Make a Plan! by Robin Widmar

If you were able to attend the 2012 Pikes Peak Writers Conference, you’ve probably spent the days since in post-conference recovery. Maybe you had a request for your manuscript and have been doing a last once-over before sending it. Maybe you’d lost your way on the writing journey, PPWC helped you find it once more, and now you’re burning up the keyboard. Perhaps a workshop or keynote speech sparked a new idea to chase.

Or maybe you absorbed way too much inspiration and information, and you’re wondering, “Now what?”

Make a plan!

Whether you’re working on your first novel or have several projects already in progress, your writing will benefit from setting goals and breaking down large tasks into smaller pieces. Here are some articles to get you started.

Creative Goal Setting for Writers by Kathy Steffen
http://howtowriteshop.loridevoti.com/2011/08/writers-creative-goal-setting/

Goal Setting for Writers 2012 by Bob Mayer
http://writeitforward.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/goal-setting-for-writers-for-2012/

No Excuses: 15-Minute Goal Setting for Authors by Toni
http://selfpublishingteam.com/15-minute-no-excuses-goal-setting-for-authors/

As always, your mileage may vary. Use what you can, and make sure it works for you.

(Previously posted May 1, 2012 at Writing from the Peak)

About the Writer: Robin Widmar is the Managing Editor for the official blog of the Pikes Peak Writers, Writing from the Peak.

For more articles about writing and the writing life, visit Writing from the Peak at http://pikespeakwriters.blogspot.com/.

How to Write for Adults by De Kenyon

A lot of kids and teens simply don't know how to write for adults, and I'd like to give you a little bit of perspective (being, technically speaking, an adult) so that you, too, can learn how to write stories that even adults can read with pleasure.

However, first I'd like to take a minute to clarify a point that I've often heard discussed: picking out books for the adults in your life. Often times, when left to make their own choices, adults will pick out inappropriate books for their age range. I don't mean that they'll read kids' and Young Adult (YA) books, which are perfectly fine for the most part, if perhaps a little more sophisticated than what they're use to reading. I mean that adults will read books that are:

• Dull.
• Depressing.
• And worst, teach adults that there's no fun or excitement to life any more.

Also, please keep in mind that adults especially shouldn't be reading books that are about death and getting old; it's too much for them to handle. When you're picking out books for them, make sure there's lots of adventure and excitement, because who wants depressed adults around? Violence, romance, humor, bravery, and getting in trouble are usually signs of a good book, even for adults. Remember, if they find the words too hard, you can always show them how to use the dictionary, which they did have to use as kids but have probably forgotten how to use by now.

But how to write for adults?

The main thing, when writing for adults, is not to talk down to them. It may seem like the adults in your life, while loveable, have a hard time understanding a lot of things. Keep in mind that it isn't because they aren't intelligent, but that, having been grownups for some time, they have forgotten what real life is like.

For example, they may have forgotten:

• What it's like to read a certain type story for the first time. ("I've seen it all before," they say.)
• What it's like to read a story...at all (adults do tend to work too much and watch too much TV).
• How to play and daydream.
• What real monsters are like, and how they exploit the rules to their advantage.
• That things you do in your imagination are not necessarily the things you would do in real life...but that you wish you could.

Please, try not to roll your eyes every time they say, "But it's just a story." They don't mean to be rude.

So when you're writing a story for adults, just tell the story. Don't explain too much; don't treat them like they're stupid; don't try to convince them that their lives would be better if only they didn't try to make everything so dull and take on so much responsibility. This is called "preaching," and adults really can tell when you're doing it.

The best tactic to take is to imagine adult characters (because most adults want to read about adults) responding to the danger that you put them in as realistically as possible, and not worry about trying to convince them to stop being so boring. Write a good story, and the adults who still like to read will have fun reading it, and really, getting adults to read anything is half the battle. And I have to say that the best part of writing books for adults is having one who doesn't like to read come up to you and say, "I really enjoyed your book, and in fact it inspired me to read more books." It can be done.

And last but not least, if any adults tell you that they, too, want to be writers, never discourage them or tell them that they simply aren't playful enough to handle it. Writing is an excellent exercise for their imaginations, and soon you may see that they aren't just writing stories, but daydreaming and perhaps even playing pretend with the children in their lives, and there's nothing better than that.

