The lack of pressure before becoming a bestselling author

There’s an interesting interview with the British, bestselling women’s fiction author Jojo Moyes in this month’s Writer’s Digest. In her interview, Moyes speaks about the lack of pressure before writing her most successful book, You Before Me. Before that best-seller, Moyes had written numerous books and had a large and loyal following, but her breakthrough…

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A happy writing year to all you fellow writers out there!

On this FIRST day of 2016, wishing all you writers who may follow my blog a wonderful new year filled with challenging and exciting story ideas, effortless revisions, and the knowledge that you have lots of support through your sweat and tears from fellow writers who are cheering you on. The writing itself may be…

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Beyond the idea…

“But the truth is, it’s not the idea, it’s never the idea, it’s always what you do with it.” Neil Gaiman   I recently read (and loved) this quote from author Neil Gaiman. Gaiman, whose work spans such a wide range of genres and age categories, surely knows a thing or two about how to…

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The devil’s in the details

“Making people believe the unbelievable is no trick; it’s work … Belief and reader absorption come in the details: An overturned tricycle in the gutter of an abandoned neighborhood can stand for everything. Or a broken billboard. Or weeds growing in the cracks of a library’s steps. … The details are always the starting place in…

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400 posts … and still going strong

Excuse me a moment of crowing. But after almost four years of blogging, I’ve reached my 400th post, and sometimes it’s worth it to simply stand back and pat ourselves on the back for managing to do what we set out to do… and to reflect on how we got here. Back in  2012, I…

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Hope all you NaNoers have gotten a running start

To all writers out there participating in National novel Writing month (NaNoWriMo), the annual writing marathon, here’s  hoping you’ve gotten a great start to your month-long scribbling challenge. Just like a real marathon, it’s important to pace yourself and to just keep going, even if you don’t feel you’re doing as well as you should.…

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You’ve finished writing your book. Now what?

The always helpful Writer’s Digest has a great post up: 7 Things to Do After Finishing Your Book. Authors – fairly enough – consider their first job to be writing their books. But today you have to be a master-of-all-trades when it comes to promoting your writing career. So you’ve finished your book and broken…

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November’s almost upon us. Will you be NaNo-ing?

We’ve arrived once again, fellow writers. November is just around the corner, and you know what that means… For a small group of writers (and those, like me, who cheer you on from the sidelines),  it means the annual challenge known as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) This insane inspiring novel-writing challenge asks writers to…

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Authors – are you dedicated to content marketing?

Literary agent Rachelle Gardner had an excellent post on her blog entitled ‘What the heck is content marketing?’ Content marketing may sound like a confusing term, but it really means attracting loyal readers to the content on your blog and social media. Writers should find this easy, since they love to write for wide audiences.…

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Robert Frost was a pantser, too?

I have never started a poem yet whose end I knew. Writing a poem is discovering. ~ Robert Frost Who knew – poet Robert Frost was a pantser (a.k.a. non-plotter), too? I’m always interested to read about techniques of various authors: some are meticulous plotters, while others are unabashed pantsers. It never fails to surprise…

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