by Anne R. Allen The summer writers’ conference season is upon us, and wordsmiths everywhere are packing up laptops, manuscripts, and literary dreams to head for those idyllic retreats where they can polish their craft, learn the latest publishing trends, and hang with successful authors, agents and publishers—for a hefty fee. At some of […]
Writer’s Block and Depression: Why You Shouldn’t Bully Your Muse
by Anne R. Allen Some professional writers claim writer’s block doesn’t exist. They’ll tell you they never have any trouble banging out their daily pages—and laugh at people who do. William Faulkner said, “I only write when I am inspired. Fortunately I am inspired at 9 o’clock every morning.” Terry Pratchett—not earning himself any fans […]
Want to be a Successful Author? 10 Things English Majors Have to Unlearn
by Anne R. Allen One of my favorite moments in film happens in Star Trek IV, when the Enterprise crew find themselves back the 20th century. Kirk refers to “the complete works of Jacqueline Susann, the novels of Harold Robbins,” and Spock replies, “Ah… The giants!” Funny bit. But the thing is—they were giants. Not great writers, but […]
3 Questions to Ask Before You Jump on the Indie Publishing Bandwagon
by Anne R. Allen We’re in the midst of seismic changes in the publishing world, with new quakes altering the landscape on a daily basis. The pulp paperback is in its death throes, as mass market houses like Dorchester slink into ignominious bankruptcy. Kindle and the Amazon $2.99 e-book/70% royalty paradigm have changed an […]
Slow Blogging Works: A Blogiversary Success Story
by Anne R. Allen It’s been quite a week. Let’s hope we’re done with disasters for a while. To my neighbors who got evacuated at 7 AM on Friday—and to the tens of thousands affected by the horrors in Japan—my heart goes out to you. I started this blog exactly two years ago today: […]
The Butterfly Syndrome: Do You Have Trouble Committing to a Writing Project?
by Anne R. Allen Several readers have emailed me recently with questions I often ask myself: 1) How can I tell if a new writing project is going to be marketable? 2) How do I stop bouncing from idea to idea, frittering away my precious writing time? 3) If I don’t know what to […]
Careful, or You’ll End up in My Novel
by Anne R. Allen “Careful or You’ll End up in My Novel”…that’s the message on a T-shirt I see at writers’ conferences a lot. It’s been a popular item in the Signals Catalogue for years. It’s interesting that most writers I’ve met who wear them say the shirt was a gift from a friend […]
Why Not Celebrate the SUMMER SOLSTICE Instead of the Winter One? Let’s replace Dickens with Shakespeare.
by Anne R. Allen Charles Dickens has a lot to answer for. With the publication of his Christmas Carol in 1843, he single-handedly made Christmas our biggest cultural holiday. Before the debut of his (self-published) little novella, celebration of the holiday had all but died out in Anglo-Saxon Christendom. The pen is powerful indeed. A Christmas Carol revived […]
The Writer’s Enemy List: Dream Smashers, Crazymakers and Groucho Marxists
By Anne R. Allen When you start a writing project, whether you’re diving into the intensity of NaNoWriMo, or just carving out a few hours to peck away at the keyboard on weekends, it helps to get emotional support from friends and family. But be prepared for the opposite. Some people in your life […]
Enjoy the Luxury of the Unpublished Life
by Anne R. Allen “WTF?” Sez you. “Luxury? Getting daily rejections? Living in this mousehole on a diet of ramen and generic Froot Loops? While the few friends I have left laugh at my “delusions” of being a published writer? I’m supposed to #%&!ing enjoy this?” Well, yes. It’s the only time in your […]
The #1 Talent You Need to be a Good Writer
by Anne R. Allen The brilliant columnist/philosopher/literary outlaw Michael Ventura famously said the most important talent required of a writer is the ability to work alone. In his 1993 Sun article, The Talent of the Room , Ventura wrote, “Writing is something you do alone in a room. It’s the most important thing to remember if you want to be a writer….Unless you […]
I’VE WRITTEN A BOOK—NOW WHAT?
by Anne R. Allen I’ve had a number of people ask me that question in the last few months. There’s tons of info out here in Cyberia, but not everybody knows how to access it. And along with the good info, there’s plenty of bad—especially from predatory vanity publishers and bogus agents. So here are some […]
12 MYTHS ABOUT GETTING PUBLISHED
by Anne R. Allen When you’re a beginning writer, you’re likely to get bombarded with advice from all quarters—your family, your friends, your hairdresser, and of course that know-it-all guy at work. I don’t know why, but everybody who’s ever watched a few minutes of Oprah seems to think they know all about the […]
