How do you sum up a weekend adventure that had approximately 865,342 high points? I'm not sure I can, but I'll at least attempt to highlight a few moments that made my time at the #UCIJretreat2021 amazing and memorable and oh-so-worth-it. (That's Unforgettable Characters & Incredible Journeys, in case you were wondering.) A few months [...]
Sometimes the writing journey is nothing more than a measure of how much you believe in you. Friends, I believe in you. Keep going.
We almost bought a brand new house today. Drove an hour and a half northeast and spent all day touring a beautiful, half-built, small mansion in a spacious 1-acre wooded lot in the Poconos. Then we deliberated long hours on whether it was right, where we'd put the garden, the pool, the chicken coop, and [...]
Publishing is brutal. It's the first thing you learn as a new writer, and it's a lesson reiterated at every step along the way. From drafting to critiquing to querying to subbing. Brutal. All of it. Previously, my record on receiving a rejection for a query was thirty minutes from the time sent. Thirty minutes. [...]
We don't talk enough about how difficult writing really is. I mean, as writers, we talk a lot about how much we love writing. Characters - yay! Plot - so good! Setting - build those worlds, Queen! Tropes - all the tropes! "I can't wait until you can all see what I see in my [...]
In a recent post, I wrote about critiquing others' works and getting feedback on my own work. In the last few days, I've been talking online with fellow querying writers, writers whose works I critiqued years ago, writers in my critique group, and writers whose work I continue to critique. And all of this has [...]
Not going to lie. The banning of a certain someone from social media this week has me letting out a breath I didn't know was holding. (I'm a YA author. You knew I had to use that phrase eventually, right?) There is still so much work to be done to right our listless ship of [...]
I head one of the local SCBWI critique groups in my county for Young Adult and Middle Grade authors and, friends, I must confess I feel a little guilty. Sometimes, this group seems like the L. Ryan Storms writing self-improvement hour. I get SO. MUCH. from my dear friends and our talks about what elements [...]
I shoot some stats just about every year, mostly to prove to myself that, yes, I *am* actually moving forward in this thing called a writing career. Given the craziness of 2020 all around, *I* wouldn't even blame me if I'd chosen to fall off the face of the earth, or hide under a blanket [...]
Every writer knows one of the very best feelings in the world is the moment a shiny, new idea takes shape in your head, and you can't shake it. And when that shiny, new idea involves collaborating with your 14-year-old kiddo, it's even better. A few months ago, my very artistic and talented daughter had [...]
L. Ryan Storms 