In appreciation of art

Apr 4, 2021 | Blog, Life, Writing

I know I’m supposed to write about the craft of writing or publishing, but for just a moment I’d like to pause and be grateful for art. Honestly, we are all artists. Writers create art with our words. It doesn’t matter what genre you write or how long your work is,...

Harsh Criticism

Jan 31, 2021 | Blog, Life, Writing

There is nothing harder than taking criticism. Having to sit back and read or hear someone else tear your hard work apart is not easy—for anyone. As writers, we are bombarded with criticism constantly. Our work is reviewed by complete strangers and posted publicly....

A Word for the Year Past and Ahead

Dec 28, 2020 | Blog, Life, Writing

The Washington Post had a fascinating article: they asked readers to describe the year past in one word or phrase, say why in a paragraph, and then say what they were looking forwar d to in 2021. There were so many fascinating replies. If you’ll indulge me, I shall...

Give Yourself a Holiday Gift

Dec 13, 2020 | Blog, Life, Self-publishing, Writing

As we get closer to the end of the year, it’s natural – and even expected – to pause and think of everything we achieved (or didn’t) in the past year. I took a few minutes to look back through my calendar. It has this lovely column to one side of each full-month...

Scheduling Your Work

Sep 27, 2020 | Blog, Life, Writing

So, tell me truthfully, how has this pandemic been going for you? Have you been able to keep your writing going? Have you spent more of your days sitting and staring out the window than actually tapping away at your keyboard? Has your writing been productive or have...

Getting it all done

Sep 13, 2020 | Blog, Business of Writing, Life, Writing

It is kind of sad, but being a professional author in today’s world means studying writing craft, keeping abreast of an ever-changing industry, publishing to social media at least once a day, sending out a monthly newsletter, running your own ads and other marketing...