Friday, October 23, 2020
Editing-Writing-Storyboard Dance--When to Do Each One to Create the Best Book
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One of my past clients has been working hard on her memoir. She emailed me a few weeks ago with a good question about the best rhythm for b...
Friday, October 16, 2020
When Your Characters Fade from the Page--Tips to Find Out Where and How to Revive Them
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Combing for new ideas, insights, and writing exercises to offer in my upcoming characters class on November 7 , I found a scratchy list I...
Friday, October 9, 2020
Poets and Writers New List of "Best Writing Books"--and My Personal Favs
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Around this time of year, maybe because the back-to-school energy has tempted me, I begin to look at buying another writing book or two. I...
Friday, October 2, 2020
Submitting to Contests: Worth It or Waste of Money and Time?
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A great way to get your writing out there, seen by readers and possibly your future agent (agents browse literary journals and magazines and...
Friday, September 25, 2020
When Your Book Has a Mission--How Do You Keep the Story Personal and Engaging?
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Mindy Greiling was a Minnesota state legislator when her son Jim threatened to kill her. It was his first psychotic episode. Mindy's n...
Tuesday, September 22, 2020
Character Names: How to Find the Ones That Feel Just Right
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A blog reader recently wrote me: "As I write a middle-grade mystery book on pet detectives, I have changed some character names three...
Friday, September 4, 2020
How Long Can You Go? Word Count Limit for First Books
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First-time authors who love epics, such as Tolkien or the Outlander or Game of Thrones series, often ask me about word count for their manus...
Friday, August 28, 2020
Using the Storyboard for Short Pieces as Well as Long
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Lila came to my remote "learn to storyboard your book" class to work on her novel. Recently, she emailed me, wondering if storybo...
Friday, August 21, 2020
Dealing with the Emotions of Writing Tough Memories
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Several clients have emailed me lately, asking how to deal with the flood of emotions that comes with writing memoir. "Memories bring b...
Friday, August 14, 2020
Distant Dialogue: Pros and Cons of Including Emails, Letters, Social Media Posts, Texts, Phone Calls, and Journal Excerpts in a Book
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Voices are only a small part of human communication. We read emotions via gestures, eye movement, and facial expressions, as well. In book...
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