About the Writer: De Kenyon is the pseudonym (aka secret identity) of adult writer DeAnna Knippling. She has a daughter, Rachael, who inspires her every day to try new things, talk to new people, and have imaginary adventures. De's new kid series, The Exotics, features Rachael (by her request) and includes adventure, spies, magic, and even a few semi-interesting adult characters (one of them has a fake eye). You can find Book 1 of The Exotics at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, or other online bookstores. De blogs at www.DeKenyon.com and tweets at @writerde.

What's Not Pending by Karen Albright Lin

"Pending" allows for time to look forward, for time to reconsider, for time to celebrate those little steps toward whatever we are waiting for.

What's NOT pending for me today: shopping for necessary household supplies, picking up my child from school, shoveling snow, and cooking dinner.

This writing business is a bizarre one. Its slogan could be "Hurry Up and Wait..."

The pain of the business is parallel to the angst suffered by the chimps who were subjected to punishing electric shocks. Those that got them on a predictable time table coped much better than those that got randomly timed shocks. Those in the latter study group spent every moment cowering in corners, full of anxiety. If our industry was more predictable, it wouldn't frustrate so much. Only the bravest and strongest among us can handle this uniquely punishing business. This intrepid Sister of the Quill suggests we celebrate our persistence and patience and give ourselves the kudos we deserve. Love and strength to my fellow writers.

(Originally posted at the Sisters of the Quill blog 12/2/2009)

About the Writer: Karen is an editor, ghostwriter, pitch coach, speaker and award-winning author of novels, cookbooks, and screenplays. She’s written over a dozen solo and collaborative scripts (with Janet Fogg, Christian Lyons and director Erich Toll); each has garnered international, national and regional recognition: Moondance Film Festival, BlueCat, All She Wrote, Lighthouse Writers, Boulder Asian Film Festival, SouthWest Writers Contest, and PPW Contest. Find out more at www.karenalbrightlin.com.

The Great White Tunnel by Mandy Houk

If you stare at it long enough—and who hasn’t?—a blank page can begin to look like a long, vacant tunnel. More ominous, I believe, than a deep, dark, black one.
In a black tunnel, there is the promise, or the delicious threat, that something is hiding in there—something you have only to stumble upon and discover. A bright white tunnel, though, seems to have no secrets. No hidden treasures to find, explore, experience.

That Great White Tunnel is literally nothing without you. Terrifying, isn’t it?

Learning to face the blank white page is hardly a problem exclusive to beginning writers. No matter how many years someone has been plugging away at this craft we call writing, the blank pages don’t get any less blank. The difference between a beginning writer and an experienced one is simply this: the experienced writer has been here before. The feelings of inadequacy, impending doom, and who-do-I-think-I-am-ness are familiar. The experienced writer still feels all of those feelings, but he or she has learned to push past them. Eventually.

There are likely as many solutions to the problem of the White Tunnel as there are struggling writers out there. I can only share what works for me. (By “works for me,” I mean, “keeps me from dissolving in a gigantic puddle of tears.”)

First, I keep in mind a quote from Nora Roberts: “You can’t edit a blank page.” Every writer knows that first drafts are awful (Ernest Hemingway famously said, “All my first drafts are s***.”). The real art of writing doesn’t happen until you’re revising. So my first goal when stepping into the Great White Tunnel is to litter it with lots of little black letters, like tossing cracked black pepper in front of me as I go. On particularly fear-inducing occasions, when my mind feels as empty as the tunnel appears, I might even start out with whining. In my character’s voice, of course. She might complain that I’m waking her up. He might rant about another character’s annoying habits. Whatever gets them talking.

After the first few sentences, I have a finger-wrestling match, trying to keep my right pinky away from the delete button. About 99% of the time, whatever I’ve got on the page is truly, horrifyingly awful, and the despair I was feeling before I started tossing all that pepper only intensifies. When the page was blank, at least the idea that I was a hack was merely theoretical. With the first few sentences, though, that theory is in the process of proving itself, and I desperately want to go in reverse and feel fear again rather than disgust.

In order to win the finger-wrestling match and tame that stubborn pinky, I often have to speak out loud. I start with that trusty Nora Roberts quote I mentioned earlier. In particularly stressful situations, I’ve been known to revert to elementary school favorites: “Shut up, Stupid-head. Just shut up!”

