NY Times Best-Selling Author, Bob Mayer will be in Indianapolis, IN on Saturday, April 21, 2012 presenting his Writer’s Toolkit. This will be an all day workshop beginning at 8am continuing until 5pm at the Marriot East Hotel located at 7202 East 21st Street. Special room rates are available for conference attendees. Cost is $75 […]
For me, the first step in beginning any new project is fleshing out my characters. I spend a lot of time mulling over not just each character’s personal appearance (which, honestly, could change anyway) but also his/her personality traits, quirks, nervous habits, taste in clothes and music, favorite movies, and so on — even if […]
My sister gave birth this morning to my beautiful niece, Piper. Debate over the perfect middle name had waged for months between the expectant mama and papa — with those of us on the outside lobbying for our favorites. They finally decided (just this morning!) to go with my sister’s own middle name. My little […]
Inspiration – Assignment #2 I love writing dialogue. But there are still days I want to pull my hair out because everything my characters are saying seems trite or stilted. (Helpful hint: When your own characters’ conversations make you yawn, you have a problem.) So, when I get stuck, how do I get those creative […]
Inspiration – Assignment #1 Walk among the dead. No, I’m not talking about hanging out with your local zombies. I’m talking about taking a stroll through a cemetery–preferably one that’s old and full of history. As you walk, read the names on the tombstones, the dates that defined their lives, the inscriptions of hope and […]
When people find out I’m a writer, one of the first questions that inevitably comes up is where I get all of the ideas for my stories. Well, the truth is, I get inspiration from pretty much anywhere and everywhere–a news story, the lyrics of a song, a dream, a photograph, a snippet of dialogue […]