This month My Ravens Eye is On Juliet Blackwell, at theravencroaks.blogspot.com

Writers tend to be solitary creatures. After all, no one is going to write our stories for us. So we huddle in the caves of our creativity, emerging for chocolate, coffee and whatever poison that helps us get through the sticky scenes, character revolts and plot puddles. This time spent alone can make us think only of ourselves all the time.

The truth is, we can do more together than we can alone. Writers united can be a powerful force in a world of publishing obstacle and challenges. There is… Continue

I have great friends, loyal supportive and very smart. Why else would they be friends with me? We’ve been through men, (thankfully not the same ones), divorces, childbirth, first loves and last kisses.

In all the years I’ve known them, twenty plus for some, I rarely mentioned my writing. If I did, it was only as an offhand remark and I usually mumbled about working on “something’.

Remarkably they formed the opinion from such minimal information that I could actually write and gave me every bit… Continue

Writers are masochinistic. It’s a fact. We have picked, hopefully through love and passion, a lonely job that means long hours banging our heads against keyboards and computers in order to finish a scene, get an idea, come up with an ending. We miss important events, parties, even bathroom breaks if necessary. We might work for years and never get the recognition we crave. Let alone get published. Still, if the love is there, you plug on ahead and hope fervently that this will all pay off.

Who… Continue

Blog date- October 14, 2008


Know thyself is an old but extremely accurate proverb. As a writer it’s critical to know the length and breadth of your talent and skill. Because the world is going to knock them every chance they get.

I learned, the hard way, to have a realistic evaluation of my own talent. It doesn’t mean I think I’m headed for the New York Times book review any time soon but I know my own worth. So when a horror ezine, remaining nameless of course, rejected me for a staff positi… Continue

Urban legends have a way of being created out of fear. Fear of the unknown, fear of the dark, or just plain fear. The trouble is, they tend to take on a life of their own and travel from myth to accepted fact without ever having the necessary substantiation.

Such is the case with my favorite urban legend. One that freezes any writer in their tracks, prevents all creativity and in the end, stalls them almost indefinitely.

Only write what you know. (underlined AND in bold!)

Those words, suppose… Continue