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November 7, 2021 By Anne R. Allen 56 Comments

Afraid to Call Yourself a Writer? You May Suffer from a Creativity Wound

Afraid to Call Yourself a Writer? You May Suffer from a Creativity Wound

by Anne R. Allen Early in my writing career, I wrote in secret — and hardly ever finished anything. If I got to the point where I could write “the end” on a piece, I’d bury it in a drawer. I was incapable of writing a whole novel. I always stopped after the first 40 […]

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Filed Under: The Writing Life, Writers Dealing with Reviews and Rejection Tagged With: Anne R. Allen, Creative wounds, critique group pitfalls, Ghostwriters in the Sky, NaNoREADMo

August 15, 2021 By Anne R. Allen 47 Comments

How to Start Your Novel or Memoir and 11 Clichéd Openers to Avoid

How to Start Your Novel or Memoir and 11 Clichéd Openers to Avoid

by Anne R. Allen Clichés exist for a reason. A whole lot of people like them. That means they get over-exposed. Clichés represent a natural way of thinking. So don’t feel bad if your first draft has a clichéd opener. It’s part of the process. Here’s the most important thing for a new writer to […]

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Filed Under: The Writing Life, Writing Craft Tagged With: Alarm Clock opening, Anne R. Allen, Ghostwriters in the Sky, How Not to Start a Novel, how to start a novel

July 4, 2021 By Anne R. Allen 92 Comments

Writers, Do You Have Unsupportive Friends and Family? You’re Not Alone.

Writers, Do You Have Unsupportive Friends and Family? You’re Not Alone.

Unsupportive friends and family can make us feel separated from the world. by Anne R. Allen I’m always amazed at how many people I know — friends who would go out of their way to help me physically — cannot say one supportive thing about my writing. Some even ask for one of my books […]

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Filed Under: The Writing Life, Writers Dealing with Reviews and Rejection Tagged With: Anne R. Allen, Ghostwriters in the Sky, Unsupportive Family, Writing Groups

November 22, 2020 By Anne R. Allen 133 Comments

The Story of My Metamorphosis—Plus a Big Thank-you to my Blog Partners and Guests

The Story of My Metamorphosis—Plus a Big Thank-you to my Blog Partners and Guests

My metamorphosis into a Kafkaesqe bug by Anne R. Allen Yes. I’m back! A lot of readers have asked why I’ve been missing from the blog for the past five months, so I promised I’d detail my tale of woe when I returned. It’s kind of a long story. One that might have been written […]

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Filed Under: The Writing Life Tagged With: blog partners, Blogging, Ghostwriters in the Sky, health tips for writers

April 5, 2020 By Anne R. Allen 75 Comments

Why it’s so Tough to Write Now: Tips for Dealing with Our Collective Grief

Why it’s so Tough to Write Now: Tips for Dealing with Our Collective Grief

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 […]

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Filed Under: The Writing Life Tagged With: Edna St. Vincent Millay, Frances Caballo, Ghostwriters in the Sky, Gila Sack, Rachel Thompson, Sherwood Ltd., Tony Piazza, Writers block

September 1, 2019 By Anne R. Allen 68 Comments

10 Kinds of Critique Groups that Can Drive You Bonkers

10 Kinds of Critique Groups that Can Drive You Bonkers

by Anne R. Allen I recommend that new writers take advantage of critique groups in order to learn about the publishing business and the craft of writing. Writing courses are expensive and often not as helpful as a good critique group. But there are bad critique groups too. Really bad. I’ve seen authors stop writing […]

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Filed Under: The Writing Life, Writers Dealing with Reviews and Rejection Tagged With: critique group pitfalls, critique groups and criticism, Ghostwriters in the Sky, The Critique MD

December 30, 2018 By Anne R. Allen 42 Comments

2019 Publishing Predictions from Agent Laurie McLean

2019 Publishing Predictions from Agent Laurie McLean

Publishing predictions: Laurie McLean’s annual look into her crystal ball. By Laurie McLean, Founding Partner of Fuse Literary Agency The last year has seen a maturation of many of the trends that were sparked by the revolution in publishing that began a decade ago. Indie publishing. Social media marketing. The birth of Author-preneurs. Smart phones […]

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Filed Under: The Publishing Business Tagged With: 2019 predictions, Agent Laurie McLean, Ghostwriters in the Sky, Love and Money

October 21, 2018 By Anne R. Allen 36 Comments

Creativity Wounds: Can NaNoWriMo Help Overcome Them?

Creativity Wounds: Can NaNoWriMo Help Overcome Them?

