#1 Tool to Make You a More Productive Writer

Productivity has been on my mind a lot these past weeks. The new year always makes me want to reevaluate my creative process and push myself to become a more productive writer. This year in particular this topic has felt very relevant to me. Between launching DIY MFA 101 and getting ready for a new baby,… Read more »

The Perks of Small Press Publishing

a.k.a. Genius is my debut middle grade novel, published by the small press Pauline Books and Media. Changing how you see yourself can be challenging. For nearly seven years I saw myself through one lens – as a mom. A full-time, stay-at-home-with-my-three-little-ones mom. I am also a published author. That’s still hard to say. And… Read more »

What I Learned About Building a Book from Stuart Horwitz

Stuart Horwitz is the founder and principal of Book Architecture, a firm of independent editors based in Providence and Boston. Book Architecture’s clients have reached the best-seller list in both fiction and non-fiction, and have appeared on Oprah!, The Today Show, The Tonight Show, and in the most prestigious journals in their respective fields. Horwitz… Read more »

What I Learned from the Terrible Mind of Chuck Wendig

Chuck is the author of the published novels: Blackbirds, Mockingbird, Under the Empyrean Sky, Blue Blazes, Double Dead, Bait Dog, Dinocalypse Now, Beyond Dinocalypse and Gods & Monsters: Unclean Spirits. He, along with writing partner Lance Weiler, is an alum of the Sundance Film Festival Screenwriter’s Lab (2010). Their short film, Pandemic, showed at the… Read more »

What I Learned About the Publishing Industry from Porter Anderson

Porter Anderson is a journalist, speaker, and consultant specializing in publishing and its digital disruption. “Writing on the Ether,” his original weekly column on the industry, appears every Thursdays at JaneFriedman.com. His “Ether for Authors” column appears every Tuesday at Publishing Perspectives, the international site supported by Frankfurt Book Fair. A third franchise, London on the… Read more »

What I Learned About Finding Story Ideas from Julie Duffy

Julie Duffy is a writer and the host of StoryADay May, an annual creativity challenge for short story writers. Julie has also published two books for writers, BECOMING A BETTER WRITER, and BREAKING THROUGH WRITER’S BLOCK. Julie Duffy will be talking about the creative process at Lit Loft. Follow her twitter (@storyadaymay) or find StoryADay… Read more »

7DayStory: FREE Short Story Workshop and Q&A

Join me and Julie Duffy of StoryADay.org us for a FREE Short Story Workshop next week. We’ll be talking about the tiered revision process that inspired our collaborative project–7DayStory–and you’ll have a chance to ask both of us questions about writing, short stories, and the 7DayStory Challenge. Here are the details: 7DayStory Workshop and Q&A… Read more »

Self-Publishing Insights: Q&A With Victoria Noe

I first met Victoria Noe in a writer’s mastermind group and was immediately struck by her vision and drive. Viki has a specific group of people she wants to reach: people who have experienced the death of a friend. While there might be many grief books on the market, few–if any–that talk about grief from… Read more »

Self-Publishing Insights: Q&A with Eric DelaBarre

I had the pleasure of meeting Eric DelaBarre at Writer’s Digest Conference East (WDCE), where he spoke on several panels about his experience in self-publishing his middle grade novel SALTWATER TAFFY. Today he joins us as the first author in our Self-Publishing Insights Q&A Series. What I thought was especially interesting about Eric’s self-publishing experience… Read more »