You’re deeply in love with your quirky, witty, somewhat grumpy teenage protagonist. You know their faults, flaws, and strengths by heart, as well as what kind of viscous liquid sugar they drizzle (or don’t) over their coffee. You’re endeared by their crabby sense of humor, their mood swings, and their impatience with grown-ups. In fact,…
Having finally finished my (overdue) manuscript, I’m trying to get back into marketing. It just so happens that one of the author loops I’m on was recently discussing this subject. I immediately noticed that since the last time I paid attention, book marketing seems to have gotten more complex. There are so many more options….
There are iconic writing craft books—think Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird or Stephen King’s On Writing. And then there are many “also rans,” books that may not have garnered the acclaim or audience of such bestsellers. But wait! These are gems. They may hide in the shadows because the craft book shelf is crowded to…
Could you take your work in progress, change every single word—and still tell the same story? Is it possible to write a novel without one familiar, cliché phrase? Or description? Or scene? How do you guard against overusing tried and true verbiage? Stale descriptions? How do you turn a stereotype on its head? Do you…
I’m not the most coordinated person, so juggling physical objects would be an exercise in futility, and if they were sharp or heavy objects, probably a lot worse. But I’ve also found that juggling all the parts and pieces of my life can be just as hazardous to my health in this semi-post-pandemic time. We…