Category: How To and Tips
Finding Your Blocks, By Jeanne Felfe
My mom was a writer. Like many of us, she had big dreams. Hers were never realized; at least not the way she wanted them to be. She passed away in 2012 with her life’s work—a memoir focused on multi-generational child abuse—sitting in a folder in a drawer, turned down by every publisher. This was […]
My Mother’s Last Words: Finish Your Writing
Jane Gilmartin On the day I turned 50, I found myself sitting at my first ever novel writing workshop at Grub Street in Boston. I had secured the last remaining spot in the class only the afternoon before, a gift from my husband. I remember surveying the other eleven faces around that table and feeling […]
5 Ways To Improve Your Writing Through Technology
5 Ways To Improve Your Writing Through Technology Technology has become a part of all aspects of daily life, including writing. No longer do writers waste hundreds of thousands of pieces of paper drafting the perfect piece of writing. Instead, today writing is increasingly moving into the digital world. Here we explore five ways technology […]
Writing Romance, Facts and Myths
Before I get down to telling you why I write romance, I’m going to start by answering the question, why write at all? In my case, it was largely down to Mrs Thatcher. No, I wasn’t inspired by her, but her policies were definitely a catalyst. You see, only a couple of years before my […]
On Being A Writer
When I dreamed of becoming a writer many, many years ago, I swung between it being an unachievable goal and imagining myself walking into bookshops and seeing my books on the shelves. However, all of that all got put aside as life took over. When I revisited my dream some forty years later, with the […]
How Important is Self-Care for Writers?
At a recent networking event I was asked by a new writer how I managed my mental and physical health when I was locked in my writing cave for hours on end. It was a great question and one I could thankfully answer with ease. If we rewind a couple of years I would have […]
IF NOT NOW, THEN WHEN? – Laura Stroud
There is a rumour running rife on the internet that 97% of writers don’t ever finish their novels. This terrifies me. I’ve sat staring at a blank screen for hours on end, wondering when the words will come. But I’ve always had the vision of a finished draft spurring me on. So many of us […]
Why Winter Is A Great Time To Write
If you look at Mother Nature, autumn is when the leaves start to fall. Letting go is the mantra and underlying message of the season. By the time winter arrives, trees become bare. Winter is a time when nature’s energy withdraws back unto herself. We see fewer birds in the sky. Days become shorter. The air becomes […]
My Path to Publication: A Long and Winding Road
I was probably eight when I discovered I could lose myself in words, and from there it wasn’t long till I hunkered down in my bedroom and devoured every novel my mother owned because I’d already torn through every age-appropriate book available to me. She eventually opened a Book-of-the-Month Club account just so she could […]
Top Tips to Network Your Novel to Publication
Top Tips to Network Your Novel to Publication If you just finished your novel, you’re probably now thinking of the publication process. The reality is that even the most introverted of authors need to start networking for the publication process. Publishing is an industry of networking and having the right connections from beginning to end. […]
Recent Comments