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 […]

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Filed Under: The Writing Life, Writers Dealing with Reviews and Rejection Tagged With: creativity wounds, critique groups and criticism, Ghostwriters in the Sky, Grant Faulkner, Michael Ventura, NaNoWriMo, rejection

April 8, 2018 By Anne R. Allen 55 Comments

Publishing is a Business: 10 Tips to Protect your Creative Writer Self in the Marketplace

Publishing is a Business: 10 Tips to Protect your Creative Writer Self in the Marketplace

Alas, publishing is about the bottom line, not warm fuzzies and gold stars. by Anne R. Allen The biggest obstacle many new writers face in making the leap from beginning writer to professional author is accepting that publishing is a business. Newbie writers have often taken creative writing courses or read books that urge them […]

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Filed Under: The Publishing Business, The Writing Life, Writers Dealing with Reviews and Rejection, Writing Craft Tagged With: bad publishing contracts, creativity, Fear of Success, Ghostwriters in the Sky, MNBrian, publishing, the publishing industry, word count guidelines

November 12, 2017 By Anne R. Allen 85 Comments

Why NaNoWriMo is Liberating for Some Writers and Dangerous for Others

Why NaNoWriMo is Liberating for Some Writers and Dangerous for Others

  by Anne R. Allen Okay, I’ll confess: I have never been tempted to join in NaNoWriMo. That doesn’t mean I don’t admire the heck out of people who can do it. Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in a little over month. You can’t argue with that kind of success. But some writers prefer to […]

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Filed Under: The Writing Life, Writing Craft Tagged With: Andrews and Thomson, Dr. Elaine Aron, Fonda Lee, Ghostwriters in the Sky, NaNoWriMo, The Highly Sensitive Person

July 2, 2017 By Anne R. Allen 84 Comments

How To Write Contemporary Fiction: Don’t Write for Leo Tolstoy’s Audience

How To Write Contemporary Fiction: Don’t Write for Leo Tolstoy’s Audience

Writing contemporary fiction? Don’t rewrite War and Peace. by Anne R. Allen I recently read on an agent’s blog, “Nobody’s looking for War and Peace.” And alas, I fear it’s true. I can’t remember the last time I said, “I want to get into a big 19th century novel.”  (And there was a time when […]

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Filed Under: The Publishing Business, The Writing Life, Writing Craft Tagged With: classic authors, contemporary fiction writing, Ghostwriters in the Sky, Janice Hardy, newbie advice, Radish, Ruth Harris, writing guidelines, writing rules

January 1, 2017 By Anne R. Allen 44 Comments

First Chapters: Start Your Novel With Your Reader in Mind

First Chapters: Start Your Novel With Your Reader in Mind

First chapters are the hardest. So write them last. by Anne R. Allen Happy New Year! And many thanks to Frances Caballo, who this week named this one of the Best 15 Blogs for Indie Authors to Follow. I hope you had lots of fun over the holidays. Now it’s resolution time. Time to get […]

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Filed Under: The Publishing Business, Writing Craft Tagged With: first chapters, Ghostwriters in the Sky, Roxanna Britton, Self-Editing, Writing tips

December 25, 2016 By Anne R. Allen 32 Comments

Writing Rules and Rejections: Ignore Them and Enjoy the Holidays!

Writing Rules and Rejections: Ignore Them and Enjoy the Holidays!

 Writing rules, rejection & why to forget them and have some holiday fun! Ruth Harris joined this blog five and a half years ago with a wildly popular blogpost on rejection. Because she worked as editor at a couple of Big Five Houses as well as being a New York Times bestselling author, she knows […]

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Filed Under: The Writing Life, Writers Dealing with Reviews and Rejection, Writing Craft Tagged With: Anne R. Allen, Decades, Ghostwriters in the Sky, rejection, Ruth Harris, writing rules

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Anne R. AllenAnne R. Allen writes funny mysteries and how-to-books for writers. She also writes poetry and short stories on occasion. She’s a contributor to Writer’s Digest and the Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market.

Her bestselling Camilla Randall Mystery Series features perennially down-on-her-luck former socialite Camilla Randall—who is a magnet for murder, mayhem and Mr. Wrong, but always solves the mystery in her quirky, but oh-so-polite way.

Ruth Harris NYT best selling authorRuth is a million-copy New York Times bestselling author, Romantic Times award winner, former Big 5 editor, publisher, and news junkie.

Her emotional, entertaining women’s fiction and critically praised novels have sold millions of copies in hard cover, paperback and ebook editions, been translated into 19 languages, sold in 30 countries, and were prominent selections of leading book clubs including the Literary Guild and the Book Of The Month Club.

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