Putting the Horse Before the Cart By Colleen Houck   Anyone who has the determination to write a novel and is dedicated enough to actually accomplish that goal will have a natural desire to move their book into the next step of the writing process—publication.  Of the many roads that lead to Rome why would an author pick the most rugged, undeveloped, pot-hole filled path?  To put it simply, that often scoffed at byway is open to all comers brave enough to test its hazards. I’ve always loved books but I never felt the itch to put pen to paper …

If You Build It, He Will Come By Colleen Houck   For a new writer, finding an agent sometimes feels like you’ve been sent on a snipe hunt. Other writers insist they are out there, tout the glories of bagging one, and share their wild adventure stories about when they got theirs.  But are agents really out there? If so, how do you get one? I searched for an agent in the same way most people do—through trial and error querying. My queries improved over time. My book summaries got better.  I learned more about how to get published as …

Writing Advice by Colleen Houck When I started writing, I created character cards using 3 x 5 cards.  I scanned the internet for images of who I thought the character might look like, glued it to one side and wrote the full name of the character underneath.  On the back I listed a bio not only the birthday but what kind of traits they had, what were their favorite foods, favorite books, etc.  It helped a lot in my early writing. I write using images especially when I hit a block.  I look up creepy monsters or graveyards and describe …

The Glamorous Life of an Author By Colleen Houck Many people have the mistaken assumption that a writer’s life, while not quite up to Hollywood standards, is quite glamorous and full of business meetings in opulent high rises, private jets for worldwide tours, cashing huge checks, and sitting on a giant pile of fan mail as the letters you threw up in the air fall gently around you. While perhaps all of us indulge in the American dream of fame and fortune, there are easier ways to achieve it than by publishing a book.  Being an author is perhaps one …