A book with no reviews is dead. I recently read that statement in a blog post by an indie author about the scarcity of reviews. The blogger also expressed the opinion that a book with no reviews is invisible to the ever-busy algorithms that govern the internet, and is therefore invisible to readers. I’m not … … Continue reading →| Story Empire
You wouldn’t think a productive writer would have to worry about monsters. But sometimes, just when you’ve cleared your schedule, opened your laptop, and promised yourself you’ll finally get that chapter (or email or video) done, something cold and invisible slinks up behind you. Suddenly, you’re scrolling instead of writing, reorganizing your Scrivener folders, and […] The post What Kind of Writing Monster Is Lurking in Your Brain? appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.| WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®
By Ren Cedar Fuller In the fall of 2020, my child, Indigo, flew back to their East Coast college. During a weekend phone call, I told them about a writing class I was taking online through Hugo House, and asked, “What would you think of me writing about the golden afternoon?” I meant the day […]| The Brevity Blog
By Lainy Carslaw Ever since I was old enough to pick up a pen, I knew I wanted to be a writer. I would lock myself in my room, creating stories from my imagination and journal entries about my day. Though, I knew I had something to say, it took me a long time to […]| The Brevity Blog
By Allison K Williams Do you need an MFA to be a published writer? Heck no! But you do need an education. Develop your writing craft, test your queries, analyze proposals, learn about marketing and publicity, build your literary community. The best part? A lot of this information is free. Some education is time-sensitive. Today […]| The Brevity Blog
By Meg Robson Mahoney I settle with my coffee at the front of the house and gaze out the window. The dogwood tree is dropping its cherries, round, red, calling to be swept away. Beyond the windowpane, a hummingbird hovers over pink blossoms on my abelia bush, which needs to be trimmed. But the garden […]| The Brevity Blog
I’ve lost count of the poems I’ve written. I’ll say many, still not as many as I’d like to. Someday, perhaps. … More Someday, Perhaps| Void Thoughts
If you’d like to receive my blog in your in-box each week, click here. This morning I received an email from an author I’ve been working with on a multiple-pass edit wanting to cancel the rest of our contract, saying that she’d lost faith in her story and her ability to write it and had to...| FoxPrint Editorial
“What If No One Ever Publishes My Work?” If you’re worried that no publisher will pick YOUR novel, you’re not alone. This is a fear I’d venture 100% of authors have … and of course, it may even come true. Most of us will have at least one book we query that does not sell! […] The post How To Push Past The Fear of Never Getting Published appeared first on WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®.| WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®
By Michele Cantos Garcia When I was still a new writer searching for my voice at writing workshops, I was overcome with a conviction that I should apply to artist retreats and fellowships. Earning …| The Brevity Blog
Yesterday was such a long day that I couldn’t publish anything. I sat down to write at night and almost finished a piece of fiction. I was happy to have penned something in my book, but... … More One Day at a Time| Void Thoughts
Discover why all stories are myth at their core—and how recognizing archetypal patterns can transform your writing, your characters, and the reader’s psyche.| Helping Writers Become Authors
If you’d like to receive my blog in your in-box each week, click here. Over dinner with friends the other night, I commented in conversation that I had recently deleted all the social media apps off my phone. Their eyes got big. “Wow,” one said. “Good for you,” the other ch| FoxPrint Editorial
I was elated when I received an acceptance for my short story “Casey.” But seeing the critique that followed, I was horrified to learn this story housed an entire menagerie of unwanted editorial pets—words, phrases, and grammatical constructions. | Black Fox Literary Magazine
Every member of my book club has decided to list our top 25 novels of all time, and in the spirit of that disclosure, I decided to make mine public here at Bookfox. A list of the most important books is like a horoscope reading of your soul. Give me someone’s list, and I’ll tell […] The post My Favorite 25 Novels of All Time appeared first on Bookfox.| Bookfox
I did not read as many books as I would have liked this year, but I still read 70. That’s a dip from last year’s total of 100, but in my defense, I did midwife a number of books of other authors through developmental editing and publishing. I also finished editing my own novel, which […] The post Year in Reading (2023) appeared first on Bookfox.| Bookfox
I’ve been feeling it for a while now—that dull, uninspired thud when the credits roll on modern storytelling. More and more, movies in particular leave me feeling unmoved and oddly detached. Bored, really. Once upon a time, I’d walk out of the theater buzzing. I’d carry that story around with me for days, sometimes weeks. […] The post What’s Happened to Modern Storytelling? (+ 6 Ways Storytelling Can Find Its Soul Again) appeared first on Helping Writers Become Authors.| Helping Writers Become Authors
How much of our lives do we regard as items on our to-do list? We often speak of obligations, responsibilities, duty—all the things we have to take care of before we can allow ourselves to work on what we want to. But the truth is, as the cliché goes, the only things we have to do are die and pay taxes (and judging by the loophole-riddled tax returns of high-profile billionaires and government officials, the latter is apparently optional too). Most things in our lives are things we choose ...| FoxPrint Editorial
Mood words are a controversial part of today’s writing. Used well, they can take your prose to an entirely new level.| The Write Life
By Michele Cantos Garcia “I’m 70 and single again,” the glamorous actor-turned-writer read tenderly from her notes. It was her first time in a memoir class—and my first time teaching it—but she alr…| The Brevity Blog
As creatives we are constantly facing choices—many of them in our art blessedly malleable, at least until we’ve published our stories (and even after that, if we indie publish). If you don’t like one path you’ve sent your character down, you can hit delete and let them travel a n| FoxPrint Editorial
