POE CASAVANT

This is my final post before my debut novel, Wolf Smoke, is released. Reflecting back on the long journey from first draft to a published book, I think it’s only fitting to acknowledge all the people who helped push me this far. Their assistance is all the more remarkable considering that until recently, almost all were just strangers on the internet. I’m lucky to now call many of them friends. Setting out to write Wolf Smoke was a lonely experience. My husband openly thought

A Dose of Motivation for Those Writing a Novel in 2019 We’re officially in Week Two of the new year, that moment when our resolutions start to lose their luster. Our eyes-on-the-prize tunnel vision is obscured by reality, as we realize that our lofty goals are far more difficult than we first imagined. Losing twenty pounds, running a marathon, writing the Great American Novel…who knew they were all so hard? The practice of setting New Year’s resolutions dates back thousands o

Writing is often a solitary pursuit. It involves months, sometimes years, of research, planning, and plotting. Hunched over our keyboards like women and men possessed, we tap out entire worlds, oblivious to the one around us. We edit, query, and pitch; a process that can take a few additional years. I embarked on this writing journey several years ago, finally putting the stories bouncing around my head to paper. After six months, a draft of my very first manuscript was compl