A cooler rainy week which meant I got lots done. When I say lots, it seems like I don’t have much to show for it, but it’s all about preparation. One thing I’ve been working on is the sister site to this one that’s focused on self publishing. My intent was to have it…
Tag: books
Anthologies-Ideal for Beginning Writers
I’m often asked for suggestions about markets that are more willing to consider new writers. There are a lot out there. Some will pay you a small amount while others will pay in copies. One market area I had a lot of success with was anthologies. In fact, I think being published in four anthologies at the…
Get To Know Your Character
One of the first questions I ask students is; what do you remember most about your favorite books? I always know that at least 99 % are going to tell me about a character they fell in love with, cheered for, and turned the pages just to see what happened to them. Don’t get me wrong,…
Friday Ramblings From An Author-Always Proofread
This week I know what the person who first coined the term TGIF was thinking. This one’s even Friday the 13th. It seems like it’s a busy week and I’ve lost count on how many words I’ve written or read. Ever been so word fatiqued that you’re not sure if you’re spelling simple words like the and…
Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
Tell a non-writer you’re an author and the first question out of their mouth is usually, where do you get your ideas? Sometimes it’s a puzzle for writers too. What happens when the story idea bank runs dry? When I began writing, one major issue I had was one too many story ideas. They’d…
Monday Motivation-One Day and One Chapter
They say if you have a big project and it seems overwhelming, break it down. Writing a book can be overwhelming especially when it’s your first try. Sometimes you start out with great motivation but then it disappears. Don’t think about writing a whole book each time you sit down. Think about writing one chapter….
Friday Ramblings From An Author-Take It Slow Week
It seems like it’s been an odd week because it had a holiday sandwiched in the middle of it. I almost forgot that today was Friday. I spent a good part of the day outside working on upcoming projects. One of those is finally deciding what to do with a site I sort of…
Conflict and Emotion-Keys to A Great Story(and getting published)
Thank you for your submission but we’re sorry it’s not suitable for us… On my journey to becoming a published author, receiving letters with that opening line became a weekly event. Sometimes I’d sit down and cry while other times I’d just get angry. These are great characters I’d tell myself. Are all these…
Five Tips for Improving Your Synopsis
One thing lots of writers struggle with is writing a synopsis. It’s a necessary evil because most of the time it’s all publishers will let you submit. They base their first decision on how well you’ve done conveying your sometimes 70,000 plus word story into two or three pages. I’ve been teaching a class…
Monday Motivation-They Were Once Like Me
One day during my struggling writer years, I walked out to the mailbox and had not one, but three rejection letters sitting there. After opening them, and having a good cry, I thought about one thing. No writer begins their career (well, there might be a few lucky ones), with a yes on their…