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Continue reading →: Butter Cows, Playlists, and the Space Between Stories
Finishing a book is a little like skipping stones. There’s that pause between the splash and the next throw—brief, but necessary. I’ve just sent Oracle off to the proofreaders, and now I have to clear my head of its characters, reluctantly sweep through my notes, and decide what belongs to…
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Continue reading →: The Cat, the Box, and the Writer I Almost Wasn’t
Before the Characters Were Unlocked Before I retired from my job and claimed control over my daily writing routine.Before I believed I could write my own books and send them into the world.Before there was Lily P. Archer. There were blocks. Big ones. These days, in the firehose of creativity…
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Continue reading →: Secrets, Characters, and Why I Never Get Writer’s Block
As a child, you assume everyone is like you. Then you grow up and realize—no, they’re not. You start keeping secrets. You hide the parts that make you different. Later, you realize everyone else is hiding too. They’ve got their own secrets. And eventually, you figure out the truth: people…
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Continue reading →: When Hitmen Do Housework.
Why Mafia Romance? (Yes, Sisters, This One’s for You) I have two sisters, and when they started reading my books, they were shocked. Truly scandalized. Not so much at the spice level of some of my scenes (though yes—The Beaumonts, I see you). What really made their eyebrows shoot up?…
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Continue reading →: From Seed to Story: How Inspiration Grows
It starts with a seed. Farmers know you don’t eat the fruit the moment you plant the seed. You wait. You let the sun warm the soil, coax the shell to crack, watch the tender frond push through the earth. Then the leaves reach for the world. You water. Fertilize.…
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Continue reading →: From Background Noise to Center Stage–When the Side Character Steals the Story
One of my favorite things to do in a series is slip in a side character—sometimes as a villain or villainess, sometimes just a forgettable do-gooder—and then let them fade into the background. For a while. Because the real fun isn’t the entrance. It’s the return. I love bringing them…
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Continue reading →: Learning by Doing: Why Writers Need to Get Their Hands Dirty
Before my smartphone became an extra limb, I carried a small digital camera everywhere. It was always strapped around my wrist—ready to go, snap, click, preserve. My family would roll their eyes when they saw me coming, but when it came time to look back, to find the proof of…
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Continue reading →: She Said Yes… Until He Said This
When alpha males just get it wrong. Getting inside the male brain is always an adventure. You can observe, listen, even read volumes written by men themselves—and still, it’s a mystery. Their ideas of what it means to be a man, a protector, a lover, a partner, a father… It’s…
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Continue reading →: Collecting Details, Building Worlds
I didn’t realize this at first, but not everyone walks through the world collecting details. The tilt of a woman’s hand as she grips her partner’s. The way he doesn’t look at her at all. The golden wash of evening light across a crumbling facade. A busker’s song echoing off…
Hello,
I’m Lily
Welcome to Lily’s World. I’m an independent writer and visual artist.
Let’s connect
lily.archer.writer@gmail.com
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