New Writing Course
Coming Soon
Chapter breaks are an often overlooked aspect that can absolutely transform a manuscript draft into a polished novel ready for publication.
Also Forthcoming
Chapter breaks are not just convenient stopping points. Not just a place to take a breath. Once you understand how readers process narrative flow and manage cognitive load, you realize chapter breaks are actually powerful tools for controlling pacing, building tension, and guiding attention.
Sloan Wilder Romance
There’s nothin’ better than reading a good love story…except for maybe writing one! I’m in the midst of drafting a new rom-com and launching my first-ever pen name: Sloan Wilder.
My mom was actually the first to suggest Sloan when I said I wanted to do a pen name (I mean, she named me, so why shouldn’t she come up with my first pen name, too?), and because my rom-com has a Hollywood setting and angle, I immediately thought of Wilder as a nod to Billy. I also love the way it sounds like Joan Wilder, the fictional author in Romancing the Stone.
Fun fact: as a child of the ‘80s, I was once at a friend’s house watching Romancing the Stone (on VHS!) when my friend burst out laughing at the opening scene—the one in which Joan Wilder is seen crying as she types up the final pages of her latest book. “That’ll be you!” my friend shouted
I’m definitely looking forward to shedding a few tears (including some tears of laughter) as I draft the first Sloan Wilder release. You can be sure to be notified of all the latest in Sloan Wilder by subscribing to her newsletter:
I’ve been a writer as long as I can remember. But after I started working in an official capacity as an editor, one thing started to really bother me pretty quickly: I could identify areas in manuscripts that could benefit from some revision. I could offer ideas. I could relate rules. I knew what worked and what didn’t…
but I could not explain why.
I couldn’t just let that one go. I mean, as a writer, you’re mostly interested in learning the rules and figuring out how to apply them to your book. That was fine when I was working as a writer. But if I was going to impart rules on someone else, I had to know why. I just did. I couldn’t stomach some sort of just ‘cause response.
So I began to dig into the reasons behind every this just plain works, and as these things always go, I found myself going deeper and deeper down a rabbit hole…
One regarding the psychology of reading.
That might sound like I went off on an interesting but largely irrelevant tangent.
It was anything but.
Mistletoe on Main Street
Each year, I release a new story set in Ruby’s Place, a magical supper club. Word has it that on Christmas Eve, the spirits inside Ruby’s Place are far more than the liquor bottles behind the bar. Those who go to Ruby’s Place on Christmas Eve get a chance to reconnect one last time with long-lost loves. They get a chance to tell that person everything they didn’t get a chance to say when that loved one was still alive. Maybe I’m sorry or I love you.
I’m in the midst of writing Mistletoe on Main Street now. To introduce you to a bit of backstory about Ruby’s Place (and to put you in the right frame of mind for this year’s story), you can get Ruby’s Story, the first of the Ruby’s Regulars series, for free:
Additional Resources for Writers
I’m at work putting together a writing craft book on narrative transportation, touching a bit on the psychology of storytelling and how writers can use some basic principles to ensure their readers are whisked away and deeply immersed in their novel.
There’s more to the story.
I’m a storyteller. Always have been, ever since I was a little girl. I’d sit at my child-sized rolltop desk, writing stories and adding crayon illustrations. Or I’d tell them out loud, off the top of my head, into a tape recorder. I’d even make my brother play out some of the parts, giving him dialogue to repeat!
Since the crayon and cassette tape days, I’ve gone on to publish with the Big 5 and smaller houses, as well as independently through my own imprint. I’ve received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly, won silver and gold medals in Foreword INDIES Book of the Year and the IPPY Awards, respectively, been featured on Booklist’s Best First Novels for Youth and School Library Journal’s What’s Hot in YA, and chosen as a PW Pick of the Week. I’ve also made the Master Lists for several children’s book awards, including the Missouri Mark Twain Award.
But after all that writing and publishing, that artist in me—the one who used to illustrate all my stories—was feeling pretty ignored. As was the oral storyteller. Not to mention the teacher who once stood in front of collegiate writing courses.
That’s all going to be making its way here to the site: pages dedicated to my illustrative and commercial artwork. To courses for writers. To audio works.
It’s all a story in progress…
It’s My Story & I’m Stickin’ With It
The writing life isn’t easy, but it in no way has to be as hard as we often make it. I’m the first to agree that there are no hard and fast rules in writing. But too often, that leads writers to think they can find no rules for themselves. Which, in turn, only leads to grappling around in the dark every single time the writer sits down to draft the next novel.
I’ve spent more than twenty years as a full-time author (a published novelist since ‘10), and I’ve learned that the messy, elusive process of writing a book can absolutely be streamlined. As writers, we can also equip ourselves with a step-by-step guide for revision, so that we never have to dread the editorial letter.
My Substack (It’s My Story & I’m Stickin’ With It) offers tips, tricks, and insights into various approaches to writing—and by writing, I mean drafting, outlining, brainstorming, revising, etc.—that work for me and (now that I’ve opened my door as an editor) my own clients. Those approaches will help other authors find their own paths as well.
When a writer stops fighting the process, it opens them up to experience more creative play.
And there’s no better feeling than that—than creative play. If you’re struggling to find it again, “creative play” can sound like the loftiest of goals. But we’re writers—we specialize in lofty goals.
Let’s play.
InkBerry Greeting Cards
When I decided to get back into my art, the first products I offered were greeting cards. I started with cards because they're almost like mini-books, in a way—books that I give a cover to, and you write the content of yourself. It’s been so incredibly lovely to be a small part of so many special occasions, friendships, and love stories.
Digital invitations and personalized physical cards coming soon.
I Offer Direct Sales
Interested in buying my books directly from me, but aren’t quite sure how it works?
Stories for All Ages
I’ve written for readers of all ages. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed releasing works for young readers—visiting them in classrooms and meeting them in virtual discussion groups. My MG novel The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky, a Finalist or Master List nominee for readers’ choice awards in Missouri, Illinois, South Carolina, Alabama, and Oklahoma, got an updated re-release in ‘23 and is available in ebook, hardback, and paperback forms.
My story “Spooklight” represented Missouri in the Haunted States of America, a spooky anthology for young readers, published in conjunction with SCBWI and Henry Holt.
