Writing about writing. Mostly.
This Thanksgiving, we’re offering some inspiring writing quotes from some of our favorite authors. (Plus some anonymous funnies.) by Ruth Harris Editing, revising and rewriting— “I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma. In the afternoon I put it back again.” — Oscar Wilde […]
by Anne R. Allen Ruth Harris and I have both written about how there are no rigid rules for writing good fiction, only guidelines. Even guidelines don’t apply to everybody. Every genre has its own conventions. What is de rigeur for a romance can be deadly in a thriller. And what readers expect in a […]
New Book Marketing: how today’s author launches a book. By Melodie Campbell New Book!! Gak – I have a new book coming out January 29. The Goddaughter Does Vegas is number 6 in an award-winning series (Derringer and Arthur Ellis – yay!) Because of that, I do have some expectation of sales from previous readers of […]
by Anne R. Allen We live in a speed-obsessed civilization. Whatever it is we crave—cars, trains, electronics, food, dates—we want them ever-faster-and-furiouser. In fact, much of the developed world seems to be engaged some turbocharged drag race of the soul, hurtling our frenzied selves from cradle to grave, terrified of slowing for even a […]
Radical revision may be what that broken WIP needs. by Ruth Harris The lights are red. All signs are Stop Signs. That stack of pages you thought was going to be a book? You know, with characters, a setting, maybe even a plot? Somehow, it’s been lost in a desert of false starts, dead ends […]
Creativity wounds: the slings and arrows of outrageous criticism. by Anne R. Allen. A couple of weeks ago, Grant Faulkner, executive director of NaNoWriMo, wrote a short piece for Jane Friedman’s blog about what he calls “creativity wounds.” The post resonated with me. Oh, yeah, I know about creativity wounds! I have to admit that […]
Twitter is important for authors, but not for direct sales. by Rachel Thompson (@BadRedheadMedia) Twitter is a terrible selling channel… …if your goal is to spam your book links and hope for the best. Most writers write their book and then realize, oh hey, there are millions of potential readers just waiting to buy […]
Legitimate publishers, or scammy villains? How can you tell? by Anne R. Allen New writers have much to be wary of these days. New publishing scams are landing in writers’ inboxes faster than we can send out warnings. Probably the most dangerous predators for the newbie writer are phony publishers, because they can shatter dreams as […]
Don’t let writing molehills become mountains: solve those microblocks and miniglitches! by Ruth Harris We’re not talking about soul-shredding writers’ block here or the kind of mega mess that requires major revision. Or professional editorial help. Or even a trip to the trash. Instead, I’m talking about the no-big-deal, pesky little hold ups and hang […]
Self-publish fiction successfully by ignoring the trad-pub rules. by Anne R. Allen I wrote a post a few weeks ago that some people found discouraging. I pointed out that a number of changes, especially at Amazon, make it more of a challenge to self-publish fiction successfully than it was a decade ago. Back when the […]
Feeling like you’re not a real writer? Fight self-doubt with these books. by Janet Boyer What are the true enemies of writers—those monsters that haunt, harangue and harass? After twenty years of writing—the last decade spent as a traditionally-published non-fiction author and Amazon.com Hall of Fame Reviewer—I’ve chased down those #*@#$!% fiends and took names. […]
Stronger writing comes from choosing power words. by Kathy Steinemann Wrong word or strong word? Muscle up, wordsters. Weak writing alienates readers. They won’t settle for wussy, so why should you? One path to stronger writing is to pump up the power of single words. This post provides examples that will help you muscle-ize your […]
by Anne R. Allen Social Media is both a boon and a curse to new writers. Online writing groups and forums are an excellent source of insider information on the publishing industry—stuff we once could only find at expensive classes and writers’ conferences. But social media is also a major source of misinformation and dangerously […]
Anne R Allen’s Blog With Ruth Harris