A Slave to Plot Bunnies

During one of my local RWA chapter Zoom meetings, someone complained about being a slave to plot bunnies. I’ve heard so many writers talk about this creature that I had to look it up. According to the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) Wiki, a plot bunny is a story idea that refuses to go away until it is written. Some think it came from a John Steinbeck quote about ideas and rabbits. NaNo even has a site where you can put your bunnies up for adoption. And there’s a list of the various type of plot bunnies that just might jump into your head. At the worst possible time.

RWA Update, Kind Of

In spite of the resignations from the governing board and a new interim president appointed, Romance Writers of America continues to experience a flood of resignations. More local chapters are getting to the point where they have too few members to create a board and conduct business. The board and volunteers of the New York City Chapter submitted resignations effective March 2020. Las Vegas chapter dissolved early in the controversy.

Strong Beginnings with HelenKay Dimon

I wish I was a close friend of HelenKay Dimon. I love her writing, I love listening to her speak, but her sense of humor is delightful. I can’t get enough. And she’s a published author who enjoys helping new authors. I want to be her when I grow up.

Jack Davidson At RWA-SD, Part 1

I’m so embarrassed. In the first few paragraphs of my work in progress, Crazy for Trying, I have a police officer doing something totally not done ever, and especially not in front of civilians. One officer tells another to go to the door and be ready to draw her weapon. Yikes! First of all, that’s something the other officer should already know to do. Second, the first office wouldn’t say that because there are people in the room and it implies he doesn’t trust the officer to know what to do. I am so grateful to my critique group for pointing that out.

More from Jeff Lyons

Have you ever been at a restaurant with a huge menu, and think that there are too many good choices. All your favorites are available but you only have room for one dish. If the waiter came over and said, “Just look at page 3,” your options would be reduced and improved because of those items on the page, only one or two would appeal to you.

Do Alphas Have to be Assholes?

Once again, being a member of Romance Writers of America and my local chapter has brought a wonderful author in to talk to us and work with us. We authors, published or un, always are open to learning how to do our jobs better, smarter, quicker. Learning from the best is one perk of RWA membership.

Pardon Me, Your Brain Appears to be Storming

Step into the Way Back machine for a moment, if you please. There are some steps I would like to show you to explain how I got to my current writing location. First, National Novel Writing Month happened in November of 2016. I had participated in NaNoWriMo before, but this was the first time I finished my project. I got the t-shirt.

Conference Calls

Writers usually benefit from being alone with their typewriter, computer, tablet, or pad and pen. But now and again, we like to gather in huge groups of several hundreds or thousands and do writerly stuff. We sit through workshops, we listen to published superstars talk about how they did it, and we eat while watching awards being handed out. Sometimes we find time to write.

Emily Foster and Emily Nagoski, Part One

Life turns out to be full of coincidences. I used to go to ComicCon San Diego regularly. I went there before going there was cool. And in the wonderful days before huge movie studios and comic book producers started hanging out there. My husband and I knew the winds of change were upon us when the price of a ticket for all weekend went up tremendously and one could not buy next year’s tickets at this year’s convention. The chances of getting tickets through a phone call on the day they go on sale are slim to Hahaha nice try.

California Dreamin’ Writers Conference 2017 – Best Tips

RWA– Romance Writers of America is an outstanding organization for writers of any type. Yes, they are slanted toward us romance writers, but there’s a good reason for that. I’ll share that story another time. Today I want to give you an overview of the recent conference in March put on by four local RWA chapters in Brea, California. I’ll share more details on the panels in future posts.