“Can you start a novel with dialogue?” is a question I’ve been asked three times in the past month, so I thought I’d blog about it! There are many bits of popular advice floating around the writing community, and “never start a novel with a line of dialogue” is one of them. Of course, when it comes to writing, when
Author: Bryn Donovan
There are several great cozy mystery publishers with open submissions. In fact, you can submit to a few of the biggest cozy mystery publishers without an agent! Now, there are a lot of great reasons to have an agent. I’m certainly grateful for mine. And many cozy authors do very well with the self-publishing route! But because everyone’s path is
Do you know when I last watched the TV show Friends? Last Thursday. Four days ago. I watch it all the time. A year or two will go by where I don’t watch it, and then I’m back on it again. The show makes me happy. There are a few things that haven’t worn well, but the good things about
Hi friends! I had a rough week last week, and a good week this week. 🙂 Welcome to my Friday recap! Here’s what’s been going on. I Decided I Really Need to Make Chicago Friends. Obviously, I don’t get too lonely, living with my husband and three rescue dogs. I do have family in town, too; I’m more often the
This list of character defects is something I developed for writers, although of course, it could have lots of different uses! After I posted the List of 125 Talents and Skills, I’ve had several requests for a list of character flaws. Not all of these “character flaws” are moral failings! Some of them are just challenges that could hold characters
Did you know there are scientific reasons why reading is important? There are! But for a while, a busy life and the endless distractions of the internet led me away from my reading habit. It was such a simple, pure pleasure to get back into it this year, so I thought I’d write about the benefits of reading every