The goal here is to remind and promise myself (and my pinky) that I have no intention of letting another human’s eyes fall on the awfulness I’ve thus far produced. I will just keep working to fill up that page, decorating the tunnel with cracked black pepper. In the meantime, I’m praying fervently that my character will say something useful, something inspired, even something shockingly obnoxious. Anything that will get my mind and imagination on the track that was hidden under that snowy whiteness all along. Something that my pinky finger wouldn’t dare touch. It won’t be brilliant; it won’t be polished and immune to revision. But it will be enough to get me rolling. It’s as if the tunnel’s opening were a steep, uphill climb, and if I can muster enough courage and strength to push on, I’ll not only find the track, but I’ll find the crest of the hill!

After that? Hold on. It’s quite a ride.

About the Writer: Mandy Houk teaches high school writing and freelances as an editor and author. She's sold several nonfiction articles and stories, and placed in a couple of short fiction contests, but she has yet to break into book-length fiction. Her first novel is safely and appropriately in a deep, dark drawer. Her second is seeking a home with a literary agent.

The Business of Writing: The Editor’s Seat by Linda Rohrbough

I remember several years back while visiting a New York Times best-selling author friend, I went to dinner with a group of writers. When several of the others left the table on an errand, I ended up alone with a writer I didn’t know well. She asked me how I got some well-paying writing work she’d heard about. So I asked her a few questions, then gave her some advice.

Next thing I heard, a year and a half later, she was making six figures. Turns out the dinner was a set up and my author friend deliberately left me alone with this writer so she could ask my advice. Evidently, now that writer was going around telling everyone I coached her into her current success.

So my author friend asked me, “What did you say to her?”

And I wondered, what did I say to her? Because if I could remember what it was, I’d say it to myself.

Here’s how the conversation went.

I asked her about what she did now and about her background. She was working in a bank at the time, but she used to own a magazine. I remember I was stunned.

“You had a magazine? And you’re asking me how to get work? My gosh, girl, you’ve seen it from the other side.”

She just looked at me without saying a word. But I was on a roll.

“You remember the freelancers you loved to work with? How they behaved?”

She nodded.

“So be THAT.”

She was quiet. I wondered if I’d disappointed her. The other writers came back to the table and the subject got changed.

What I wanted to ask, once I heard she was making six figures, was what THAT looked like. During our dinner, since I felt like she’d taken me into her confidence and the other writers would be listening, I never did ask the question. Turns out she had the ruby slippers on the entire time and didn’t know it.

But I took an editing job that lasted several months and now I know what THAT looks like. Because I see it from the other side of the table. So, if you’ll bear with me while I take the long way around, I’ll tell you what I saw.

First, and I know this will come as a shock, I know when an author is lying to me.

They say things like, “I will have the material done, but I might miss the deadline because I’m traveling and I can’t upload until I get back.”

Oh please. You can upload at Mickey D’s. Do I look like I have stupid written all over my face? (Now I sound like my mother.)

Even worse is when I hear something like, “I’ve got this really important party to go to where I’m the guest of honor, so I might miss my deadline.” Or I’m doing some real expensive activity (like taking my yacht out for the weekend, going on a cruise, or water skiing in Santa Barbara). And oops, the deadline is gonna suffer. Do they really think I’m going to say, wow, you’re the important artist and I’m just a small and humble editor, so go ahead and miss the deadline?

Or there’s silence. I send an e-mail. I wait. Repeat. Then they say they never got the e-mails. Or they refuse to acknowledge my correspondence. So I send them back the file to work on and three weeks later when I ask them how they are doing, they say they never got it.

What I didn’t know when I was just a humble author, is editors account to someone above them regularly for every deadline and the status of the project. Then the information is compared to the plan originally submitted by the editor after initial meetings with the author.

I also didn’t know that in some cases the editor doesn’t get paid until the final version is turned in and accepted. In that case, every delay by the author means a delay in the editor’s bottom line. But even if the editor is salaried, it makes them look bad, even incompetent, when authors are late. And that will eventually affect even a salaried editor’s job.

So I now understand why some editors got so angry with me when I was late. And why they often took the delays personally. I get now how insulting it is to the intelligence of another person to talk to them the way I’ve been talked to by some of the writers I work with. It reminds me of junior high when one of the popular girls would say she’d love to come to my party, but she had to wash her hair.

I never had high-dollar, going-out-on-the-yacht excuses, but I remember making excuses that probably were more lame than the ones I listed here. What I remember the most is being terrified. I was behind, I knew it, and I was either not sure about how to handle it or I was afraid to try. Or I underestimated the amount of time I needed. Bottom line was, I was afraid the editor or the house would pull the plug.

