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self-doubt

Balancing Elements: How Can We Know the Right Amount?

Many rocks balanced on their ends with text: What's the Right Balance for Our Story?

I’ve offered several posts here about balancing various elements of our story, but there’s still room for debate because we have to find the right balance for our voice, genre, tone, and style—for our story. That means there is no perfect amount of backstory or description or emotion.

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September 15, 2016

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Do You Share Your Work in Progress?

Keyboard button labelled "Share" with text: Do You Share Your Work in Progress?

The stereotype of a writer pounding away in isolation ignores how the online writing community gives us more options. We can work in secrecy or involve others by sharing our work in progress. There’s no right or wrong answer, but we should figure out which approach works better for us.

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August 23, 2016

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Self or Traditional: Choosing Our Publishing Path

Pile of screws with text: Publishing: Thinking of Doing It Yourself?

Over the years, a sharp division has split the writing community into two camps: traditional publishing and self-publishing. However, the current us-vs.-them attitude doesn’t seem nearly as bad as it used to be. When writers research their options for which path they should take, what advice do they encounter now?

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August 16, 2016

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Can We Track Our Improvements in Writing Quality?

Tire tracks in sand with text: How Can We Track Our Progress?

The learning curve we face when deciding to become a writer is always longer than we think because we don’t know what all we don’t know. So how can we track our progress? How can we tell whether we’re improving? How can we feel good about our writing?

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May 31, 2016

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