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…
Author: Maggie Smith
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…
Diary of a NaNoWriMo Newbie – Part I
I’d always scoffed at folks who diligently signed up every November to pound out a new novel. I mean, I was a writer. It wasn’t a hard job, not like piloting a plane or finding a cure for cancer. All I had to do was put my butt in the chair, turn on my laptop,…