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February 28, 2021 By Anne R. Allen 46 Comments

Fast. Cheap. Easy. The Modest, Unassuming Notebook—Digital or Paper—is Your Superpower.

Fast. Cheap. Easy. The Modest, Unassuming Notebook—Digital or Paper—is Your Superpower.

by Ruth Harris Who has used this secret superpower to achieve success? Tom Brady, Quarterback. A recent article on the sports page about Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Quarterback Tom Brady preparing himself and his team for the Superbowl grabbed my attention. According to the story, one of Brady’s habits throughout a season is to create a […]

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Filed Under: The Publishing Business, The Writing Life Tagged With: Husbands and Lovers, Notebooks, Ruth Harris

February 21, 2021 By Anne R. Allen 50 Comments

Five Common Beginning Writer Storytelling Mistakes

Five Common Beginning Writer Storytelling Mistakes

Storytelling isn’t as easy as it seems by Anne R. Allen Making mistakes is how we learn. Some beginning writer mistakes are so common they’re almost a rite of passage. Here are five I see all the time. I think I did every one when I was starting out. Taking “Show Don’t Tell” to Extremes […]

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Filed Under: Writing Craft Tagged With: Anne R. Allen, show don't tell, storytelling mistakes, The First Five Pages, The Lady of the Lakewood Diner

February 14, 2021 By Anne R. Allen 30 Comments

Why You Shouldn’t Live with a Fictional Romantic Hero … During a Pandemic

Why You Shouldn’t Live with a Fictional Romantic Hero … During a Pandemic

A romantic hero is great on Valentine’s Day, but will ever-aftering be happy? by Tara Sparling Introduction: We love our romantic heroes, both on the page and onscreen. But what would it be like to truly live with one in real life… during a pandemic? It’s Valentine’s Day. And for the first time in forever, […]

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Filed Under: The Writing Life, Writing Craft Tagged With: Romance novels, Tara Sparling, Valentine's Day

February 7, 2021 By Anne R. Allen 60 Comments

Is Your Novel Ready to Publish? 12 Signs You’re Still in the Learning Phase of Your Writing Career

Is Your Novel Ready to Publish? 12 Signs You’re Still in the Learning Phase of Your Writing Career

Are you ready to publish? by Anne R. Allen If you’ve used the pandemic lockdown as a time to write that novel you always knew you had in you, congratulations! You’ve taken the depressing, horrific lemon that was 2020 and turned it into literary lemonade. You deserve a great big “Congrats!” and several pats on […]

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Filed Under: Self-Publishing, The Publishing Business, Writing Craft Tagged With: Anne R. Allen, Mary Sue, ready to publish?, So Much for Buckingham, Tom Swifties, writing dialogue

January 31, 2021 By Anne R. Allen 57 Comments

We’ve Got Mail—Nice, Nasty, and Just Plain Nutty. Writers Review Readers.

We’ve Got Mail—Nice, Nasty, and Just Plain Nutty. Writers Review Readers.

by Ruth Harris My encounters with reader mail go back a long way. My first job as a very young editor at Bantam included slogging through the slush pile and answering reader mail. No internet or email those days. Everything was done the old fashioned way — by hand. I’ve written before about my adventures in […]

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Filed Under: The Writing Life, Writers Dealing with Reviews and Rejection Tagged With: Park Avenue Blondes, reader feedback, Ruth Harris

January 24, 2021 By Anne R. Allen 28 Comments

Authors: Know Your Rights! Key Provisions in a Publishing Contract

Authors: Know Your Rights! Key Provisions in a Publishing Contract

by Joseph Perry You finally received the call from your agent that you’re going to be a published author. Congratulations! All the hard work and months (or years) of attending workshops, writers’ groups, and revising and revising again have paid off. As excited as you may be, the next step, negotiating the publishing agreement, may […]

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Filed Under: The Publishing Business Tagged With: Intellectual Property, Joseph Perry, Publishing contract

January 17, 2021 By Anne R. Allen 22 Comments

The Six Online Bios Every Author Needs

The Six Online Bios Every Author Needs

by Nate Hoffleder If you Google author bios you will find a million different articles, each with their own recommendation. Be short and too the point. Use the third person. Simply say who you are, and give your publishing credits. Be formulaic. A lot of this advice is good, but I also think it is […]

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Filed Under: Social Media and Marketing For Writers, The Publishing Business Tagged With: How to Write an Author Bio, Nate Hoffelder, The Digital Reader

