Biz

Randy Rooney

No Ifs, Ands, or Butts

“Look, Reginald, what you need is a little discipline.” I squeezed the phone tighter to avoid screaming. Reginald is a good writer, but he’s been on chapter seven for about the last three months. “When you sit down to write, make yourself a goal and then stick to it. If you’re shooting for a thousand words, then don’t get out of the chair until you’ve got those thousand words.”

“You don’t understand,” Reginald said. “Things come up. Life happens.”

Word For Words

When Words Sing: Editing for Voice and Style

When I read for pleasure, I usually choose mysteries, well-written stories like Ellis Peters’s Brother Cadfael, set in England in the Middle Ages. I love the language, though I have to look up the occasional word (Peters, whose real name is Edith Pargeter, was a language scholar)...

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Agent Column

Meet Mary Sue Seymour…

When I was a little girl, my parents told me I had to be a teacher. So without thinking, I majored in education in college, was fortunate enough to get a teaching job right after graduation, and taught for fourteen years.

Screenwriting 101

Analyzing Conflict within Your Script

Conflict is king of the silver screen, and a story will die in a few minutes without it. It is the cornerstone of a great drama, and even comedies have enough conflict in them to drive the plot forward. In the case of The Proposal, one of the top box office movies this past summer and in the top ten grossing Romantic Comedies of all time, conflict is embedded in every scene of the film.

Bookclubs

Introducing North Metro's Book Club Leader

Let me introduce you to Sheryl Barnes, an experienced, successful book club leader. She has run a book club at her church for many years.

POD and Self-Publishing

POD Publishing: The New World Order or Flash in the Pan?

Three years ago I knew practically nothing about the publishing industry. Never had I Googled Terry Burns or...