on Pop Culture

• • “The Assassination of Cordelia Chase.” How the writers of Angel ruined a perfectly good character by writing her into a coma, which was probably the only way she could get away from them. (2004)
  • “Dating Death.” The romance of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (2003)

on Romance Genre

• • “Emotionally Speaking: Romance Fiction in the Twenty-First Century.” Explanation of modern romance fiction. (2003)
  • “I Know What It Is When I Read It: Defining the Romance Genre.” Definition of romance genre. (2000)
  • “Let Us Now Praise Scribbling Women.” Romance fiction as an anti-toxin to patriarchal literature. (1998)
  • “You Go, Romance Writer: Changing Public Opinion” Dealing with the media. (1998)
  • “This Is Not Your Mother’s Cinderella: The Romance Novel as Feminist Fairy Tale.” Romance fiction as a revision of patriarchal fairy tales. (1998) ¶
  • “So, Bill, I Hear You Write Those Little Poems: A Plea for Category Romance.” Defence of category romance fiction. (1998)
  • “Romantic Comedy, the No-Calorie Godiva.” Power of romantic comedy for women. (1998)
  • “Glee and Sympathy” Defense of romance fiction.
  • “Defeating the Critics: What We Can Do About the Anti-Romance Bias.” Analysis of anti-romance bias. (1998)
  • “Romancing Reality: The Power of Romance Fiction to Reinforce and Re-Vision the Real.” Romance fiction is not unrealistic. (1997) ¶

on Writing Craft

• • “The Five Things I’ve Learned About Writing Romance from TV” Writing love stories. Examples from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Gilmore Girls, The West Wing, X-Files, Ed and Sports Night.
  • “Picture This: Collage as Prewriting and Inspiration.” Brainstorming with collage. (2003)
  • “Don’t Do This At Home: The Four Biggest Mistakes in Contest Entries.” Mistakes beginning writers make. (2001)

on Writing Life

• • “Green Is Not Your Color: Professional Jealousy and the Professional Writer.” Dealing with Jealousy. (2005)
  • “Taking Out the Garbage: How to Protect Your Work and Get Your Life.” (1998)
  • “I’d Give It a Nine, but It’s Hard To Dance To: Ritas, Reviews, and Other Nightmares.” Column on dealing with evaluation and criticism. (1998)

on Publishing

• “Stalking the Wild Editor: How to Get Published, Maybe.” Finding and submitting material to an editor. (2005)
• “Rats with Islands: How To Survive Your Publishing Career.” Coping strategy for a publishing career. (2005)
• “It’s All About You: The First Step in Finding An Agent.” Career planning. (2005)
• “The Impossible Dream: How To Find Your Perfect Agent.” Finding an agent. (2005)
• “Hello, I’m Your New PRO Columnist: Reflections on the Columns I’m Not Going To Be Writing.” Basic publishing questions. (2004)
• “A Writer Without A Publisher Is Like A Fish Without a Bicycle: Writer’s Liberation and You.” Setting achievable goals. (2002)