Imagine finishing your book manuscript and sending it out to agents and then publishers--and getting a big YES!  You've sold your bo...

This week I'm taking a rest break from my book.  I'm still thinking about it, still mulling over its many problems, but I have r...

Still life.  A painting term for something captured in time.  Frozen, unmoving, maybe even perfect.  Looks pretty.  Gets a little borin...

Writing a book is hard work.  So it helps to get help--anything that has worked before.  What makes a story satisfying?  What keeps us r...

Writers who take on a book learn that it is always connected to their lives, some way, somehow.  Even if the story is about another pl...

My April 2 dialogue workshop is almost sold out, so I wanted to give those of you who are coming (and anyone who can't come) a jump s...

This spring, two major writing conferences happen.  One is the annual AWP (Associated Writing Programs) conference in Minneapolis on Apri...

Imagine a publisher sitting in front your manuscript.  By some wild luck, and your hard work, it has arrived in his or her hands.  Now i...

We were taught in school a three-part structuring tool:  Tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what...

This two-part post discusses the two phases of book building.  If you missed part 1, just scroll down. How do you know you are in th...