Category: How To and Tips
What If Your Sister Wrote A Novel And It Sold More Copies Than Yours?
What if your sister wrote a novel and it sold more copies than yours? I’m sure you love your sister – of course you do! – but how would you feel if she suddenly decided to start writing novels when that has always been your territory? And what if her debut received better reviews and […]
I Am An Author But Not Who You Think I Am!
A few years ago, someone commented on my Facebook post, “Sweta, you must be ready to retire now that your poetry book has become an Amazon bestseller”. According to this person, my royalty payments, from my poetry collection, would keep me smoothly sailing for the rest of life. I laughed so hard at the irony […]
How Ghosts, Activism and a Psychic Saved My Writing: Reflections on keeping the faith
Like so many authors with full-time day jobs, my writing time was limited, rigorously scheduled and precious. I wrote in the spare moments my busy psychotherapy practice allowed me. And then I had an opportunity to take a three-month sabbatical. Just before the break, I had arranged for a few people to read a draft […]
The Complexity of Relationships
Relationships are complicated things, in both fiction and real life. I usually write romance novels, where the heroine meets a hunky male, they’re both attracted to each other but there is some conflict that keeps them apart, until finally the conflict is resolved and they profess their love for each other and often get married. […]
10 Avoidable Mistakes When Writing Your First Book
I have completed five books now (four have been published, the other should be out next year) and every single time I have made avoidable mistakes. Each time I start a new book, I remember the mistakes of the previous book and vow not to make those. Then I make other ones instead. One of […]
The Joy of Infusing Fiction with Heart and Heritage by Tori Eldridge
As fiction writers, we spend a tremendous amount of time living in a make-believe world of our own construction. When we’re not doing that, we’re often lost in addictive research on topics that are incredibly fascinating, at least to us. It’s a wonderful way to live, and we’re fortunate to have this creative expression in […]
LISTENING WITH COURAGE: HOW I NAVIGATE BETWEEN MIDDLE-GRADE, YA, AND ADULT WRITING
By Heather Mateus Sappenfield I write a story listening carefully to how it needs to be told, regardless of genre. Its narrator usually ushers a tale from what seems the back to the front of my noggin, and it tends—unlike most folks—to arrive in near entirety, with all the big movements in place. The details […]
What Makes Writing Exciting?
Having spent more time at home over the last few month than, well, ever, I’ve had a bit of time to reflect on what keeps writing exciting for me, and what I learned along the journey. My head has always been filled with stories and I started writing them down as a kid. Something would […]
Even Your Memoir Is Not All About You By Michele Weldon
Refrain from the use of “I.” That writing advice may seem hypocritical coming from the author of two memoirs and a new book of personal essays, but even in the most intimate episodes of baring your soul in your writing, readers do not need the constant reminder that it is you writing about yourself. They […]
Pen Pals – Five Ways Authors Can Show the Love
Publishing is a highly competitive industry, with more than 60,000 books expected to be published this fall season alone. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when your book is on the verge of a breakthrough but your efforts to promote it are threatening to break you as well. Whether traditionally or self-published, we’ve all been there, […]
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