But sitting on the other side of the table, I realize now that the best thing I can do is when I’m going to be late, is just let my editor know. Call or e-mail them first, rather than waiting until they ask me where the work is. Tell them what’s going on (with a reasonable explanation) and give them an accurate and realistic estimate of when I can get the work in. They’re not going to like it, but they’ll have a lot more respect for me than if I make up “stories.”

I faced a project this year where I got behind. Given what I know now, I screwed up my courage, called the editor and just told them where I was at. It worked great. It turns out he was behind too and so instead of two weeks, I got an extra month to finish. I’d never known that if I hadn’t simply put my cards on the table. And he gave me some great tips on things I didn’t know from their end that would help me finish the project.

The other thing I see besides all the problems with deadlines, is writers turn in crap work just to hit a deadline. Then they get mad when I edit the work. I notice if the work is shoddy. I can see there’s some benefit to turning the work on time rather than ignoring the deadline. But I wanted to say to the writer, if you’re going to turn in schlock, at least have the decency to keep your mouth shut when I fix it. Plus, I wanted to add, if you’re going to scream about every change I make, I’m going to think you’re a baby.

And remember this. As an editor, I don’t get credit when you, the writer, look good. I may not even have my name on the project anywhere. You get the credit.

Sometimes I get a submission and I know it is off but I have to think about it a while before I can figure out how to fix it. That’s brain drain and it takes time. It’s helpful to remember the editor didn’t go to the trouble to do all that reorganization because it felt good to one-up the author. They did it because they think it makes the work better.

One thing I have done well as a writer is recognize that an editor can make me look good and express my gratitude. And even if I have an editor who looks to me like they are changing things for the sake of change, I save my arguments for the big ticket items, and let the small stuff go.

Being on the other side of the table has helped me be a better author. And I’m grateful for the experience. Now I know what I told my friend that made her so successful. I, too, had the ruby slippers on the whole time. And now I’ve given you a pair. So try them on and see how they fit. Because you can do this, too.

About the Writer: Linda Rohrbough has been writing since 1989, and has more than 5,000 articles and seven books to her credit along with national awards for her fiction and non-fiction. New York Times #1 bestselling author Debbie Macomber said about Linda’s new novel: "This is fast-paced, thrilling, edge-of-the-seat reading. The Prophetess One: At Risk had me flipping the pages and holding my breath." She recently won the 2011 Global eBook Award and the 2011 Millennium Star Publishing Award for her new novel. An iPhone App of her popular “Pitch Your Book” workshop is available in the Apple iTunes store. Visit her website: www.LindaRohrbough.com.

Thermodynamics of Magic Systems by Laura E. Reeve
originally posted: January 29, 2012

(Originally posted November 14, 2011 at the author's web site, http://www.ancestralstars.com/)

When I was at a writer’s conference in Denver, I pitched to a science fiction and fantasy (SF/F) editor for a NY publisher. After expressing disappointment that I wasn’t pitching an SF manuscript, he brightened and said, “But I usually like Fantasy written by SF authors.”

“Because their magic systems make sense?” Being an avid reader of SF/F (and all sub-genres), I knew exactly what he meant.

He agreed.

Later I heard several writers at that same conference express why they liked to write fantasy (“It’s so easy, because you don’t have to do research,” “You can make everything up,” and “Readers don’t expect accuracy”). I decided I’d have to counter these misinformed ideas.

There are fundamental scientific laws and logic most readers understand intrinsically. If SF/F world-builders address these laws, the realism of their worlds will be enhanced and their readers won’t be getting that nagging feeling they’re reading a puffed-up idiotic Hollywood script. So, the first subject we’ll tackle is the laws of thermodynamics as they apply to magic systems.

FIRST LAW: THOU SHALT NOT CREATE ENERGY FROM NOTHING.

Physical sciences and engineering disciplines all address this rule in different ways (okay, okay—they don’t use King James English in their textbooks, but then, their textbooks are boring). When this law was discovered, chemists went off to play with gas pressures in closed systems while engineers used it to drive a stake through the heart of the perpetual motion machine, an idea most readers intrinsically understand is dead.

This law is about conservation of energy, meaning that energy can change forms and transfer from material to material, but it must come from somewhere. It can go through many transformations but in the end, a closed system will have the same energy it had in the beginning. Heinlein put it succinctly in The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress: “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch” (yet another concept most readers understand).

