I found a reading challenge online and decided to make one of my own. The one I found assumed that one book a month would be a good average — […]
JES Hays
JES Hays is the author of the Devon Day and the Sweetwater Kid stories: Down the Owlhoot Trail and the upcoming Outlaw Security.
Goodbye 2020/Hello 2021
The year is ending … finally. Like many, I feel this year has been both longer and shorter than any I’ve known. It seems we’ve been quarantined for at least […]
Happy Holidays
Happy Holidays to all and a Happy New Year! December and January are when we hold our Winter celebrations – whichever you prefer to celebrate. We shut out the cold […]
50 Gifts for Writers
It’s that time of year again: time to think of something your writer friend or family member will actually use. Fear not! Once more, we come bearing gift ideas for […]
Sixty Books That Changed My Life
For my 60th birthday (that can’t be right!) I’m emulating Bono from U2. He published 60 songs, but I’m a writer so I have chosen 60 books. I’m going to […]
The Aging Writer
In only a week, I’ll be 60. That just can’t be right, can it? As I look back over a lifetime of writing — most of it unpublished and rightly […]
Writing Secondary Characters
Elizabeth Boyle’s webinar on Secondary Characters was quite informative. Here are some of her points. First, what do you need secondary characters for? Lesson or Role? Your secondary character will […]
What I’m Reading: Rescuing Samantha
If you like horse stories, you should try this one by Heidi Thomas. It’s the first in a series, so I’m looking forward to trying Book 2. Sam has a […]
Query Letter Elements
So what exactly should be in your query letter? In Angie Hodapp’s Query Letter Boot Camp, we talked about the three (or four) parts of a query letter: (Polite) Greeting: […]
Elements of a Solid Query Pitch
Here’s some more great information from the Women Writing the West Conference and the Query Letter Boot Camp. According to Angie Hodapp, there are six signal words you need to […]