Come visit me at http://wordvessel.blogspot.com.

I recently had the honor of being named as a finalist in the ACFW Genesis contest, and had two days in which to make changes to my entry to resumbit for the finals.

That was a tense two days, as I agonized over every word, every sentence and every paragraph (and for that matter--every comma). My entry consisted of a one-page, single-spaced synopsis and the first fifteen pages of my manuscript.

The whole process underscored for me the importance of the first few pages of any novel. Here is the… Continue

As writers we need strong motivations for our character's actions. Guilt and shame are two complex emotions that can be used as character motivation. Join the discussion at http://wordvessel.blogspot.com.

Is curiosity an emotion, or is it a state of mind—part of the intellect? Just curious...

Synonyms: inquisitiveness, interest, questioning (think about a child), prying, snoopiness, intrusiveness, nosiness, intrigue

Once again, I believe there are degrees of curiosity, but this time from the synonyms that have a positive slant to those that are more negative: desire to learn, inquisitiveness, intrigue, interest, questioning, intrusiveness, snoopiness, nosiness, prying

Quote: "Curiosity is lyin… Continue

Ahh...contentment. There's nothing quite like it.

Let's dig into it with our brains and see if we can find fresh ways to convey it on the page.

Synonyms: satisfaction, gratification, happiness, pleasure, peace, ease, serenity, comfort

I happen to believe that there are ...

(Join the discussion on character emotion at http://wordvessel.blogspot.com.)

I'm taking part in a blog challenge during the month of April hosted by ProBlogger. It's called "31 Days To A Better Blog," and one of the challenges for this week is to have a list post.

Since I'm always looking to improve my writing skills, I decided that my list post is going to be my editing checklist.

The great thing about this checklist is I can use it for other things besides my own writing. I can use it when I read a book for review or when I critique other writers. Here's my list--hop… Continue