In his early 20’s my dad was a beat reporter for the Kettering-Oakwood (KO) Times, a small local paper near Dayton, Ohio. It was there that he learned the proper way to dangle a Viceroy from his lips while yelling out of the corner of his mouth and pounding on a typewriter. He was ambitious,… Read more »
In the last four months, I’ve gone from a writing obsessed hobbyist to a querying hobbyist to an agented writer to a writer with a book on submission. Seeing my endless hours of toiling bear fruit is exiting and wonderful. But it’s also terrifying. Giving up control of my book has been hard. I never… Read more »
One of the best parts of BEA is all the free stuff. I mean, let’s be honest. It’s a bookworm’s dream. You get to meet your favorite authors, and get free, signed copies of their books. In some cases, these are ARCs (advanced reader copies). In other cases, they’re the actual, finished books. Yes. For… Read more »
You’ve sweated through your drafts, labored countless hours by candlelight, walking to your writing shed 10 miles through the snow, with nothing but your five year old Converse. Well, maybe not, but it was freakin’ hard, just the same. You’re finally done. At least as done as you’re gonna get. You can’t make it any… Read more »
So you want to be a better writer, huh? You’ll need to read. A lot. And not just books on the craft (of writing), but books in every genre, targeting every age group. Books will teach you to be a better writer. How, you say? Pull up a chair and I’ll share. Here is a… Read more »
With the publishing landscape changing, there is a heavy focus on the author platform. As writers, we are no longer required to just write. We need to write, master social media, maintain a spiffy website, and populate a blog. We have to become real people to our readers and potential readers. The world requires more… Read more »
When I was a kid, books were like my third parent. I absorbed the wholesome lessons of loyalty to friends, obedience to parents and faith in myself as if a stack of children’s novels were my personal guide to life. At the time, I didn’t consider the impact that children’s literature would have on me… Read more »
So you’re putting in the work and growing your author platform. High fives. But whether you’ve decided it’s time to become a master of all things Pinterest or simply resolved to tweet once every single day, the demands of maintaining a platform can easily become overwhelming. Don’t worry, it’s not you, it’s the Internet. But… Read more »
In our kick-off article for Developing Themes In Your Stories, we explored character arc themes and how planning your protagonist’s arc in advance can help determine possible themes. Today, we’ll focus on a second way to consciously nurture themes in our stories: the premise. Like last time, this discussion includes brainstorming and writing activities you… Read more »
BEA is one of the year’s biggest book conferences, bringing together writers, editors, publicists, bloggers, agents and basically anyone else working in or around the publishing industry, for three jam-packed days. Whether you’ve been every year or haven’t ever gone before, here are a few things to keep in mind to make your BEA experience a… Read more »
