The Writing Life

Changes in the Wind

My loyal followers – the internet is confusing, right? First it’s blogging, then it’s Medium, and now it’s…what’s next? After viewing the landscape and talking with smart people, I really like Substack. I have been toying with switching my blog posts over to Substack, and now I believe this is the right thing for me… Read more »

What Is Hybrid Publishing?

And is it for you? As you probably already know, the publishing world is going through a huge transition. The big New York houses are combining (or trying to – most recently, a judge denied the proposed purchase by Penguin Random House of Simon and Schuster, that would have merged the two). Self-publishing has become… Read more »

Seven Books to Inspire Writers

I recently checked in with a writing client who feels stuck. She has three young kids, a full-time corporate writing job, has struggled with the aftereffects of a bout with Covid, and 2022 really kicked some dust in her path. All of this added up to a lack of creative energy (no surprise!) and I… Read more »

Never Give Up, Never Surrender!

One of my all-time favorite movies is Galaxy Quest. It’s a sharply funny spoof of one of my all-time favorite TV shows, Star Trek. I love the internal theme of Galaxy Quest, too: “Never give up, never surrender.” Whether it’s overcoming aliens or human foes or personal hurdles, it’s a great motto. What is Persistence?… Read more »

Happiest of Holidays!

The holidays are here and first and foremost, I want to thank you all for being loyal readers and friends. I love bringing craft knowledge to this blog. In fact, I love teaching so much that I’m putting more energy into creating content that I hope will help you fulfill your dreams. Whether you hope… Read more »

Write the Novel of Your Heart

A Masterclass for Middle Grade and Young Adult Writers Learn to write your novel at a fraction of the cost of an MFA! I’m super excited to introduce my upcoming Masterclass, with a start date of early spring 2023. The class is based on my 20 years in publishing, my craft education including an MFA… Read more »

Critiquing Your Writing: Who Does What For You?

Do you have critique partners? You’ve probably heard that the way to improve your writing is to have partners who will read your work and give you feedback. Yes, that’s certainly true, and I’ve had excellent partners through the years. But good critique partners can be hard to find, and matching up with the wrong… Read more »

Facing Your Fears

If you are struggling with your writing career – whether you have imposter syndrome, or are getting tons of rejections, or have the feeling that you’ll never write anything as good as the last book you read – you are surely fighting fears. I know these fears so well. In the “before times”, our local… Read more »

Why Are You Waiting?

If you have only one book under your belt and you haven’t sold it, should you keep going? Yes. I’ve met far too many writers who write the same book over and over and over and over…revising again and again…in the hopes that this book they’ve been working on, sometimes for years, is “the” one…. Read more »

How Long Does It Take to Write a Book?

I was having a conversation with some fellow book coaches recently when one of them described a client who was struggling. But the struggle wasn’t with plot or character or voice. It was with the idea that writing is a slow process, taking as long as it needs to take and sometimes a lot longer… Read more »