Congratulations! You’ve completed your best draft of your book. You’ve found, vetted and hired a qualified editor. You’ve sent them your masterpiece-in-the-making, and you were told that you’d see your edits in a month. Now what? The editorial waiting period can be —...
Just over two years ago, I was offered a contract to sign on with a small press for my debut novel. I was so shocked I felt that it must be too good to be true. The press was small, and it was quite new. I’d read enough horror stories of predatory “publishers” and...
Confession: Sometimes, I close a book just so I can open my laptop to watch Netflix. Yes, I’m a writer — and yes, I often prefer watching TV to reading books. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy reading. Is anyone arguing against writers reading books to provide us with...
If you are an avid reader, then there are authors in your life. Lots of them. You may not know them personally, but you know the genius of their words. As an author, my friends and family often ask how they can support me in my writing journey. I mean, everyone knows...
The end of the year may have come and gone, but I know a lot of us are still processing what we learned in 2017, planning what we want to achieve in 2018 and getting ready to pay our fourth quarter estimated taxes. (Due January 15!) With that in mind, let’s do our...
Editor’s note: Looking for our most updated list of best writing websites? Here’s our list for 2021. The world offers a lot of ways to become a writer. You can go to school for journalism or creative writing, get a Ph.D. and publish in journals, start a...
Imagine waking up to a sunny day in the mountains of Mexico. You sip coffee as you type a rough draft of a story, then head out to visit your favorite tamale lady. Later, when it starts to get hot, you return to your apartment and continue writing. If, six years ago,...
Are you a writer? Do you find there are times when you come to write and only get as far as a few pages in, read it back and don’t know how to carry on? Your words look bland on the page, you feel nothing for them. You sit in front of your computer screen for a...
There’s a scene in Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown where Betsy’s mother helps ten-year-old Betsy turn an old trunk into a writing desk. Naturally, I asked my mother to do the same thing. If I remember correctly, she let me use an old suitcase. I put my...
We told you how to create an awful antagonist in three simple steps – now it’s time to focus on the protagonist. It doesn’t matter how long or short you intend your story to be, a work of fiction is only as strong as its main character, or protagonist....
