Where Normal Need Not Apply
First of all, huge thanks to everyone who answered my poll questions last week about how you use blogs. Hopefully, the high participation rate means the results will be helpful to all of us. In fact, due to the abundant and informative feedback in comments and tweets, I’ll be dividing […]
Should authors blog? We’ve all seen this question in some form or another. Some wonder if agents expect it. (Not yet but close.) Others want to know if it will help build that elusive platform. (It can.) But I propose another reason to blog: training your muse. My regular readers […]
Help! I need you. Don’t panic, I need only your answers on some polls. I think these questions could help all bloggers understand how their readers are accessing and using their content, and I’ll share the results once the poll is done. For those of you reading this via email […]
To prevent being overwhelmed by Twitter, one suggestion you’ll hear over and over is to use a program like TweetDeck to manage all those tweets by creating lists. But did you know you can also use lists to become a Twitter Ninja? It’s true. But before we get into the […]
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We all have to deal with rejection in our lives, and it hurts to not get the job we want, the relationship we want, or the agent we want. In fact, it sucks. But as trite as it sounds, it really is better to try and fail than to not […]
Today is Thanksgiving in the U.S. The day we eat too much food, roll our eyes at the antics of our extended family, and think about all the things we’re grateful for. Or in my case, have epiphanies. So there I was, trying to think about my manuscript’s last-minute revisions […]
In the comments of my last post about how to make online friends, several people mentioned they had trouble jumping into conversations on Twitter, so I promised a follow-up post. Believe me, I get it. Many of my school years can be summed up by this picture—being left out. Been […]
In my last post, I talked about the awesome and supportive writing community. Based on the comments, a lot of people agree. It’s great to have friends when you’re feeling up, down, or all alone. But what if you’re not sure how to join that community? Thanks to Laurie London, […]
First, let me say: No, I don’t mean this blog title sarcastically. I really have made some great friends in the writing sphere. Some of them are further along in the process than I am (agented, or even published), but I honestly wish only the best for them. Even my […]
Okay, what have we learned from the big series on creating strong characters? To feel realistic, characters need to have goals, a delusional self-image, multiple personalities, flaws, and a reason for their actions. Hmm… All that makes them sound a touch crazy, doesn’t it? (Not as crazy as I am, […]
