10 Ways For Professional Writers to Hone Their Craft
For casual scribes, stringing words together can be a bit of a lark. Professional communicators, though, must adhere to higher standards. Embrace these practices for ongoing [Read More]
Writing Advice
How to Start a Story: 10 Ways to Get Your Story Off to a Great Start
Perhaps you’ve heard the old publishing proverb: The first page sells the book; the last page sells the next book. I’m convinced there’s a mammoth [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]
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]
32 Ways To Write About Fear
One of our most popular posts on Writers Write is 37 Ways To Write About Anger. We thought we would look at interesting ways to write [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]
How To Improve Writing Skills (15 Ways To Hone Your Skills As A Writer)
You already know that having writing skills has the power to change your life and the lives of those who read your work. So, it [Read More]
The Most Common Mistake Writers Make When First Submitting to Publishers
There is one mistake that most authors make when submitting their work to literary journals and magazines for the first time. It is a mistake [Read More]
Fiction University: A Faster Way to Write a First Draft
Writers are always looking for a way to write faster, and sometimes, writing more means starting out with less. For this year’s NaNoWriMo, I tried [Read More]
30 Things I’ve Learned About the Writing Life
On Thanksgiving, I celebrated 30 years since the sale of my first book. It’s a crazy milestone and made me consider this writing and publishing [Read More]
It’s That Time Again
As the end of the year looms large, we writers should be thinking about strategic planning. I know—it sounds like work. Boring work. But, honestly, [Read More]
Stupid Writing Rules: Why One Size Fits All Advice Doesn’t Work
Ruth Harris and I have both written about how there are no rigid rules for writing good fiction, only guidelines. Even guidelines don’t apply to [Read More]
How to Plan, Write, and Develop a Book: Writing about People You Know: Do You Need to Get Permission?
A reader from Connecticut is finishing up her new novel this month, getting ready to send it out to agents. She sent me a good [Read More]
The Bikini Wax Theory of Writing
Some people talk about writing like they are chasing butterflies along the pretty garden paths of their manuscripts. Like their words frolick with Disney characters. [Read More]
How to Nail the First Three Pages
Let’s face it, talking about writing the first pages of a novel is stressful. It can strike terror into the heart of even the most [Read More]
How to Never Be a Writing “Failure”
Dealing with rejection doesn’t have to be a discouraging experience. Here, P.S. Hoffman offers five ways to fail smarter and set yourself up for success, [Read More]
This is a Truly Bizarre Way to Write a Novel
I’m a tinkerer by temperament. My most frequent nerdy joke with my writing students is that if you sat me down at a computer every [Read More]
Planning To Write Something Today? Tips for Setting Writing Goals that Work
Lynn Dickinson shares tips to help writers honestly examine their writing routines to make the changes necessary to achieve their writing goals. As an assignment, [Read More]
5 Killer Strategies for Having a Thriving Freelance Writing Career
There are millions of wanna-be writers out there who dream of the work-at-home lifestyle, raking in the dollar bills, enjoying mid-day yoga classes, and sipping [Read More]
How To Start Writing: Tips From A First-Time Author
When I started the task of writing The Love Fool, I had no idea how to begin. Sure, I’ve written papers case studies and such while [Read More]