Your critique partners are frustrated with you, as are the few trusted friends you’ve allowed to read your novels over the years. They think your work is ready for submission, that you’re being over-critical—that you’re afraid of rejection. “What are you going to do,” they ask, “spend the rest of your life revising?” “Of course not,” you […]
Publishing and Marketing
The Synopsis. Yikes!
Okay. I’ve been putting this off for too long. Consider it an exercise in self-coaching, positive-imaging, or focusing on a targeted goal. I’m going to discuss the key to the gate for the unpublished writer–the synopsis. And what do I, a writer standing on the precipice, know about the synopsis? Well, for starters, I had a heck […]
Why Blog?
Jane Friedman’s April 26, 2010 post, Why Start a Website or Bog If You Have Nothing to Promote? jump-started my blog for today. According to Jane, “on-line media can divert your attention/focus from writing your work in progress and reading in your genre,” to which I say, “Of course. I haven’t touched my novel in days (although nothing can […]
Cart Before the Horse
I don’t claim to be an expert on writing, so take my advice for what it is, an opinion, informed by ten years of practice, with many missteps and occasional victories along the way. What I’ve discovered and want to pass on to you is that during all my years of studying the craft of fiction, I’ve […]
What are the Chances?
I must write and post this blog today. Tomorrow it will be too late. The sentiment will not be the same by then. Because then I’ll know… My husband and I are taking off in the morning, to a local casino. I told him I needed a distraction, BIG TIME. “Get me out of here,” […]
The Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award
Oh the innocence of the budding writer! Between the entry fee (somewhere around $20, I believe) and the postage (no electronic transmissions back then), I was a bit poorer for the experience. But I learned an important lesson: There are plenty of writers out there who have not only written novels, but have put in […]
