by Gina Ardito | Jan 3, 2016 | Advice Whether You Want it or Not, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Charming for Mother's Day, finding time to write, forums, piracy, Readers and Writers, Smashwords, thieves
Dear Readers, The following is copied from a forum I discovered through a Google Alert (links and actual names of pirate sites have been removed–emphasis, mine): I was planning to go for a small trip on my holiday. So I decided to read a couple of books on my...
by Gina Ardito | Oct 11, 2015 | Advice Whether You Want it or Not, People Behaving Badly, Supermarket
Last night, the Hubster and I spent the day running errands and at around 5 pm, decided to pick up a few things from our local grocery store for dinner. The lines at the cash registers weren’t crazy, just a bit busy, with about three customers waiting at each...
by Gina Ardito | Mar 14, 2015 | 50 Shades of Grey, Advice Whether You Want it or Not, copyright, Divergent, Hunger Games, Ideas, Plagiarism, Writers and Authors
Throughout time, all artists have been inspired by those who came before them. But when does the use of someone else’s idea blur the line between “inspiration” and “theft?”Note I’m not talking about plagiarism, which is a worse...
by Gina Ardito | Dec 31, 2014 | Advice Whether You Want it or Not, Holidays, Life Lessons, New Years, Resolutions
Personally, I don’t make resolutions. Thus, at the end of each year, I don’t reflect on what I failed to accomplish. I look back at the memories I’m carrying forward and the lessons I’ve learned along the way. I started 2014 in a rocky place,...
by Gina Ardito | Dec 29, 2014 | Advice Whether You Want it or Not, Bad Books, Conflict, Romance Writing
I’ve been catching up on my reading lately and I can’t tell you how many romance books I’ve picked up, read halfway through, then tossed aside because they had no hint of conflict. What do I mean by conflict? I’m talking about that deep-rooted...
by Gina Ardito | Jun 22, 2014 | Advice Whether You Want it or Not, Insults, Readers and Writers, romance, Romance Writing, Writers and Authors
This past week, I sat on a panel and the woman next to me asked a writer in the audience what she wrote. When the answer she received was, “Women’s fiction,” she remarked, “As long as it’s not trashy romance.”I immediately nudged...
