Writing about writing. Mostly.
by Anne R. Allen Ooops. I seem to have missed my 10-year blogiversary! I posted my first attempt at blogging on Friday, March 13, 2009. Yes, Friday the 13th. Apparently I have a need to tempt fate. But I immediately lost the blog for about three months, and didn’t write my second post until June […]
Don’t make these punctuation blunders. by Kathy Steinemann Are you guilty of these punctuation mistakes that confuse readers and drive editors batty? Someone told me recently that about 90% of writers need the information in this post (no names mentioned, but she runs a popular writers’ blog, the one with the green-on-green color scheme). Are […]
A writing template codifies a story pattern like The Hero’s Journey. by Janice Hardy There’s more to writing a great story than just ticking off plot and character boxes. Template is an ambiguous term in writing. It can refer to a writer’s personal style sheet used when developing a story, tools for brainstorming, or worksheets […]
Publishing scams target babes in the woods by Anne R. Allen I hear about new publishing scams all the time. Sometimes scammers approach me personally, but more often I hear a sad tale of woe from some newbie who has fallen for the latest con. This week I realized that almost all the victims of […]
by Ruth Harris No. Non. Nein. Nyet. No effin way. And, in case you haven’t suffered enough: لا (That’s Arabic for “not right for us.”) And it’s not just you. If you’re a writer, you will be rejected. And you will be dissed. Period. Comes with the territory. (Sorry about that.) Kathryn Stockett ’s The Help (on the New York Times bestseller list for over 100 weeks, with sales of several million […]
Clichéd emotional responses like the single tear can bore your reader by Becca Puglisi The single tear trickling down the cheek. A kiss that leaves one’s knees weak. The grin that stretches from ear to ear. *Yawn* Oh, excuse me. I almost fell asleep there. Why Readers Hate Clichéd Emotional Responses Clichés in writing are […]
by Anne R. Allen I blog often about an author’s online presence and the importance of keeping your image squeaky clean, especially when you’re starting a writing career. That image is sometimes called your “author persona.” Artists have always had personas—an image they project when they are in public. It may involve a way of […]
by Anne R. Allen. Recently I’ve been seeing a bunch of ads for writing contests in my Facebook feed. Plus I’ve been getting unsolicited mass emails advertising similar competitions. Some of them look pretty legit, but I couldn’t help asking myself why. If it’s such a great contest, why do they need to use spam […]
Why procrastination feels so awful…and proven techniques to get you on the path to productivity. by Ruth Harris We really, really want to write our book/next chapter/next scene, but we don’t. Instead, we Organize our sock drawer. Search for the missing sock. It must be somewhere. The washing machine? The dryer? Under the bed? Under the dog’s […]
by Anne R. Allen A lot of writers are talking about quitting Twitter and Facebook (and FB’s subsidiary, Instagram) because social media has become a “cesspool.” I hear you. Politicians, celebrities, and their mindless minions use social media to trash-talk and stir up negativity and chaos. Plus scammers and sadistic trolls lie in wait to […]
How to avoid boring your readers following “what you know” writing rules by E. J. Runyon I just finished reading Anne’s March post about how you don’t always want to follow the rule that advises, ‘Write What You Know’. It made me wonder how many writers understand that it’s only a ‘Writing Rule’ for getting […]
by Anne R. Allen In a much-shared article titled “Why Your Memoir Won’t Sell,” former Writer’s Digest editor Jane Friedman listed the things that will trigger an agent or publisher to reject a memoir by a non-celebrity. A lot of people working on memoirs have been pretty discouraged by it. But you don’t have to […]
Are you procrastinating, or nurturing your creativity? by Ruth Harris Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration—at least according to Thomas Edison. The point is that writers (and geniuses) don’t work only when inspired. Much of the time, the reality is that writing a book or parsing the time-space continuum is a day-to-day […]
Anne R Allen’s Blog With Ruth Harris