First lines given – #12

Welcome to First Lines Given! If that sentence confuses you, here's a link to where I explain what this is. Today's first line is by Buster! He said: He likes to make things complicated. But I got this. "The cat used its Herculean strength to lift the sun because his aunt's nephew's baby mama twin … Continue reading First lines given – #12

Author Interview — Rita A. Rubin

Recently, I posted a review on Amulet of Wishes, and now I get the chance to interview the wonderful Rita A. Rubin. I hope you enjoy. What has influenced you the most as a writer? Other books, I'd say. Especially fantasy books. For Amulet of Wishes, did plot or characters come first? Characters. Derek and … Continue reading Author Interview — Rita A. Rubin

Books I’m looking forward to reading in 2022

I haven't done one of these before, but I love reading them, so I decided to give it a try. Perhaps you'll find a book you like as well.  For this list, I picked seven books I already have on my to-read shelf. My shelf is almost full, so I'm hoping to get it down … Continue reading Books I’m looking forward to reading in 2022

Fantasy and sci-fi tips from an award-winning editor

I attended a Reedsy Live where Jonathan Oliver gave some wonderful tips for fantasy and sci-fi writers that I'd like to share. Some of these tips are for all genres though. What's a word count for fantasy and sci-fi? For adult fantasy, he mentioned the range to be about 130,000 to 250,000 words. Sci-fi landed … Continue reading Fantasy and sci-fi tips from an award-winning editor

Virtual AWP Thoughts

Right as covid hit, I went to AWP (a national writing conference) for the first time. Half the panels were gone. Half of the bookfair was gone. I talk about it more in this post. Since covid is still going strong, AWP went virtual this year. I was nervous about it since ACES—which turned virtual … Continue reading Virtual AWP Thoughts

Maybe friends (haiku)

If you had a clueor a hint that I exist,we could be good friends. Copyright © Robin LeeAnn

After three years of blogging, what do I think?

I've been blogging on WordPress for three years now. It doesn't feel like it though. But after all this time, what do I think about it? Pros Blogging has pushed my creativity. I can't quite think of what blog to write sometimes. I usually write on the weekends, which are also the days I'm tired … Continue reading After three years of blogging, what do I think?

Book review – You Are an Artist: Assignments to Spark Creation

“My hope is that you'll come to see art as something made by human beings and that you, being human, can make, too. Thankfully, art isn't like the other disciplines. There is no set of knowledge of list of techniques that one can master to become an artist. It's a state of mind, and it's … Continue reading Book review – You Are an Artist: Assignments to Spark Creation

More than writers

Every Tuesday and Friday, I watch the new Vlogsbrothers video like any other Nerdfighter. But—at the time I'm writing this post—the newest video from John struck me. John, who is the John Green by the way, talked about his wife, which is rare. He didn't gush over her or talk about an issue they have … Continue reading More than writers

Character names

The other day, Hank Green made a video, answering questions about his new book. I paused the video at one point, because he said something about writing characters that is so true. "You put in a placeholder and that becomes their name. And you can't ever change it because you cannot imagine that character having a … Continue reading Character names