Getting Unstuck and Avoiding Writer’s Block
You know that feeling—like you were coasting along on a greased golden road through your first draft (or second…or twelfth), and suddenly you come to [Read More]
Blog
Experimental Fiction: What Is It And Who’s Publishing It
Experimental fiction is a hot topic in contemporary literary magazines. This new concept has a modern, cutting-edge sensibility that puts the genre at the center [Read More]
The Science of Story Ideas: How to Awaken Your Brain’s Creative Superpowers
The brain is not only designed to think, it loves to think—and there are specific ways you can summon and maximize your brain’s ingenuity to [Read More]
Grammar Vs. Punctuation: What’s the Difference?
Grammar refers to the way we put words together in sentences and paragraphs to form meaning. It’s the fundamental structure of language, describing what words [Read More]
15 Tips to Make an Editor Fall in Love with Your Query Letter
Is your query letter good enough to make an editor fall in love with you? Admit it or not, you’re probably at least a little [Read More]
21 Tips for Creating a Successful Writing Collaboration
When a writing collaboration works, partners inspire and complement one other. The creative process is less lonely. But when collaborations fail, the drama may be [Read More]
How to Write a Romance Novel That’ll Make Readers Swoon
Luckily, though love itself may be hard to explain, the process of writing about it isn’t. Here are our seven best tips for writing romance, [Read More]
Why Querying Writers Shouldn’t Write Sequels
Querying writers have quite a few hurdles to jump through to secure literary representation. For those of you who don’t know what a query is [Read More]
Audiobooks: A Bad Investment For Independent Authors
Audiobooks are the new darlings of the publishing industry. In fact, audiobooks are currently the fastest-growing segment of the digital publishing world, accounting for more than [Read More]
15 Author Websites (Best author website examples for 2019)
If you’re an author — or on your way to becoming one — you’ve probably heard a lot about author websites and the importance of [Read More]
Do You Have a Story Concept, or Just a Cool Idea?
I do a lot of brainstorming with writing clients. (At the risk of sounding immodest, I am a champion brainstormer. If there were an Olympic [Read More]
8 Great Podcasts for Writers and Book Authors
There is a lot of writing advice out there. Perhaps you’ve signed up to read lots of blogs by email, you’ve bought some great writing-related books, [Read More]
What Is Writer’s Block and How to Overcome It with These 8 Strategies
Writer’s Block, sometimes referred to as Creative Block, is a condition in which a writer loses the ability to create new work. He feels stuck [Read More]
Truths about Publishing You Can Only Learn in the Trenches
Though professional behavior should go without saying in your field of work–in this case, publishing–you’d be surprised just how damned infrequent it is. It’s important [Read More]
Guest Blogging Query 12 Tips For Landing the Best Guest Blog Spots
Most author marketing gurus will tell you that guest blogging is one of the best ways to promote your book. Beth Hayden wrote on Jane [Read More]
The Hack’s Guide to Killing Your Darlings
Every critique session since the 1930s has included someone saying the phrase, “Kill Your Darlings,” and it must continue ever after, like those chain letters [Read More]
12 Writing Websites For 2019
Writing websites aren’t a new thing, but there are so many out there on the world wide web, and it can be hard to know [Read More]
30 Rhetorical Devices
Rhetorical devices are as useful in writing as they are in life. Also known as persuasive devices, stylistic devices, or simply rhetoric, rhetorical devices are techniques [Read More]
How to Beat All-or-Nothing Thinking and Get More Writing Done
It’s a new year! New goals! New motivation! Last month I participated in a 500 word a day writing challenge on Spar. If I missed, [Read More]
How to Become a Freelance Writer: The Ultimate Answer Sheet
Each January, my email inbox fills up with questions about how to get started in freelance writing. Rather than try to answer them one at [Read More]
How to End Writing Interruptions
Whenever something interrupts you from your writing, your concentration is broken and you lose time as your mind tries to recover that productive state you [Read More]