Last week, I listened to an interview with an artist who was talking about how to free yourself from a creative block. She gave lots of great tips but one in particular struck a chord with me. Rituals. You’ve heard me mention many times that I didn’t write novels for almost a decade after my…
Category: Writing How Tos
Writing for Fun
Today’s guest blogger is Mike Lord who shares with us his writing process and why he decided to self-publish his books… People often ask me when I prefer to write. With me it’s not like that at all: When I think of a story I work out the plot and an outline of the characters…
Leon B. Burstein/MWA-NY Scholarship for Mystery Writing
V. S. Kemanis is here with this week’s guest blog and it’s a little different but something aspiring mystery writers will be interested in learning about… Is this you? You’re just getting started in the field of mystery writing and eager to hone your craft. You’d like to enroll in a writing course or attend a…
The Business of Self Publishing
Last week, I focused on the business side of writing. I had lots of people contact me saying how helpful my tips were and that got me thinking. These days, more writers are choosing to be self publishers…yes, I’m one of them now. Just because you’re doing everything yourself and more in control of what…
No Schedule-No Problem
Mageela Troche is back guest blogging today and sharing tips for writing while dealing with chronic illness… I have a confession to make. I do not have a writing schedule. If you have ever picked up a writing craft book, one piece of advice each one shares is to construct a writing schedule. I’ve tried…
The Business of Writing
I spend most my time teaching my students how to write. However, last week I thought about a topic that I should be at least discussing with them before they enter the world of authorship. That topic is the business side of the writing life. It’s something I’ll be including in my future coaching…
What Have You Done This Year…what do you have left to do?
Madeline McEwen is back with a reminder that should have us thinking about what we want to achieve for the rest of 2019… That is an alarming title, although “one-third left” might be worse. In four months, 2020 will arrive and we’ll count our achievements on New Year’s Eve. How has this year whizzed…
Hi Susan-Picking Genres
Time once again to dive into the Hi Susan e-mail pile. I picked this question from Marc who wrote… I’m just starting out as an author and researching the type of book I want to write. Should I go with similar books that I see on the bestseller lists? An easy answer, no. Sounds counterproductive to…
Dream On…
I’ve always been a planner…more of a dreamer, maybe. Life has more than once interrupted those dreams and it’s made me more cynical about saying I want to do this and do that…just in case I’m tempting fate. As the calendar turned to 2019, I sat down and thought about lots of things. One…
Writing From Experience
Today, J. L. Regen is back guest blogging and telling us about how things that happen in life sometimes find a way into books. And she’s happy to share the news that her book is nominated for Romance Book of the Year by Readers Choice Good luck, we’re cheering for you. I was dating a man like…