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Benefits of Writing With Constraints
What we don’t always realize is how much constraints can help us improve our writing. I cut my novel-writing teeth in Iowa University’s MOOC classes where constraints were a given. I learned to write in 400 words with a specific constraint for most assignments. The 400-word limit required me to weigh the value of each and every word. The thematic constraints challenged my creativity in the best way possible.
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Seven Ways To Keep Your Buzz and Write Drunk
During Nanowrimo each year I see dozens of people falling into the editing trap when they should be writing. I get it: I’ve been trapped by those some concerns too. But nothing kills the possibility of finishing your work faster than accidentally falling into editing mode.
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Ten Reasons Why Reciprocal Reviews Are Unethical
I believe that reciprocal reviews have the potential of being unethical simply because any quid pro quo arrangement could be intentionally tainted, possibly inaccurate and maybe even dishonest.
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Top 10 Ten Ways To Be There For Your Readers By Way Of ’90s Television
A writer who has raving fans will have an army or coalition of people who will always buy what they publish, they will always leave good reviews, they may also comment on the Facebook page or communicate with you on other social media. But the most important thing they will do is passionately tell other people about you.
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Take 5 Friday: Five steps for building fences (or stories)
For my own amusement, I asked my brother-in-law, who is a handyman and a contractor, to help me compare writing to building a fence. I find it useful to explore how other professionals go about their work to see if using their framework might give me some insight into my own processes. Or, if drawing parallels between their work and mine can help me reframe how I think about challenging parts of my projects. Even though both writing and fence-building can be quite complicated, I think we settled on 5 steps that could get you started for either project. Note: I am paraphrasing Dan’s words here but any mistakes are…
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The Nine Things Your Characters Need From You
With the development of character, it's like I'm meeting a new friend who trusts me enough to send me on an adventure. I need my character badly for, without him or her, I don't have a voice for my story. But my character needs me too. I have the necessities to make them come alive.
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Eleven Signs It’s Time To Share Your Work
When we start writing, we're hesitant and flighty, nervous and fretful. We crave affirmation that we're on the right track, but we stop so often to share our work, we make little progress. Then it doesn't help that there are so many books/websites/blogs to read about how to be a great writer that it just makes us more insecure in who we are.
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Ten Local Resources That Could Help You Sell Books
Selling books is hard. But assuming that your book is an excellent one, it's free of grammatical and artistic errors, it has a nice, professional cover and you've done all you can do to make it a great book then you can sell it.
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Take 5 Friday: Five Questions for Author Glenda Thompson
On the last Friday of each month, I like to share an interview with an author so we can get a glimpse into their writing approach and practice. This month, I’m thrilled to share Glenda Thompson’s wise words about writing. You can find her answers below and you can find out more about her and her work on twitter at PressRattler , on Facebook at Author Glenda Thompson, or, soon, on her website. Glenda’s novel Broken Toys will be released later this year. 1. What aspects of writing are easiest for you? Good question. I think character motivations are the easiest for me. My favorite word in the entire world is…
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Ten Reasons To Count Your Daily Words
I’ve also found that having a daily word count goal is also immensely helpful in keeping me on track. I like to watch my weekly, monthly, and yearly totals build up. And to be honest, I have more time on my hands now that the kids are older.
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7 Ways to Spice Up Your Description
By Firn Hyde There’s nothing more breathtaking than a well-written piece of description, and few things more difficult to write well. Many new writers find themselves getting bogged down in paragraphs of description and still feel like they’re not getting the image in their heads onto the page. Here are seven ways to turn your description from boring to brilliant. 1. Engage the senses Sensory language is one of the most powerful weapons in your descriptive writing arsenal. Many of us make the mistake of writing only about what we see, but to bring your reader into the moment, use the other senses too. Smell is a particularly useful sense,…
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How To Leave A Kind Review
Authors should be a shining example of leaving stellar reviews, be our opinions positive or negative. We know firsthand how much work writing, revising, editing, promoting, publishing, and marketing can be. Whatever our opinion, it can—and should—be handled with grace. Here are a few basic guidelines to ensure this happens.
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Five More Reasons You May Hate Marketing And What You Can Do About It
If we are to have readers, we have to go find them, convince them that our stories are worth spending money on and do it in a somewhat civilized way.
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Take 5 Friday: Five Steps To Make August a Great Writing Month
August can be a strange month. Either your kids are heading back to school or you are making plans for them to head back (and this year, that might all be up in the air.) Or maybe you are finally getting some vacation time. Perhaps you are trying to balance a busy work day and summer fun in the evenings and on the weekends. No matter what your August looks like, with some planning, you can help make it into a great month for your writing. Here are 5 steps to help guide your writing plans. Identify how much time you’ll have to write. A lot of the time, we…