To Share Your Writing—or Not?

The Craft of Writing, The Writer's Life

I recently attended two productive and gratifying writing events: one a week-long workshop, the other a three-day retreat. These events were, at once, similar yet very different from one another. On my long drive home from North Carolina, I contemplated those...

Query Letter Essentials

The Business of Writing

The query letter is effectively your written pitch to an editor or agent, enticing them to read or request your work. It is your first shot at gaining and, more importantly, HOLDING the editor’s/agent’s attention! Keep it simple. I’d use the KISS anagram, but I hate...

Show, Don’t Tell

Revising and Editing, The Craft of Writing

by Sam “SR” Staley Perhaps no advice has been more instrumental in improving the quality of my fiction than embracing the mantra “Show, Don’t Tell.” I don’t think I fully understood its importance until my second novel was published (which goes a long way...

5 Free Marketing Tools for Authors

The Business of Writing

by Shannon Bell Authors, especially when starting out, don’t have huge marketing budgets. What money we do have, we want to hold onto. Whether you have a traditional publisher or go indie, marketing your book is still up to you. This means you need to try to use the...

Organizing Your Ideas

The Craft of Writing, The Writer's Life

Last week, we talked about having a container(s) for your ideas so they don’t evaporate or move on to another creative soul ready to receive them because you are not in a position to use them immediately. The logical next step is to have an organizing principle for...

Have an Idea Container

The Craft of Writing

Ideas are fleeting. Why is that? How is it that we can receive or—zowie!—be hit by what we feel is a fabulous idea but then, later, cannot even remember it, as if it simply floated away? It’s too much to consider, really. It’s a shame at how much goodness and...

Point of View – Another Look

The Craft of Writing

CONVERSATIONS Around the Writer’s Table was a monthly tele-call for authors that coach and editor Gina Edwards hosted in 2015. On two of the most popular calls, Gina and fellow editor Heather Whitaker discussed point of view. We talked about the different forms...

Refill Your Creative Well

The Writer's Life

Last week, I wrote about post-publication depression, then received feedback from several authors who have indeed faced something that feels like depression after they finished writing their books or published them. This week, I offer an alternative view, a reframing...

Is Post-Publication “Depression” Real?

The Business of Writing, The Writer's Life

Culling my files recently for idea-notes, I came across an unpublished article that I wrote nearly three years ago. In our last blog post (My Book, My Daughter), artist and author Licia Berry shared her story of nearly abandoning her book after publication, so I was...

My Book, My Daughter

Authors and Books, The Business of Writing, The Writer's Life

It isn’t unusual for artists and writers—even experienced and successful ones—to pour heart and soul into a precious creative project, seeing it nearly to completion, only to abandon it. Have you done that before? This week, artist, author, and speaker Licia...