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By Peggy Arthur Greetings! I didn’t read my editorial letter in one sitting. I couldn’t. The letter was long, detailed, and deeply thoughtful. The kind of feedback that doesn’t just touch your sentences, but your story’s bones. And after starting it, I felt something I didn’t expect: I felt completely exhausted. Not just “tired,” but…
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By Peggy Arthur Greetings! There’s a strange tension that arrives during this phase of the writing life. Your book is finished but not finished. It’s out of your hands, but not really. Your editor is deep inside the work, pulling at structure, pacing, intention. And you’re left with time. Space. Quiet. This is the week…
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By Peggy Arthur Greetings! There’s a version of every story that never makes it into the book. It lives in deleted scenes, abandoned subplots, and characters who once felt essential yet quietly stepped aside so the story could breathe. This week, I want to talk about that version of The Pretender’s Game. The Scenes I Let Go Of…
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By Peggy Arthur Greetings! When writers talk about editing, it’s often reduced to a single, intimidating word, editing, as if it’s one sweeping process where your book is either “fixed” or “broken.” The reality is far more layered, intentional, and, when done well, deeply collaborative. Right now, The Pretender’s Game is undergoing both developmental editing…
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By Peggy Arthur Greetings! There are moments in the creative process that feel less like milestones and more like thresholds. This is one of them. I’m thrilled to share that The Pretender’s Game: Book One is officially complete! What follows is the process, step by step, from completion to what comes next. Step One: Finishing the Manuscript…
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By Peggy Arthur Greetings! No one told me that finishing a first novel might require disappearing. Not in a dramatic, romantic way. No cabin in the woods. No vow of silence. Just a series of small, deliberate choices. Staying in when I could have gone out, declining invitations, turning down the noise during a season…
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By Peggy Arthur Greetings! Let’s reframe the way we view brooms. For too long, the broom has been dismissed as a mundane domestic object, reduced to cleaning floors and women’s labor. But when we pause, close our eyes, and listen inward, we make room for intuition to take root. That intuition awakens spirit. Through this…
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By Peggy Arthur Greetings! When I began exploring Negro spirituals for my novel, The Pretender’s Game, one song pulled me deeper than the rest: “Wade in the water, wade in the water, children. Wade in the water—God’s gonna trouble the water.” There’s something about those words that feels like a warning and an invitation all…
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The Story Behind Introducing My Second Protagonist By Peggy Arthur Greetings! When I first started writing The Pretender’s Game, I tried giving every chapter a different character perspective. It seemed ambitious and artistic, until it completely stumped me. Instead of one novel, I suddenly had multiple stories pulling me in different directions. Too many voices, too…
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Peggy Arthur 