Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.
by Anne R. Allen “Show-Don’t-Tell” is one of the most sacred commandments in the writerly bible. As Susan Defreitas wrote at LitReactor, “If writing advice were classic rock, this would be ‘Stairway to Heaven’.” “Show, Don’t Tell” is sound advice—up to a point. Nobody wants to read a novel that’s a dry recitation of incidents. […]
FROM MIKE TYSON TO ALBERT EINSTEIN: Why Writers Need To Goof Off And Space Out by Ruth Harris “Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth,” observed philosopher-pugilist, Mike Tyson. Not just boxers, Mike. Ditto for writers. Whether you’re a plotter or pantser, you start out with some kind of plan. […]
by Anne R. Allen The Harvard Business School recently did a fascinating study of toxic employees and their effect on a company’s bottom line. The researchers discovered the most difficult and costly employees aren’t the lazy ones or the gossipy ones. It turns out the worst are the ones dead-set on following rules to the […]
By Melodie Campbell To the elderly man in the khaki sweater who lifted his reading glasses to stare open-mouthed… To the unknown person who gasped and knocked over a chair behind me… To the woman with the stroller who stared in horror, and then wheeled her toddler frantically away toward the exit… False […]
THE HAPPY HOOKER’S GUIDE TO THE ART AND CRAFT OF WRITING A PAGE TURNER by Ruth Harris “First you do it for love, then you do it for your friends, then you do it for money.” Ralph Ellison said it. Or was that Virginia Woolf? Depends on who you ask, but no matter where you […]
by Anne R. Allen I had what is known as a “good education.” I attended East Coast and European prep schools and Ivy League colleges. Both my parents were college professors with PhDs in literature. All of which left me uniquely unqualified for my chosen profession: writing novels. Why? Because I grew up knowing […]
by Anne R. Allen Happy New Year! Congratulations if you won NaNoWriMo in November. And even if you didn’t. In fact, you deserve congrats if you didn’t join in the madness at all, and you’ve been writing slowly and steadily all year. No matter how long it took you, pat yourself on the back […]
by Ruth Harris With tongue firmly in cheek, Ruth Harris tells us what NOT to do in the coming year to further our writing careers. We both wish you the very best in 2016! If you’re a new commenter on the blog, you may have to wait for comment moderation. I apologize for that–we LOVE […]
by Anne R. Allen Last week I wrote about five delusions that can keep a new writer from professional success. I admit to succumbing to most of them myself at one time or another. Writers need to be a little delusional to embark on a road that we know is fraught with obstacles. It’s the […]
by Anne R. Allen We writers tend to get a tad delusional about our own work. Most of us know the average writer doesn’t make great money, but we secretly believe our own efforts will bring us fabulous fame and fortune. When we start out, we can’t help visualizing our books leapfrogging over all the […]
8 Bestselling Authors Share Tips and Tricks for Finding and Keeping Joy in Your Writing by Ruth Harris The Joy of Writing? During National Novel Writing Month? You’re kidding, right?A 55K word novel in a month?You’re fretting, nervous, sweaty. Performance anxiety in excelsis? Brain block? What brain? Writing should be fun and NaNo is […]
by Chris Syme Self-publishing and social media have empowered writers in ways we never dreamed of a decade ago. They’ve also forced us to learn a lot of stuff we never used to have to bother our artistic little heads about. These days, whether you’re trad-pubbed or indie, the rise of social media has put […]
by Anne R. Allen Blogging can boost your career in so many ways, as I wrote in my September 13th post, “Does an Author Really Need a Blog?” This blog sure has helped mine. Plus if you write non-narrative nonfiction like, ahem, How to be a Writer in the E-Age, a blog is pretty essential to your platform. […]
Anne R Allen’s Blog With Ruth Harris