I’ve been thinking about this for a while, so I guess I’ll just get on with it.

One of my favorite things about the romance community is how generous authors are in sharing their experiences, advice and such. I can’t even begin to quantify the impact authors such as Karen Templeton, Patricia McLinn, and Deborah Hale have had on all facets of my writing. (Okay, there are many others, too. So many I’m not even going to try to list them all. But Karen, Pat, and Deb most profoundly.) And I’d like to make some effort to pass that on a bit.

Anyway, I have a pretty diverse group of visitors here, so what I’m going to do is this—every Friday I’ll post a writing-related question and maybe over the course of the weekend (when the blogosphere’s usually pretty quiet anyway) any authors who stop by while drinking their morning coffees or looking for something to do until the movie starts or whatever will weigh in.

I know what you’re thinking…you can’t swing a baby kitten without hitting writing advice on the ‘net. Well, I personally can’t handle discussions on yahoogroups, and I know forums can be intimidating. We’ve all seen it. A newbie author braves the forum, only to 1) be told she asked in the wrong place, 2) told they’ve already discussed that and maybe she should learn how to use the search function, 3) the answer uses a dog as an example and somebody got a new puppy and the conversation moves to housebreaking without ever answering the question. Plus sometimes a writer feels like she’s the only person on the planet who doesn’t know something and is too shy to put her name on the question.

SO…I’m going to give this a try and we’ll see how it goes. Here’s the deal:

1) Remember, every single published author knew nothing once. There’s no question too small.

2) The questions can be about any aspect of romance writing, I guess. Craft, industry, business, whatever.

3) If you have a question, email it to me, shannonstacey@gmail.com, with Weekend Question in the subject line. I’ll post the question on Friday and it will be totally anonymous. I will be the only person who knows who asked the question, and I ain’t telling. Hopefully some helpful answers/suggestions will pop up in the comments (which have that handy subscribe function.)

4) If you’re an author and you have an answer you’re not totally comfortable attaching your name to, you can email it to me and I’ll post it for you anonymously as coming from somebody I find credible (assuming I do.) One caveat: If what I post for you starts the legal hounds braying, I’ll play the “I do not recall” card as long as I can, but if comes down to me selling everything I own to hire a lawyer or throwing you under the bus…lay flat to the ground and protect your head.

I’d like to start this Friday, so somebody email me a question. :coffee: