being called … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: I Wish I’d Known

Joel Arellano

Last week, I asked The Universe for ideas for my future columns, and The Universe, personified in one Joel Arellano on Facebook, replied: “A list of 10 Things you wish you had known before publishing your works.” I’ve been doing this writing thing semi professionally since 2014, so I should be able to come up … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: Writing Short

Yellow pencil - Deposit Photos

For most of my life I considered myself a novel writer. Novels were my preferred reading length – I love getting lost in an epic story with lots of room to explore. Give me five-hundred pages, a thousand even, and let me roam in your world. And if it’s an epic series of 10+ books? … Read more

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Podcast: The Writescast Network

The Writescast Network

My friend R.T. Campbell asked me onto his podcast a few weeks ago to share some of my tips for authors using Facebook, and he’s here at last! It was a lot of fun. Take a listen: Podcast Link: https://writescast.net/2020/09/18/writescast-090-facebook-for-authors/

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POINT OF VIEW: Taking My Time

stopwatches - pixabay

I’m writing again, and it feels really good. 🙂 But I’m doing it a little differently this time. I’m working over my first three chapters multiple times before moving ahead, making sure that I have three things settled in my head: The thrust of the plot The interdynamics of the characters The major and minor … Read more

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POINT OF VIEW: The World Needs to Calm the F* Down.

crazy - pixabay

Pride Season is upon us, and with it, so many things I have to do, and so little time to do them. We have two readings in Sacramento this week (thank you Jeff Adams for managing one of them!), two pride celebrations, an author lunch, and that’s just the stuff on my local author group … Read more