There’s nothing worse than feeling as though your writing career is out of your control, that others are in charge of your fate. For many of us writing is our second career. In “real life” we’re lawyers, accountants, police officers, teachers, entrepreneurs, retailers, and scientists. For myself, I spent years as the CEO of a…
Author: Maggie Smith
What Photography Can Teach You About Writing
Three years ago, my photography instructor gave our class this assignment: spend a day taking pictures which, when put in the right order, tell a story. And coincidentally, the next Sunday I was set to attend my first Green Bay Packers game at Lambeau Field, where we were pitted against our decades-old rival, the Chicago…
How to Be a Top-Notch Podcast Guest
This month I hosted my 78th interview for Hear Us Roar where my guests are debut authors of women’s fiction, so it’s a perfect time to share some tips from the last 2+ years about using this medium as part of your book marketing package. As of February 2021, there are 1.75 million podcasts out…
5 Guidelines for Writing a Helpful Critique
Last week my writing buddy sent me her new novel and asked for my feedback. This is the one I’ve been hearing about for a year, the novel she’s written that’s closest to her heart, and the one I feel will earn her a deal with a major publisher. And it got me thinking about…
Diary of a NaNoWriMo Newbie – Part II
Last month I shared that I’d signed up for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short). I’d never done it before, but thought I’d give it a try. So first things first. I WON! (okay, hundreds of thousands of writers did, but I was one of them). I wrote 50,111 words during the month of…