Write It! Wednesday #5: Writing Goals Sheet

Hello everyone! Today’s Write It! Wednesday isn’t so much a prompt as it is a freebie download. I’ve put together a set of worksheets to help you map out your goals for next year. To download your free Writing Goals Sheet, just click the link. In the next few weeks we’ll have a couple more… Read more »

Writing Rewards

Pavlov was onto something. The cliché says that writing is its own reward. And the cliché is true. However, a system of physical rewards for your literary triumphs can be a powerful motivator in helping you reach the goals you set yourself. Ideally, these rewards are a celebration, an inspiration and a motivation. They’ll not… Read more »

Measuring Success

When I was in college and graduate school, one of my favorite times of the year was the end of the semester. I’d take my exams and hand in those last big papers, then a few short weeks later I’d get a transcript spelling out my success in ABC’s. Even after I graduated and started… Read more »

Write It! Wednesday #3: Your Writing Superheroes

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about my writing superheroes, those people who have shown me what it really means to be a writer. What I’ve realized is that in writing (as it is with most heroic feats) it’s not always the people you think of as heroes that end up saving the day. More… Read more »

Write It! Wednesday #2: Do You NaNo?

Welcome back to Write It! Wednesday, where we ask a question and you answer either in the comments or on your own blog. Today I’m interested in hearing about your experiences with writing challenges like NaNoWriMo. For those of you who aren’t familiar with NaNo, it stands for National Novel Writing Month and it’s a… Read more »

Writer Under Deadline: Add Speed to Your Writing

For many of us, things would never get done without deadlines. Procrastination would forever delay the finished product. Deadlines tend to creep up quickly, though, and can add a huge amount of pressure to the writing process. As the cut-off date draws near, you might be looking for ways to speed up the writing process…. Read more »

Four Steps to a Winning Query

One of the many great things about the Backspace Agent-Author Seminar was that the agents really dug into the nitty-gritty details of how to write a query. The second day of the conference included three Query Letter Bootcamps in which a panel of agents would dissect query letters submitted by conference attendees. Here’s an inside… Read more »

Write It! Wednesday #1: What’s Your Logline?

For a while now, I have been wanting to make the experience a bit more interactive. I love giving you tips and how-to articles, but I also realize that you probably have a lot of things on your mind that you want to share, too. And I want to hear all about it! As I… Read more »

How to Write a Killer Logline

You’re at a your high school reunion and after exchanging pleasantries with your former classmates, someone asks that inevitable question: “You’re a writer? What’s your book about?” You stumble through a reply, explaining that it’s a character-driven coming-of-age story and that the main character is struggling to find love but finds herself instead… And then… Read more »