By Kimberley Woodhouse Write what you know. We’ve all heard it. But is that always the best advice? It worked for the character Anne in her vignettes of Avonlea, and it worked for Jo of Little Women, right? But what about all the adventurous and exciting stories they wrote and longed to write? Just like those fictional characters, our inquisitive, …
Those Important First Pages
by Jamie Chavez Sometimes you set out to do a thing for one reason only to find it was so much more than you ever imagined. More than you could have actually planned. In this case, I learned just how much value can be wrung out of focusing on the first chapter and how it relates to the rest of …
How to Win at Writers’ Conferences
By Deb Haggerty What is your goal when you go to a writers’ conference or convention? Is it to sell your latest book? Is it to learn more about your craft? Preparing yourself for the occasion is important. When teaching networking, my mantra was “Always keep in mind those to whom you can refer others.” You never know when someone …
Writing with Integrity: Remaining True to Yourself and Others
by Kathy Harris For most of us, life is moving too quickly right now. We have what seems like a thousand things on our to-do list and little time to do them. Each moment of every day is about last minute detours, do-overs, and deadlines. And that’s without even thinking about writing. And it’s not just during the holidays that life is …
Beyond Writer’s Block
by Preston Shires A lot of people talk about writer’s block. To be honest, and I say this whispering, I really don’t know what they’re talking about. However, I do know that in order to write, one must have the perfect atmosphere, and you must stay in place to take advantage of it. So, I think I’ll write about that. …
From Disaster to Discovery
By Kathryn Haueisen Until I retired, most of my writing was work-related non-fiction. Critique groups, beta readers, and launch teams were all new concepts to me. I wrote my first novel without a critique group; didn’t yet know what a beta reader was; and didn’t get help with a book launch until the book was at the printer. I had …
Six Reasons Why Authors Edit Their Manuscripts
By Glynn Young Editing has been much on mind lately, and I’m learning that editing requires more of my time and focus than drafting the original manuscript. I’m working on the fifth, and final, novel in a five-book series. This one has taken more time to write; I’m aiming for something more ambitious than its four predecessors. I’ve been through …
Write What You Know
By Lynn Hobbs Have you ever read a book that kept your attention? Was it informative? I have been fortunate enough to read many and I can assure you, they will remain in my library to be shared and reread later. What are the writers secret to writing such terrific books? Simple. They are writing what they know. They may …
The Doctor Is … In
by Jamie Chavez You’ve been there, I know. Those moments of extreme manuscript fatigue. You just want to walk away. I get these emails. Stop me if you’ve heard this one. You: I will never finish this book. And it doesn’t matter, because it’s no good! The writing’s crap! The plot’s crap! The dialogue’s crap! I think I’m just gonna …
Nine Things You Learn when You Write (That You May Not Learn if You Don’t)
by Kathy Harris If we study the craft of fiction, we can learn a lot of important things, from how to write proper point-of-view to how to format a manuscript. And, while each of these skills is vital to becoming a great writer, there are other important lessons we can learn only through writing, i.e. putting words on paper and …