As fiction writers know, readers prefer reading material that evokes a feeling. But it may escape our attention that this also applies to the nonfiction promotional materials we write like book covers, introductions, flyers, author websites and bios. This promo material doesn’t need to be dry or boring. Like we do with fiction, we can…
Welcome back, everybody. Today we’ll talk about the care and feeding of your email list. But before we do that, let’s get something controversial out of the way. Blogging. Blogging became a really popular activity about fifteen years ago. In 2005 there were 50 million blogs on the internet. That number tripled by 2010. Clearly…
Last month I mentioned (I mean, announced) that I’ll be the guest writer/teacher next summer for Ireland Writer Tours. I got the invitation from Ireland Writer Tours organizer Fiona Claire a few months ago. As far as I was concerned, it came clear out of the blue. It was incredibly flattering. (A quick update: the…
I recently read Sue Miller’s new novel, Monogamy. (A good book. It haunted me for several days, as a compelling novel does.) In the foreword she says the book took six years to write. She thanks the many people who supported her and helped her through that time period. Then she thanks her characters for…
“Attention to detail is not about perfection. It’s about excellence.” – Chris Denny, Speaker, trainer All of life’s big moments are built from a series of seemingly insignificant details. You’ve lived them, and so have I. Many years ago I took a journalism class and my professor recorded me reading news material and delivered it…