Burnout happens to most writers at some point in their career. Some are lucky enough not to experience it. But I’ve been writing since I was in high school, and it’s happened to me a few times over the years. So what to do when it happens to you? Here’s my advice for any writer dealing with a loss of the creative spark. Consume New Content One of the easiest ways to get myself inspired to write again is by reading new books or watching new TV shows and movies with great romances. Nothing makes me itch to put my fingers to a keyboard again then becoming swept up in an intoxicating love story. Take a Break This might seem …

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For some writers, one of the hardest parts of writing a novel is coming up with names for their characters. I am not one of those writers. I love naming characters, from main to side. If you do happen to struggle with this, I hope my tips can help. Create a Note in Your Phone I have a page in my notes app on my phone titled “Character Names” and whenever I hear or see a cool name, I write it down. Then, when I’m working on a character profile or drafting, I open the app and scan through to see if any of them are a good fit. Buy a Baby Names Book Will it feel weird purchasing a …

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Ten years ago, I was going through a hard time with my writing. Some days, I found myself cranking out close to 1k words. Other days, I just barely managed to write 200. I was really inconsistent and couldn’t figure out how to make writing part of my daily routine. Then I saw a YouTube video where an author talked about how starting a writing journal had changed her life. Recording how much she wrote every day inspired her and motivated her to get those words down. So, I ordered a journal for myself and did the same thing. At first, my word count varied wildly just like it had always done. But then I told myself I needed to …

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In the old days, before I discovered the joys of outlining and creating character profiles, a great idea for a book would hit me and I would just jump on in. By “jump on in”, I mean that I would open up a new Word document and start writing, flying by the seat of my pants. For a long time, this worked…until I realized all of my first drafts were big, ugly messes and the thought of cleaning them up for draft two was so overwhelming that I just didn’t even bother to try. Now, I have a plan in place when I start a new novel and I’m going to share it with you today. Step One: Jot Down …

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Before I start writing a new book, I fill out a character profile for my hero and my heroine. If you Google “character profile template”, you’ll get a lot of results and so, over the years, I refined and honed what to include in my template and now I have the perfect one for me. Obviously, every writer is different and wants and needs different things from their character profiles, but here’s what mine looks like if you’re curious. In the past, I would just type my character profiles out in long paragraphs, almost like a biography. But the way I’ve set it up above, I can quickly skim to any section I need while I’m writing to look something …

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I know there are some writers who struggle to come up with plot ideas for their books. They think of one, write it, and then agonize over what to work on next. I don’t have that problem. I’m always coming up with new ideas. In fact, I come up with so many that a few years ago, I realized I needed to organize my ideas. If you’re like me and overwhelmed with everything you want to write, here’s how I get everything in order. Start a New Excel Document I’ve been using Excel for years, but if you like another program, feel free to use it. I call mine my document Novel Ideas. Create The Categories Column number one is …

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When you’re a writer, it’s important to surround yourself with all the tools you need in order to be productive. Here are some of my favorites. Laptop My number one, most important tool for being productive is no surprise at all. My laptop, where I do all of my writing. Some people use notebooks or lined paper to write, which is something I cannot imagine doing because my brain moves too fast for my hand and I just end up scribbling gibberish I can’t decipher. I make sure to use security software to keep my computer healthy and backup software so I don’t lose anything in case my laptop suddenly dies. Idea notebook I close my laptop down at the …

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As I already mentioned in my last post, I won’t be publishing the fifth book I’d planned to release this fall. I’m still really sad about it, and when I made the hard decision not to move forward with publication, I lost all the goals I was working toward. So, what happens now? I plan to publish my next book in 2026, but I haven’t decided what book yet. I might even release another series, because I do have several in the pipeline that are close to being ready for developmental edits. But as with most things in life, my plans aren’t set in stone yet. I don’t even want to promise I will publish in 2026, because who knows …

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As I mentioned in a previous post at the beginning of the year, I was planning to publish my fifth book in the fall. September, to be more specific. On my birthday, in fact. I thought that would be a nice present to myself. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen. I won’t be publishing a book this year, which makes me sad. But plans change and when they do, you just have to go with the flow. So, what happened? Here’s the short version: I had a book I wanted to publish. I gave it to a critique partner and hired a developmental editor to go over it. I really liked this book. I liked the hero and the heroine, …

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