My writing life began late in life. I had to catch up, make up for lost time writing, but I also had to catch up finding my writing tribe. Perseverance won the day, as it does, but it’s hard to recognize that while no obvious goals are met. It’s a matter of hope and faith,… Read more »
So, is Twitter dead? Just try Googling it—the headlines aren’t pretty. For writers, the agonizing decline of our digital public square hits hard. The #PitMad pitch competitions were excellent for getting agent attention. You could have real conversations with publishers and famous authors. It was a place to create genuine #writingcommunity, breaking down the high… Read more »
As an independent author, you’re more than the person who writes words in a novel. Once you choose to go the self-publishing route, you inadvertently choose to also become a self-employed entrepreneur. As such, you now wear every hat for all the departments of your business. This includes wearing the marketing and sales hats. This… Read more »
Just as a high-stress job can lead to Sunday Scaries as the dreaded Monday deluge approaches, many authors experience what I call Book Promotion Scaries as a launch date for a new book nears. In fact, I don’t think I know a single author who doesn’t get a case of nerves from putting their newest… Read more »
Over a decade ago, in one of my first college writing workshops, I commented that a story’s eclectic vocabulary jarred me out of its narrative. The author’s suave, privately-schooled best friend was in our class, and he volleyed my critique back: “It would’ve taken seconds to look up aquiline on your iPhone.” I had a… Read more »
In the fall of 2016, after I had been living abroad for five years, my second child was born. My husband, two daughters, and I were living with my mom. I had no friends. I was exhausted, lonely, bewildered, and often angry. The world had shifted around me, and I no longer understood it.I felt… Read more »
Five years ago, if someone told me, “You will translate Romanian poetry into English,” I’d have said, “Who? Me?! You’re crazy.” Sadly, I speak only one language – English – fluently. But life and opportunity will forever have their way. Let me tell you a story. In high school, I was a serious student with… Read more »
“Write beautifully, with a strong, distinctive voice, and have a premise worthy of such great writing.” These words–from my own agent (Jeff Kleinman at Folio Literary Management)–are probably the best advice I’ve ever received as a writer. After all, the #1 way to improve your odds of getting published is to write a great book so… Read more »
Lately, writing conferences have been buzzing with this idea of the author entrepreneur. Writer’s Digest Conference East earlier this month was no exception. One theme came up again and again and it was this idea of writers as entrepreneurs. Self-publishing is no longer a synonym for vanity publishing. Authors have more options than ever before… Read more »
Writing can be lonely work. As writers we spend most of our time working alone so a community of like-minded creative people can bring a ray of social light to an otherwise solitary existence. But how do you go about finding that magical group of writers to call your own? How do you find a… Read more »
