What is your most recent book? Tell us a bit about it. My new memoir, , is set in 1965, the era of love, light—and revolution. While I (the twenty-two year old romantic narrator), fanaticize a bucolic future in an old farm house with children climbing the apple trees, my husband plots to organize a revolution and fight a guerrilla war in the Catskills. Our fantasies were on … [Read more...]
Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer
One of America's most influential writing teachers offers a toolbox from which writers of all kinds can draw practical inspiration. "Writing is a craft you can learn," says Roy Peter Clark. "You need tools, not rules." His book distills decades of experience into 50 tools that will help any writer become more fluent and effective. WRITING TOOLS covers everything from the … [Read more...]
Are You There Blog? It’s Me, Writer
Social media has changed everything about the way we communicate, yet sometimes it can all feel so overwhelming. Where do you start? Maybe you want to blog, but where do you begin? What do you say? How do you get anyone to care about what you have to say? "Are You There, Blog? It's Me, Writer" is a compilation of social media expert Kristen Lamb's best social media blogs and … [Read more...]
Publishing, Writing, and Having a Life
Being a self-published author is a lot of work as you write, publish, and market your books. You can’t accomplish everything you dream of doing, but with learning how to schedule your time and remembering to take time for yourself, you can make significant strides toward your goal. Self-publishing is not easy. Let’s get the myth out of the way right now. Just because you … [Read more...]
Steve Pitt – Author Interview
What is your most recent book? Tell us a bit about it. My most recent book is My Life and Other Lies: Tales from the Writer's List. It is a collection of humorous short stories that originally appeared as casual e-mails on the writer list-serves of PWAC (Professional Writers Association of Canada) and TWUC (The Writers Union of Canada). Writing can be a lonely profession so … [Read more...]
How to Speed Write
Nano (National Novel Writing Month) runs from November 1st-30th. It’s the writing frenzy where you kick out a large number of words to hopefully finish a novel in record time. Many people start the challenge and end up with a sizable number of pages by the end. Some are inspired to start writing for the first time. Others are inspired to finish something for the … [Read more...]
Write a Novel – The Difference Between Voice and Tone
One of the best ways to understand something is to provide different treatments of the subject. Thomas Mann's eight stories in the popular Vintage imprint with DEATH IN VENICE as the lead title is ideal to work from, since each story is written in a different voice. Yet his masterpiece, THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN, depicts his voice as a separate entity unto its own--and one could say … [Read more...]
Write a Novel – How to Get Published
To write a novel that will be appealing to a major royalty publisher involves more than just talent and hard work. It requires creating a plan from the outset and the discipline to follow it. Everybody Has a Story Worth Telling If you have begun reading this article, there's a good possibility you have either been told this, heard this, or feel this way for your own … [Read more...]
Write a Novel – Point of View and Techniques for Effective Shifts
The first question some people might ask is why any writer would need to learn techniques related to Point of View. Doesn't POV automatically synchronize with the character's thoughts as soon as these feelings are expressed by the writer? And isn't the POV of a scene easily identified by an attribute or obvious implication? If it were just this easy. Shifting POV is Only … [Read more...]
Why Should You Write Your Life Story?
Writing your life story is embarking on a journey through the past. It’s a unique journey, one no one else has ever taken. That’s because the road you’ll travel is built from your very own memories and experiences ~ your very personal reactions to all the situations and events you’ll be remembering. Your life will pass before your eyes. You’ll re-experience its pleasures and … [Read more...]