Writing about writing. Mostly.
by Anne R. Allen I recently had a strong reminder of the importance of the first impression. I’m still recovering from my December bout of pneumonia, which put me in the hospital for several days. My recovery from the hospital may take more time than my recovery from pneumonia. Why? Because everybody at the […]
by Anne R. Allen It’s the darkest day of the year. Which means it will get lighter from now until summer. 🙂 Should we try to write through the darkness? Sometimes writing can keep you going through the holidays, but treating the rule “Write Every Day” as if it is set in stone can […]
by Anne R. Allen I’m home from the hospital recovering from pneumonia. But as we come to the final chapter of 2025, I thought I’d post some of my tips from earlier posts on how to end your novel or memoir. If you’re like most writers, you may have trouble getting that final chapter to […]
by Anne R. Allen The AI book marketing scams are proliferating like Tribbles. I’ve probably had more than a thousand emails from them since mid-summer. Like Star Trek’s Tribbles, the emails approach you with warm and fuzzy friendliness. But don’t be fooled. These scammers wouldn’t be so relentless unless this stuff is working. […]
by Anne R. Allen The phrase “what’s my motivation” is a joke in the theater world. I remember rehearsing for a production of Alice in Wonderland when the actor playing the (very minor) role of the Cook, when told to cross the stage when the Duchess enters, yelled out “What’s my motivation” to the […]
by Anne R. Allen Last month, I wrote a post with tips about how (not) to write a novel opener. Some readers complained that I was “dictating” how people should write. That wasn’t my intention. I only talked about what agents and editors think has been overdone, and what doesn’t work well in an […]
by Anne R. Allen I love to start a novel. This is the fun part of writing for me — as it is for most writers I know. My muse has uploaded a shiny new story into my head and I’m all revved and ready to go, so I get those words down as […]
by Anne R. Allen If you’re like a lot of authors, you’re starting to feel annoyed at the number of “publicists” filling your email inbox with sugary messages about your brilliant talent. The headers are usually quotes from your Amazon reviews, something like: Fast, Funny, and Fair, Delivering a Twist-filled Mystery…that’s Ignored […]
by Alicia Street and Terence Stamp I was so sad to read of actor Terence Stamp’s death this week at age 87. Early in this blog’s history, we were honored to run this interview with Mr. Stamp, who had just launched his memoir, Rare Stamps. Our regular reader, Alicia Street, conducted the interview. So here’s […]
by Anne R. Allen I wrote a post three weeks ago about the barrage of spam emails I’ve been getting from scammy publicists, bogus book marketers, and various other con-persons — sometimes 100 a day. I’m still getting them, but luckily a good chunk are captured by my anti-spam elves, now they know what […]
by Anne R. Allen This week I’ve been hit hard by signs that publishing industry bloggers are disappearing into the Substack world of “become a paid subscriber to continue reading this article.” But it’s also obvious the publishing world still needs us! How do I know? This week, I’ve been buried in emails from book […]
by Debbie Burke Let’s assume most of us who follow Anne’s and Ruth’s blog are not kidnappers, rapists, or murderers. Since we’re not, it can be difficult for us to imagine the mindset of characters who commit heinous crimes. So how can we write multidimensional, memorable villains who have more depth than the cartoonish […]
Go ahead, write that first draft with a feather. It’s all good. by Anne R. Allen Recently I’ve been looking at comment threads on old posts. Five years ago, people were leaving a lot more comments. But commenting on blogs has faded along with the popularity of blogging, which a lot of people see as […]
Anne R Allen’s Blog With Ruth Harris