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NaNo Prep: How Do You Get in Touch with Your Muse?

Crystal ball with text: How Do You Get in Touch with Your Muse?

In my last post, I explained that I’m a pantser (I write by the seat of my pants) because that’s the best way—for me—to hear my subconscious ideas of what to write. But maybe one reason why some of us are plotters and some of us are pantsers is because we all need to use different […]

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October 18, 2012

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NaNo Prep: Should Pantsers Be Plotters?

Two kids with ice cream, one looking envious, with text: Do All Pantsers Have "Plotting Envy"?

My friend Roni Loren has often mentioned that she has “plotting envy.” Like many pantsers (those who write by the seat of their pants), she wonders if her writing method is the best she could do. Pantsing can feel a little like magic—we trust our subconscious to come up with plot twists, character depth, and […]

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October 16, 2012

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NaNo Prep: Making Time for Writing

Hand pulling back a theater curtain with the text: What's Behind the Curtains that Keeps You Busy?

Many writers will spend the month of November dedicating every spare minute to writing as they participate in National Novel Writing Month (known as NaNoWriMo or just plain NaNo). So now is the perfect time to identify issues that could interfere with our writing goals. (And read on below for a class on “plotting for pantsers,” […]

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October 11, 2012

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Ask Jami: Do I Have to Take a Break from Writing?

Newborn baby with text: Does This Mean Goodbye to Your Writing Time?

As I mentioned in a recent post, people ask me for advice. I’m sure this would drive some people crazy, but I don’t usually mind it. I can be a very opinionated person, and I’m willing to share. *smile* When I get a great question I think could help others, I feature it in an  “Ask […]

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October 9, 2012

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Writing as Sculpture: Do You Build or Carve?

Michelangelo's David sculpture at night with text "Writing as Sculpture"

Writing is an art form, and yet I don’t usually think of myself as an artist. Maybe that’s because when I think of art, I think of visual arts (I draw stick figures) or musical arts (I don’t play an instrument or compose music). Logically, I know there are plenty of other forms of art, but […]

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October 4, 2012

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Goodbye, Feedburner! Hello, Ownership of Our Platform

Picture of Keys with text "Do You Own All the Pieces of Your Blog"

Months ago, I wrote about the death of Google Friend Connect (GFC). Many people who used the GFC social media and feed reading service couldn’t believe that Google would drop a service used by so many. When it died, people lost blog readers and newsletter subscribers. Rumors are swirling that Google is at it again, this […]

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October 2, 2012

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How Fake Reviews Hurt Everyone

Close up of fake fruit and text: "Reviews: Are They Real or Fake?"

I had the idea for this post over a month ago after seeing a Slate article about the “epidemic” of niceness in online book culture. Their point boiled down to whether all the friendliness on social media made people feel they couldn’t say bad things about books. I was going to write about how, yes, […]

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September 25, 2012

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The Inbox Explosion: How Do You Manage Yours?

Screen shot of email inbox

I fully admit that one of my weaknesses is an out-of-control email inbox. Between my accounts for writing and day job, I have an obscene number of unread emails. (As in, a hundred times the number depicted in this picture.) Granted, the vast majority of those unread emails are list digests and things that don’t […]

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September 20, 2012

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The High Bar of Finding an Agent or Publisher

Image of red carpet going up to a trophy with text "Is the Prize an Agent? Or Our Readers?"

I think this week might secretly be listed on agents’ and publishers’ calendars as National Rejection Week. *smile* Okay, not really. But judging from the online conversations I had with writing friends over the past couple of days, it certainly feels that way to many of us. In other words, the rejections were flying in […]

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September 18, 2012

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