I’ve been kind of busy, you know… what with FINISHING the complete first draft for book #2. Yes, you heard me correctly. Finished! I’ll tell you the truth. Since this wasn’t a novel, I didn’t really need the words “The end.” But it just felt so good to type them. Over the next two months, I’ll...

When my daughter was first born, I thought they just needed to wipe her off. At first glance, she seemed to be covered with a thick coating of white, causing confusion and near-panic with the medical staff in the room. It soon became clear that the towel the nurse was using to clean her wouldn’t...

Today’s guest post is from Sarah Philpott. I’ll share with you her bio from her website, allamericanmom.net, to give you an idea what her blog is like: Hey y’all! I’m Sarah—a farmer’s wife and mom to two mischievous little kids. I’m a lover of big earrings, the written word, traveling, hosting parties for my friends,...

At the age of 53, I took up saxophone playing and, surprise-surprise, I gained insights for my writing life as well. #1. Practice pays.                      This may seem obvious, but by the time we’re in our fifties, most of us figure we’ve mastered whatever skills we’re going to master and everything else is status-quo. When I...

I just got back from the 2015 Midwest Writers Workshop, which is always my favorite event of the entire year. Perhaps it’s because some of my favorite people are at MWW with me, staying up late to talk and laugh and eat fried pickles at Scotty’s. Or because I designed our new logo this year and got...

I just got back from the 2015 Midwest Writers Workshop, which is always my favorite event of the entire year. Perhaps it’s because some of my favorite people are at MWW with me, staying up late to talk and laugh and eat fried pickles at Scotty’s. Or because I designed our new logo this year and got...

I feel like I’m constantly saying the same old thing on these guest post intros… I met this lovely woman through the Facebook group my agent set up for clients of her agency, and I haven’t met her in person, but I love her… yadda yadda yadda. The thing is, though, it continues to be...

When I found out that not only did I get to write a new book, but that it had to be done by the end of the summer, I alternated between excited and totally freaked out. One day I posted in the Facebook group set up for all of my agent’s clients, asking for volunteers to...

As I’m busy writing my next book, I’m also poring through all of my files. Stacks and stacks of papers. Printed blog posts and online articles. Handwritten notes scribbled over the years as I read books in bed, late at night. Scraps of paper and receipts with “brilliant” ideas that I scribbled as I drove,...

Becky Kopitzke is one of those people who makes you smile. You can’t help but like her—her vivacious, generous spirit draws you in from the moment you meet her. Through our shared agent, we connected via email one day and then I discovered she lived near the town in Wisconsin where Anna went to college (seven...