J.A. Marlow

Okay, back to the business. I need product to sell. From previous posts (and a lot of thinking) I know it needs the following qualities: * New project * Project must be ready for release somewhere between January to March 2011 * Novella length (17,500 to 40,000 words) We talked before about an Idea File. [...]

There are some ideas that come out fully formed, like Athena from Zeus’ head. These ideas are ready to be turned into writing projects immediately. Others need to stew for years. Most are somewhere in-between. Ideas are great, but only useful if they are readily available when you need them. That means time and effort [...]

“July Novel Writing Month” is over as of midnight last Saturday night. While the result is the lowest word count of any July or November writing month so far, it was far from a failure. I went into it with 3 outlines. Saturday night, well before the deadline, I finished the first draft of the [...]

Yes, I’m still alive and kicking. In fact, I’m writing like crazy! I’m participating in July Novel Writing Month, and I’ve already finished one novella and started on the second. More details about the novellas as the E-Book Experiment series continues. As for word count, out of the 50k to win the month, I’m already [...]

Where do ideas come from? Simple answer: They come from everywhere. And that simple answer drives new writers nuts. They look all over the place and don’t see any ideas! What is the crazy person talking about? I understand the frustration. I was there once. What I have learned is that, yes, the ideas are [...]

Revision on the current book is almost finished. Does that mean it’s time to rest and take a vacation? Not for a writer! I’m addicted to writing. I admit it. Life doesn’t feel complete without plotting, planning, writing and revising all the stories coming out of my head. Even if no one ever read them, [...]

Into the Forest Shadows On a world of valuable giant trees and intelligent animals, a red-cloaked headstrong teen struggles to save her family from a planetary conspiracy awaiting her at Grandmother’s house. The above 2009 NaNoWriMo book was the novel I used to go through Holly Lisle’s “How to Revise Your Novel” class. The class [...]

Many years ago I had an inspiration for a funny, family, science fiction adventure. As I had for years dreamed of doing a comic of my own, it turned into a web comic. The entire story was plotted out, the first few chapters written. Started up the webpage and started publishing it as a webcomic. [...]