Archive by Author

Slaying Doubt and Falling in Love

With Labor Day behind us, and the kids back at school, I like to drag summer out by thinking of my peak experience.  And of course, for the summer of 2014, it was the week I ran away and fell in love. The third week in July, eight talented, sassy, beautiful, creative women (and Jeff […]

The Single Most Important Element to a Writer’s Success…

bestselling author Marshall Chapman, winter sunbathing at Santa Rosa Beach In the past six months over a dozen of my writers have happily trotted off to top agents, stuffed their hats with pub credits, signed book deals, gotten phone calls from Hollywood folks, gained audiences of over 2  million and basically sky-rocketed to the moon. […]

The Truth about Writing Retreats

These days of steamy late July always send me back to my first ever (terrifying) writing retreat when I was 24 and searching for the muse. Five hot highway hours, a tiny dormroom, a stolen laptop (I’ll tell if you ask), 10 fantastic women. Though I’d never written anything but journal entries, I burned up […]

Are You Ready for an Agent? Here’s the Skinny…

You worked you’re ass off. You managed endless hours at the keyboard staving off doubt and hunger and martinis and sometimes sex. You spent thousands on a kick-ass development editor and/or an expensive MFA program and/or workshops and conferences. You dotted your i’s and read the draft so many times you memorized it. (more…)

A Sweet Spot Giveaway…

There’s my home! And somewhere in those gables and gothic pointed windows is my very own sweet spot! What’s yours? The most exciting thing is happening right now, and it has to do with one of my favorite longhaired, green-eyed fashionista writers and lifestylists: Desha Peacock. When Desha was hosting her award-winning television series, The […]