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How Tightly Do You Control Your Blog?

Royal castle guard at Stockholm

We’re in the middle of the Pitch Your Shorts pitch session with Entangled Publishing.  If you have a 10-60K word story with strong romantic elements, check out that post for details on how to pitch to six(!) editors. During the pitch session, I’ve had to lock down comments to make sure things run as smoothly as possible. […]

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January 12, 2012

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How to Use Holidays in Our Writing

Decorated star-shaped cookies

*Quick Reminder: I hope you’re all getting a 10-60K story ready for the Pitch Your Shorts pitch session coming January 10th.* Most of us have a favorite holiday (or two).  Sometimes we love a holiday because of the meaning behind the day.  Sometimes we love a holiday because of the celebrations (fireworks, being with family, wearing […]

December 29, 2011

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Are All Cheap Ebooks Crap?

two metal hooks stuck together in a brain teaser

In my last post, I asked how much people would be willing to pay for ebooks.  Most comments agreed with my thoughts: Ebooks should be less expensive than paper books because of DRM, ownership, quality, and physicality issues.  What surprised me, however, was the number of people turned off by $0.99 ebooks. The comment section […]

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December 20, 2011

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How to Keep Readers on Your Side

Blurred photograph of person punching toward viewer, only fist is in focus

We’re all being told that we need to have a platform, that we need to grow our platform, and that we need to use our platform.  Gah!  Does anyone else want to throttle the word “platform” after hearing it for the fifty-bajillionth time? The word diminishes the meaning of what a platform really is.  Our […]

December 8, 2011

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The Ultimate Gift Guide for Writers

Cartoon snowman holding wrapped gift box

The end of this week marks the unofficial beginning to the holiday shopping season in the United States.  Thursday is our Thanksgiving holiday, and the day after is known as Black Friday, the day retailers finally sell enough to put their accounting books “in the black” for the year. I’m not one of those who […]

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November 22, 2011

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Story Climax: The Whole Point — Guest: Victoria Mixon

Picture of Victoria Mixon

I’m excited to share today’s guest post by editor A. Victoria Mixon with everyone.  Her new book The Art & Craft of Story: 2nd Practitioner’s Manual recently came out and is a great addition to our writing craft library. In fact, her blog tour posts have been excerpts from this book, so we can get […]

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November 15, 2011

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Can You “Fast Draft”?

Draft stamp

Several writers I know have recently tried the “Fast Draft” method.  What is the Fast Draft method?  Fast drafting entails getting the framework of our stories down as fast as possible—without worrying what that draft looks like. Author Candace Havens says it’s possible to complete a first draft in two weeks.  *mind boggles*  Two weeks is […]

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November 8, 2011

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The Insanity Behind the Pressure to Have “Numbers”

Screen filled with ones and zeroes

Confession:  I broke one of the unwritten rules of the Writer Code. I ranted.  In public.  On an agent’s blog. And yet I’m still here to tell to the tale.  In fact, the agent responded to my comment and then—in a show of fantastic grace—emailed me to make sure I didn’t take offense.  We ended […]

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October 20, 2011

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Are Writers Entrepreneurs?

Neon open sign

Have you ever visited a restaurant where the food was fantastic, but the service was atrocious?  I’ve known several places like that.  People who love to cook might dream for years about opening their own place—and then once they do, the restaurant fails. Why?  Because the skill of being a good cook is different from […]

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October 6, 2011

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What Can Writers Learn from Spam?

Collage of @ symbols and envelopes

Those of you who follow me on Twitter might have seen me tweet quotes from spam comments posted to my blog.  If so, you might have noticed I get some very “interesting” comments. It’s gotten to the point that I look forward to reading spam comments.  Even more pathetically, I’m disappointed when they’re the usual […]

September 6, 2011

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