Hello, SE’ers!!! It’s Jan here again with another deep dive into a specific color and how we can use it to show more about our characters or enhance our settings in fiction writing. Tod…| Story Empire
By Diana Friedman In 1971, my mother published her first book—a Dell Pocketbook guide to employment for female liberal arts graduates. I spent my childhood watching her hunch over her typewriter, p…| The Brevity Blog
If writers don't consume stories with intention, who will? Here are 7 mindful habits to read more intentionally and get more from stories.| Helping Writers Become Authors
There’s a time-honored, romantic image of authors: the solitary genius who lives within the rich worlds in their heads, pecking away at their keyboard in their little attic hideaway or stolen corner of their home, or sitting alone at a busy coffeeshop insulated from the bustle around them with heads bent over their laptops, lost in their own imagination. In almost all cases the recurring motif is solitude, the artist making their art in isolation, the pure act of creation that springs from ...| FoxPrint Editorial
Greetings to one and all. Beem Weeks here with you again. This month, I’m looking at the difference between inspiration and craft. Though they are not the same, both are integral parts of co…| Story Empire
For anyone considering cowriting: always communicate more than you think you need to. And remember, it’s not a competition—it’s a duet.| WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®
By Stephanie Mitchell I had been coaching a memoir writer for six months and my client was three-quarters done with the first draft when she told me she was quitting. It had been a difficult road—h…| The Brevity Blog
Intentional storytelling means making creative choices with purpose. Here’s why that matters more than ever in an AI-driven content world.| Helping Writers Become Authors
You might not realize that if you go too long without a break, you can show signs of your writing dedication with writer's callus.| The Write Life
Your favorite introverted author would love your help (though they might not ask). Here is one way you can begin. The post 10 Ways to Help Your Favorite Introverted Author—Day 1: The Basic appeared first on Tweetspeak Poetry.| Tweetspeak Poetry
We’d love to shout these from the rooftops, but here’s how to educated your own loved ones in a less-dramatic fashion.| The Write Life
Writing starts out as pure enjoyment, but it's a skill that is far more involved and complex than it may initially seem. This past week I spoke with a writer who has literally decades of experience and is a major bestselling author. She's on her third pass of the manuscript we'| FoxPrint Editorial
Here are 8 ways researchers know creativity can be kindled. Plus, four ways T. S. Poetry makes it simple for you to do the kindling.| Tweetspeak Poetry
These organizations want to support your writing with writing grants. Yes, really! Here are the details and how to apply. Updated for 2025.| The Write Life
Love your book come edit time| A writer's journey...
You’ve finished your first draft and now it’s time to really get to work. The “play” time of creating a story and following along with your characters has ended—or has it?| A writer's journey...
Have you ever read a book and noticed that a certain| A writer's journey...
Since my last post, I attended another writing retreat (this time at Catwalk), completely restructured my novel, and started a new job as “Story Advisor” at Greenpeace International. It’s a dream position in every way. I spend my days doing conceptual narrative work, teaching storytelling to activists, and also taking part in concrete campaigning to save the...| Tsering Yangzom Lama
I’ve just returned from an artist residency in rural Oregon. Arriving at Redmond Airport, I met a fellow resident (and now friend), rented a car, and drove with her for two hours until our cell phone signals disappeared. The drive to Summer Lake featured long stretches of empty desert roads flanked by enormous mountains sweeping up to the sky.| Tsering Yangzom Lama
So often we're busy measuring our lives and our success by the lacks--what we haven't accomplished yet, our goals that we feel we've fallen short of. But what if we flip that around—look not at the empty space in our glass, but how much we've managed to fill it?| FoxPrint Editorial
Our September Come to Your Senses retreats here in Collioure are now behind us. Our writers arrived without a hitch (thank God) — rested relaxed, opened their minds and senses, enjoyed spectacular food, and viewed their writing through a fresh lens. Because even in a magic village in France, life is still life, there were a few glitches. Someone lost her luggage (or rather, KLM did), someone got lost in the vineyards (yes, we found her) and more than one person survived an impressively larg...| Karbohemia
Looking forward to a life-changing experience? One that transforms your writing as well as your sense of yourself as a writer? That’s fun and relaxing, but also meaningful and soul-stirring? That puts your merciless day-to-day slog on hold so you can take a breath? That lowers your cortisol levels, boosts your immune system, improves your well-being, and upgrades your Instagram feed? (Serious, you should see the light here.)| Karbohemia
We just put the last retreat participants in a taxi, headed to the train station in Perpignan. Our 2021 Come to Your Senses writers could not have been a more lovely group of humans. They could not have written with more courage, sensitivity, and humor. They wrote about: growing up in the Caribbean; attending a “scream-camp” in Germany; the disappointment of receiving an “Infant of Prague” baby Jesus statue for Christmas as a child; their troubled mothers, their ridiculous fathers, th...| Karbohemia
Before I moved to France in May 2019, everyone said, “In a year you’ll be fluent!” It is now August 2021, and I’m not talking pretty yet. I have good days, when I’m able to string together three or four sentences, and I can say “Beh oui!” and shrug and roll out my lip comme un pro, but I’m not even fluent-adjacent. You could say I’m conversational, if the conversation is with a friendly dog.| Karbohemia
No one knows how to vacation better than the French. Unlike the Spanish and the Italians, who are sort of always half-vacationing, the French work hard during non-holiday/non-vacation times. They would never admit this. If you were dangling a Frenchman over a cliff by his ankles, demanding in your high-school French that he fess up to working as hard as any American, he would rather take his chances, counting on his beret to cushion his fall. (I jest: no French person I know wears a beret, no...| Karbohemia
