by Holland Rae | Dec 24, 2018 | Industry, My Books, Romance Novels, Series
It is almost impossible to believe, but 2018 is drawing to a close. It’s been an incredible year for me–new releases, a new move to Nashville and new stories, jobs, and friends! In between everything, I’ve also learned some important writing lessons I want to...
by Holland Rae | Dec 17, 2018 | Editing, Industry, Inspiration, Musings, My Books, Research, Romance Novels
This isn’t an easy one for me to write. Recently, one of my presses shut down – my third press to either change management or go bankrupt in just three years, and this very morning I got a pretty devastating rejection letter. I’m having one of those periods of being a...
by Holland Rae | Dec 11, 2018 | Editing, Industry, Musings, My Books, Research
We’ve all been there. The friend at the dinner party. The coworker’s husband. The naive neighbor. Oh, I’d write a book if I had the time. I’ve been working on a story too. I’ve got a great idea for a book. We could split the royalties. As a novelist, journalist and...
by Holland Rae | Dec 3, 2018 | Industry, Musings, My Books, Reading
National Novel Writing Month is over. It was a rough year, perhaps my roughest year, given that I’m now writing for work and for play and I just started a new teaching job, but I did manage to pull off the 50,000 words in thirty days and though the story isn’t quite...
by Holland Rae | Nov 26, 2018 | Audiobooks, Characters, Feminism, Industry, Musings, Reading, Reviews, Romance Novels, Women, Writing
What We Can Take Away From Books That Just Don’t Get it Right Last week, I quit a book. I’m terrible at quitting books. Mostly, even if the narrator grates up my spine or the main character sounds like something out of a PBS special, I’ll keep listening or...
by Holland Rae | Nov 6, 2018 | Art, Characters, Heroines, Musings, My Books, Research, Romance Novels
As a writer, I often run up against this romantic notion of the ‘muse’. Perhaps due to its prevalence in Ancient Greek cultures or because we, as artists, are desperate for a little beauty in a job that can be mind-bogglingly lonely and boring some days, the muse is...
by Holland Rae | Oct 29, 2018 | Characters, Feminism, Industry, Inspiration, Intersectional Feminism, Musings, Reading, Research, Reviews, Romance Novels, Series, Women, Women's Rights
Every genre has its pitfalls. Mysteries that give away the whodunit too early. Sci-fi that falls this side of derivative. Romance with two-dimensional Ken doll heroes. Writing genre fiction comes with all sorts of challenges, and it takes a certain set of skills and...
by Holland Rae | Oct 22, 2018 | Historical, Romance Novels
Oftentimes, character names come easily. Sometimes, the character name appears before the character itself is even fully fleshed out – might this person be a pirate, a lady, or a detective? They seem to know more about themselves than you know, and that makes it...
by Holland Rae | Oct 16, 2018 | Editing, Industry, Inspiration, Musings, My Books, Research, Series
This post was originally published November 7, 2016. Tips from a successful NaNo-er on how to keep sane, write well, and make your month count! First of all, congrats! Your interest in doing National Novel Writing Month shows an excitement for writing and storytelling...
by Holland Rae | Oct 10, 2018 | Characters, Guest Post, Heroines, Industry, Reading, Research, Romance Novels, Series, Tour, Writing
I got to sit down with my darling friend Savannah Kade to discuss writing, research, and her new book, Dark Secrets! Author Interview When did you realize or decide you wanted to be a writer? When I was a kid. I wrote an 80-page novella when I was 8. It sucked. Bad....