Basically, magic can be considered the application of energy. As a fantasy writer, please take time to figure out where the energy for your magic comes from. Before you grumble about this heinous limitation upon your creativity—it’s a world-building exercise where you’re in total control and your magic system will benefit from it, I promise. Just because the energy comes from somewhere doesn’t mean it has to be rare or limited. For instance, it could come from sunshine or starlight or the life force of plants, animals, the universe (“Feel the Force, Luke”), etc. It can come from generous gods or the ground one walks upon. If you do pick an essentially unlimited source, you’ll find this raises other questions, such as: Why isn’t everybody performing magic? And, if they are, what will be the ramifications upon society, economics, etc.?

To the contrary, your energy source could be incredibly constrained, having to be mined from the ground by imprisoned faeries during a blue moon in winter. Obviously, its scarcity will have ramifications. Hunt down and define those complications; you’ll discover more about your characters and world.

Consider, as well, how characters would channel/transform/wield this energy. What are the risks and the costs involved? If magic in your world is fueled by the internal energy in characters, then I would expect to see an incredible cost associated with a work requiring great power. After all, how much energy could be pulled from characters before they turn into dry husks–and before a reader says, “Come on now, this is a vapid Hollywood creation,” and throws it against the wall?

SECOND LAW: THOU SHALT APPLY ENTROPY, BECAUSE NATURE DESIRES DISORDER.

The second law of thermodynamics was discovered when trying to explain the direction of spontaneous change. Scientists observed that gas always expands to fill a vacuum, but never spontaneously contracts. Nature obviously abhors a vacuum, but why? Why do chemical reactions always proceed in one particular direction? Engineers also noted that heat (energy) never flows from a cooler to a hotter body. Spontaneous change is predictive and has a direction, but scientists wanted to know why. The answer: Systems change toward greater distribution of energy, toward greater “disorder,” which scientists called the entropy of a system. Entropy turned out to be measurable.

You’re probably thinking this entropy stuff can’t possibly be sensible to readers. Surprisingly, it’s quite intuitive when stated this way: Systems naturally change toward greater disorder, and it often takes more energy to apply or maintain order than disorder. We see examples of this in our everyday lives. It’s so much easier to drop your stuff on the floor in the family mudroom than put it away in those nicely labeled cubbyholes. Eventually someone (mom or dad) snaps and orders a family clean-up. Everyone finds it takes a good amount of energy to impose order upon that mudroom, while it seemed to naturally change or “decay” into disorder.

What does this mean to magic systems and your average reader? Let’s say you have a mage encase a city in a magical forcefield. No one can get in or out of that city. After this feat is performed, are you going to have the mage walk away with the guarantee this forcefield will be in effect forever? Only if you want your reader to dump your book, because we all sense that something of such high complexity and order requires energy to maintain it. This applies to even small abstract entities/spells like “wards,” as well. A fantasy I recently read had mages using wards like doorbells to sense when they had visitors and identify them. The author mentioned these wards needed continual maintenance—a careful detail that made her world more solid.

What if, instead, that mage reduced the city to dust? Would the reader believe the job is done and the mage can walk away? (Moral/ethical implications aside, of course.) Yes, the reader would consider the task completed and irreversible, but why is that? Because our world has engraved the instinct in us that no energy is required to maintain immense disorder. Furthermore, we understand the energy required to reorder that dust back into a city would be astronomical. The second law of thermodynamics is behind the maxim that “destruction is easier than creation.”

Entropic change also affects knowledge (Information Theory has the principle of degradation, where changes to information over time/transmission are irreversible). Everybody knows how the Greek Dark Ages and the Western European Dark Ages walloped advancement in those civilizations. From our own history, readers sense that a body of information requires continual energy to stay “ordered,” meaning relationships between data must be maintained or adjusted as knowledge increases. Copies must be made, distributed, and protected, whether by monks or computers.

In fantasies, having plot-critical magical lore established hundreds or thousands of years ago has almost become stock background. When information has to be transferred over many generations, when it must survive wars and natural disasters, the author should create inaccuracies and gaps. Otherwise, the credibility of the entire world is weakened. If your character is lucky enough to find good (never perfect) information, the author should provide hints on how it’s been preserved, whether through immortals with eidetic memory, fanatic quill-wielding clerks, multiple copies, special preservation methods, or survivable mediums.

