Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris
Writing about writing. Mostly.
by Garry Rodgers I was always the weird kid. While other boys dreamed of growing up to fly fast fighters or fight ferocious fires, I wanted to be a writer. It was like a calling. Is that weird or what? But, instead of studying fine arts or going to journalism school, when I turned twenty-one […]
A social media executor will keep you from becoming a social media ghost. by Anne R. Allen We’re living through a time when we’re forced to face something our culture prefers to ignore: our own mortality. We’re discovering, to paraphrase Emily Dickinson, that although we do not stop for death, it kindly stops for us. […]
Collective grief is loud and unrelenting. But there are ways to tune it out. by Anne R. Allen There are a lot of jokes out there right now like the cartoon in The New Yorker showing a young woman saying something like “I couldn’t decide whether to work on my novel or my screenplay, so […]
by Anne R. Allen A lot of the problems new novelists and memoirists encounter stem from one thing. I see their plaintive posts and emails all the time. “I self-published my novel last year and promoted it free with a Bookbub ad, but after the freebie run, I’ve only sold a handful of books.” “I’ve […]
Clueless advice abounds. Everybody’s an expert. by Anne R. Allen I’m always amazed at the people who start giving me advice as soon as they hear I’m a writer. Even though I’ve been published for over 30 years, they’re always sure they know more than I do. And it’s worse for new writers. They’re bombarded […]
by Anne R. Allen Recently I got a furious Facebook message from a stranger who accused me of “using her life” in one of my books. It’s amazing how sometimes life imitates fiction. She had apparently been a Facebook friend, and she dramatically unfriended me after sending a distraught DM describing the traumas in her […]
by Tara Sparling Introduction: Ever wonder what it would be like to live with a well-known fictional character stereotype? At Christmas? Well, wonder no more, and count your blessings that you don’t… It’s December the Somethingth. You come home from a long day at work. You were supposed to buy Christmas gifts, but the traffic […]
By Melodie Campbell. I’m not talking about a room of your own, with all due respect to Virginia Wolf. (Although that is certainly handy. Writing your early stories on the floor of the bathroom with your kids outside shaking the locked door gets tiresome pretty fast.) But today I’m talking about what I tell the […]
The publishing roller coaster can drive you nuts if you let it. by Ruth Harris I don’t really have to tell you, do I? Success followed by failure. Ups followed by crashes. Sinatra sang it: Flying high in April. Shot down in May. Moodswings. One week you pop the Dom Perignon. The next, you’re knee […]
Unexamined beliefs can keep a writer in a prison of your own making. by Anne R. Allen “Think outside the box” has become a mindless cliché these days. It’s repeated so often that the meaning has pretty much disappeared. But it’s still excellent advice—if you know how to follow it. Unfortunately, most people are unaware […]
Romancing your new book idea: when to give in—and when to give up. by Ruth Harris Falling in love is easy. We’re swept away, starry-eyed, giddy with possibility. This time it’s different. Really! But is it? The Old Book Blues. You’ve done it. Again! You’ve written yourself into a blind alley. You’re stuck, blocked, out […]
Launching a writing career is hard–especially with family sabotage. by Anne R. Allen Learning to write well is tough. Getting published is tougher. And selling your published books is tougher still. Nevertheless, we persist. Most writers feel compelled to write, and usually nothing can stop us. But we can be waylaid, distracted, and seriously discouraged. […]
Crisis management during an online attack needs a quick, savvy response. by Chris Syme I know what you’re thinking. You see the word crisis and say, that will never happen to me. Sorry to burst your bubble, but you are wrong. As with all public figures, a reputation-tanking, book-disappearing, fan-stalking, Twitter-storm crisis can happen to […]
Anne R Allen’s Blog With Ruth Harris