Yesterday it hit 118 degrees Fahrenheit in Phoenix, tying for the fifth hottest day on record here. (My phone said 119, other reports said it hit 120, and a friend’s outdoor thermometer said 121, but I’m going to stick with the conservative temperature.) We decided that the extreme heat made it the perfect time to […]
I gave a presentation on Writing Powerful Story Beats as part of a free, online writing conference hosted by LDS Beta Readers. You can now view a rerecording of the presentation: The presentation slides: Writing Powerful Story Beats in Fiction from Katherine Cowley Useful links: I wrote three blog posts on this subject, which […]
Writing a short story is like baking a perfect tray of brownies and then sharing it with both friends and strangers. Whereas writing a novel is like being pregnant for nine months, and then realizing you have to raise the kid too. Even if you only consider yourself a novelist, here are five reasons you […]
I’ve recently discovered the best writing tool since the laptop. As a woman balancing writing, mothering, and a myriad of other obligations, I’m always trying to find new ways to up my productivity. I have limited writing time every day, and I use all sorts of tricks to make the most of it, like turning […]
I have a new short story that has been published! It’s called “Misunderstood,” and you can read it at 365 Tomorrows. There is also a forum discussion of the story, for those who want to chime in. “Misunderstood” is the shortest story I’ve ever written. Including the title, it’s only 483 words long. Yet the […]