January 10, 2021 By Anne R. Allen 79 Comments

Publishing Scammers to Watch Out for in 2021

Publishing Scammers to Watch Out for in 2021

Publishing scammers prey on newbies and seasoned pros alike by Anne R. Allen 2020 was a terrible year in so many ways. But one group seems to have thrived: the scammer community. Publishing scammers are everywhere now. I hear about new ones every week, each more heartbreaking than the one before. And more outrageous. Phishing […]

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Filed Under: Scams and Alerts for Writers, Social Media and Marketing For Writers Tagged With: Literary agents, publishing scammers, The Camilla Randall Mysteries boxed set

January 3, 2021 By Anne R. Allen 42 Comments

Agent Laurie McLean Gives 10 Publishing Predictions for 2021

Agent Laurie McLean Gives 10 Publishing Predictions for 2021

Publishing Predictions: Laurie McLean Looks in her Crystal Ball by Laurie McLean Hold onto your pens, people…it’s going to be a wild ride. It’s that time of year again. I present to you Predictions in Publishing: the 2021 Edition! It’s hard to believe that last year at this time I was bemoaning the fact that […]

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Filed Under: The Publishing Business Tagged With: Agent Laurie McLean, publishing predictions, San Francisco Writers Conference

December 27, 2020 By Anne R. Allen 39 Comments

Farewell to 2020!

Farewell to 2020!

by Ruth Harris Between Covid and lockdown rules, cabin fever and cooking, sour dough and sour moods, 2020 is—finally!—dragging to an end. Anne dealt with non-Covid-related debilitating health issues. I had to navigate NYC’s soaring Covid infection rates. She had a meltdown involving a TV remote. I had one triggered by laundry. The good news is that with […]

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Filed Under: The Publishing Business, The Writing Life Tagged With: Park Avenue Blondes, Ruth Harris

December 20, 2020 By Anne R. Allen 89 Comments

5 Tell-Tale Signs of an Amateur Self-Published Book

5 Tell-Tale Signs of an Amateur Self-Published Book

An amateur self-published book gives professional indies a bad name by Anne R. Allen When you’re confined to a hospital bed for several months the way I was last summer, you read a lot of books. During my 2+ months of medical incarceration, I read pretty much everything loaded onto my trusty old Kindle (over […]

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Filed Under: Self-Publishing, Writing Craft Tagged With: common grammar mistakes, self publishing, Sherwood Ltd.

December 13, 2020 By Anne R. Allen 28 Comments

How Not to Take Critiques Personally

How Not to Take Critiques Personally

  by Christine Carron Getting your work critiqued can be transformative. Most of us have probably experienced deep gratitude when a fellow writer shares an insight that allows us to see a weakness that we were too close to see on our own. Something that, once we act on it, transports our story to a […]

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Filed Under: The Writing Life, Writers Dealing with Reviews and Rejection Tagged With: Christine Carron, critique groups and criticism, The Critique MD

December 6, 2020 By Anne R. Allen 37 Comments

Ways to Convey Thankfulness—Even in 2020

Ways to Convey Thankfulness—Even in 2020

by Kathy Steinemann ’Tis the season to be thankful. November and December bring with them many opportunities to express gratitude: Veterans Day, World Kindness Day, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and more. Ziad K. Abdelnour said, “Learn to appreciate what you have, before time makes you appreciate what you had.” Let’s consider a few things we can […]

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Filed Under: The Writing Life, Writing Craft Tagged With: Gratitude, Kathy Steinemann, The Writer's Lexicon

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Anne's Latest Book

Googling Old Boyfriends: A Camilla Randall Mystery (The Camilla Randall Mysteries Book 7)

Googling Old Boyfriends: A Camilla Randall Mystery (The Camilla Randall Mysteries Book 7)
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writers digest 101 best websites for writers award

Anne R. AllenAnne R. Allen writes funny mysteries and how-to-books for writers. She also writes poetry and short stories on occasion. She’s a contributor to Writer’s Digest and the Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market.

Her bestselling Camilla Randall Mystery Series features perennially down-on-her-luck former socialite Camilla Randall—who is a magnet for murder, mayhem and Mr. Wrong, but always solves the mystery in her quirky, but oh-so-polite way.

Ruth Harris NYT best selling authorRuth is a million-copy New York Times bestselling author, Romantic Times award winner, former Big 5 editor, publisher, and news junkie.

Her emotional, entertaining women’s fiction and critically praised novels have sold millions of copies in hard cover, paperback and ebook editions, been translated into 19 languages, sold in 30 countries, and were prominent selections of leading book clubs including the Literary Guild and the Book Of The Month Club.

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