Keep Visiting this Page for the Most Recent News about our Celebrity and Topic Chats
- January – Craft and Marketing Month
- February – romance
- March – editing/revision
- April – children’s/young adult
- May – Memoir Month
- June – July – Book Cover Month
- August – Blogging Month
- September – Writerly Research Month
- October – still and forever horror/dark fiction
- November – NaNoWriMo topics The Muse vs the Shoulder Vulture
- December – Goals/Planning/Dreams are Goals with Deadlines (could be closed 1 or 2 days depending on Christmas and New Year days)
Keep scrolling and you’ll see the Calendar.
Horror
Prompts and Word Sprints Night
J.D. Horn
Bio: J.D. Horn, the highly praised and bestselling author of the Witching Savannah series, now debuts a new contemporary fantasy series, Witches of New Orleans. A world traveler and student of French and Russian literature, Horn also has an MBA in international business and formerly held a career as a financial analyst before turning his talent to crafting chilling stories and unforgettable characters. His novels have received global attention and have been translated in more than half a dozen languages. Originally from Tennessee, he currently splits his time between Central Oregon, San Francisco and Palm Springs with his spouse, Rich.
Writing Your Book’s Back-Cover Copy
So you’ve written your book, you’ve chosen your title and cover design, and you’re breathing a sigh of relief. Now you have to decide what goes on the back cover. New authors sometimes rush this decision, writing the first thing that comes to mind. After all, it’s the back of the book. How important can it be?
A lot more important than a person might think. The hundred-and-fifty words you’ll place on your back cover are arguably the most important words in your entire book.
I will share one of my own Blurbs on my first published book along with the Revision of the same Blurb for my Author’s Revised Edition of the same title.
10 Tips For Creating Your First Children’s Picture Book
A children’s picture book may seem simple, but creating a brilliant one is no easy task. How do you make yours smart, engaging, and fun — rather than clichéd, saccharine, and didactic?
“A picture book is a marriage of words and pictures,” describes Santopolo. “The most successful illustrations are the ones that take a story to another level. They don’t just illustrate the words. They add something else to them.”
6 Keys to Write a YA Novel That Connects With Teen Readers
A Mini Topic Chat

Tamara Thorne’s first novel was published in 1991, and since then she has written many more, including international bestsellers Haunted, Bad Things, Moonfall, Eternity and The Sorority. A lifelong lover of ghost stories, she is currently working on several collaborations with Alistair Cross as well as an upcoming solo novel. Learn more about her at: http://tamarathorne.com
Alistair Cross grew up on horror novels and scary movies, and by the age of eight, began writing his own stories. First published in 2012, he has since co-authored The Cliffhouse Haunting and Mother with Tamara Thorne and is working on several other projects. His debut solo novel, The Crimson Corset, was an immediate bestseller. Find out more about him at: http://alistaircross.com
Together, Thorne & Cross also host the popular radio show, Thorne & Cross: Haunted Nights LIVE!, which has included such guests as Anne Rice of The Vampire Chronicles; Laurell K. Hamilton of the Anita Blake Vampire Hunter novels; world-wide bestseller, V.C. Andrews (Andrew Neiderman); Charlaine Harris of the Southern Vampire Mysteries and basis of the HBO series, True Blood; Jeff Lindsay, author of the Dexter novels that inspired the hit television series; #1 New York Times bestseller, Kim Harrison; Peter Atkins, screenwriter of Hellraiser: 2, 3, and 4; Mick Garris, film director of Hocus Pocus, Psycho IV: The Beginning, and Stephen King’s The Stand; and New York Times bestsellers Preston & Child, Christopher Rice, Jonathan Maberry, and Christopher Moore.
Mini Guide: How to Get Legitimate Amazon Reviews for Your Books
Most of us have been there. Acquiring reviews is the bane of the fledgling indie author’s existence. I struggled with it for years; hell, I only cracked the code in 2016, after heading down the review rabbit hole hard.
Mini Guide: How to Get Legitimate Amazon Reviews for Your Books