“Why Choose to Write Historical Fiction?” A nice article on the writing of historical fiction online here.

Also, I recently participated in a webinar run by Jane Friedman and Allison Williams entitled, Getting Past the Gatekeepers: Learn to troubleshoot your novel’s first pages and query letter—and increase your chances of getting out of the slush pile. Very interesting and worth attending. I learned the opening of a story should SUCK—as in be Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, and Kick off the story.

Apparently, what I’m writing now—something in the present tense, in a claustrophobic setting, and omniscient POV—SUCKS. So, I’m off to a good start. Good to know. Now if I can just keep writing for another 65,000 words.