WRAPPING IT UP…

If your magic system fits within these first two laws, it will feel natural and solid to your readers. These simple premises are ingrained: we know energy comes from somewhere and we assume spontaneous change always moves toward disorder. We instinctually feel that the natural progression of time makes organized matter “decay” toward randomness. Use these instincts—based on natural laws of thermodynamics—to your benefit.

Make your magic, and your worlds, real to your readers.

About the Writer: Laura began writing SF and Fantasy in the fifth grade, but it took her thirty years to learn to finish her novels. Along the way, she spent nine years as a U.S. Air Force officer and her civilian jobs ranged from Research Chemist to Software Development Lead. In 2007, her dream of becoming a "paperback writer" came true with a 3-book contract from Roc for the Major Ariane Kedros Novels (Peacekeeper, Vigilante, and Pathfinder). Laura lives in Monument, Colorado, where she writes fantastical worlds, struggles with high-altitude xeriscape gardening, and dabbles with digital art. For more, see her web site at www.AncestralStars.com.

Business of Writing: The First Two Pages by Linda Rohrbough
originally posted: October 14, 2011

Recently, a couple I knew when I lived in another state contacted me. Their youngest daughter, the one with Care Bear flip-flops on tiny feet who used to crawl up in my lap for a hug, is now ready to go to college. She wants to be a writer and they asked my opinion on the best school for writers interested in being novelists. They mentioned a couple of prestigious schools and I am pretty sure I shocked them when I recommended the University of Iowa.

But I read a piece in the New Yorker a few years back about that school. Evidently they turn out more New York Times best-selling novelists than any writing program in the country. I said all that to say, I have a checklist of what a professor teaching at the University of Iowa Writing Festival this summer said he found was common in the first two pages of every best-seller currently in the bookstores.

Want to see it?

Okay, here it is, courtesy of guest instructor Gordon Mennenga of Coe College, (who got his MFA at Iowa).

Checklist of the common nineteen things found in the first two pages of best-selling novels:

a sentence containing three commas
a one-word sentence
alliteration
food (the universal ritual)
body fluid--sweat, blood, tears, urine
reference to sex or death
something sinful or painful
a color
a physical feature
a personality trait
question mark
mention of nature
anything with a brand name
furniture
body part or parts
smell/odor
metaphor, each of which saves five pages of description
city, state or street
walk/gesture/overbite/musculature

Now, what’s interesting to me is the person who sent me this list, also said the students taking Professor Mennenga’s workshop started counting to see how many of the nineteen they had in the first two pages of their novels. The person in the workshop with the most had ten. I did a check of my recently published novel The Prophetess One: At Risk and I had sixteen. Then I did a check of my new work in progress, The Prophetess Two: A Son For A Son and found fourteen, but was easily able to change the text to add three more to make it seventeen from the list.

(Will these changes stay? Depends. I usually go back over the first chapter once the book is done to make sure the first chapter and the last chapter are connected. But I was able to say to you guys that I now have seventeen. )

The temptation here would be for newbees to say, “Okay, when I write a book, I will make sure I shoe-horn those nineteen things into the first two opening pages. Then it’ll be a best-seller.” If only it were that easy. But I noticed the items on that list are all things that show up when you’re writing well, meaning showing the reader what the characters want and feel, creating the environment, the initial conflict and setup for the book, with very specific details. In other words, when you are weaving a world that hooks readers.

Like it or not, hooking the reader has to happen in the first couple of pages of a novel. Or else the reader isn’t going to stay with you. I think this is doubly important with the advent of ebooks because it’s so easy now for readers to get a sample chapter - give a writer a test drive. This is what you want if you’re doing the job right.

So my suggestion is take this list and compare it against the first two pages of your novel. See if it helps. Then compare it against the first two pages of a best-seller you like. Why take Professor Mennenga’s word for it?

About the Writer: Linda Rohrbough has been writing since 1989, and has more than 5,000 articles and seven books to her credit along with national awards for her fiction and non-fiction. New York Times #1 bestselling author Debbie Macomber said about Linda’s new novel: "This is fast-paced, thrilling, edge-of-the-seat reading. The Prophetess One: At Risk had me flipping the pages and holding my breath." She recently won the 2011 Global eBook Award and the 2011 Millennium Star Publishing Award for her new novel. An iPhone App of her popular “Pitch Your Book” workshop is available in the Apple iTunes store. Visit her website: www.LindaRohrbough.com.

For more articles like this, go to www.pikespeakwriters.com.

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