Maria's Journal

My thoughts in a tumultuous time.. It is said that writers should write what they know, or what they can imagine. In my case, I’ve always enjoyed reading and writing romantic stories, so I’ve been doing just that, writing love stories for ten years now. Some stories were published and flunked, some were published and received praise, some even received awards. And all along the way, I relied on the support and encouragement of other writers in my writing community. But, now that this renowned organization – that was there to support and encourage romance writers – has fallen apart, I begin to question…well, a lot of things. Not all hope is lost, though. Most of us have fostered relationships with fellow writers and many of us have our own smaller writing communities, our inner circle: critique partners, beta readers, agents, other writer friends. We need to trust that these relationships will help us though this very tough time in romance writing history. Hold your writer fr...

Making New Year's resolutions is an age-old tradition.  In a recent study, researchers found that about 60 percent of us make New Year's resolutions but only about 8 percent are successful in achieving them. Are you curious to see how your resolutions stack up? Read on. Below is a list of the top 10 New Year's resolutions (according to a survey of 2,000 people) 1. Diet or eat healthier 2. Exercise more 3. Lose weight 4. Save more and spend less 5. Learn a new skill or hobby 6. Quit smoking 7. Read more 8. Find another job 9. Drink less alcohol 10. Spend more time with family and friends Do you have any of these resolutions on your list? Maria Source: www.inc.com