When I say comfort is the enemy, I’m not talking about how cozy your writing nook is, but how we as writers sometimes get stuck in a safe place. Whether that safe place is a genre, a series, a book, or even our tribe. I’ve seen writers work on their first book for years,…
Tag: Books
Scraping Your Plate
When I first signed my book with a small press, I knew I was being slingshotted into fame. When it did not happen, I blamed myself, my marketing efforts, even my talent for not becoming an overnight sensation. The duty to get my name out there sapped all joy I once found in crafting a…
Meet the IWOTY Finalist: Stephanie Reisner
How did you conceive the idea for your latest novel? My work in metaphysics brings some really bizarre emails to my inbox. In recent years I’ve received several threatening emails, allegedly from various secret societies/Satanic cults, that promise everything from curses to bodily harm. So naturally, when I received the most recent one last summer,…
Writing Effective First Lines
It is #IndieApril in the Twitterverse, and RMFW has a robust list of independently published authors. While I plan on spending all month promoting this talented group of writers, I wanted to talk specifically about how they approach the art of first lines. There are countless ways to start a story, but the best is…
I did it my way (and you should do it yours)
Decades ago, a slick-covered magazine catering to the libidinous interests of some folks published a short story of mine—my first published work—for which I received 75 dollars. That publisher, as well as a couple more, said yes to additional short story submissions and, certainly proud of those achievements, I cut out the cover pages for…