A Scene with Purpose

Sep 12, 2021 | Blog, WIP, Writing, Writing Craft

Why did you just write that scene? You know the one I mean, the one where nothing really happens, but it was nice, or it connected two other scenes where stuff does happen? Or maybe you don’t know why you wrote the scene, it was just what happened next in the story....

A Plan for the New Year

Jan 3, 2021 | Blog, Business of Writing, Writing

While we’re all focusing on the end of this year, my mind has already moved on to next year. Yes, I know it’s only days away – in fact, by the time you read this, it will already have arrived. But in these waning days of the old year, I’m working on my business plan...

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...

What’s Your Marketing Goal?

Nov 8, 2020 | Blog, Business of Writing, Writing

Yesterday Pru Warren and I recorded a future episode of The Writers’ Block Party Podcast—we always record them about three weeks in advance of when we’re going to post it. The topic was how much money you should or could be spending on marketing—your marketing budget....

Planning, Journaling and Collaboration

Sep 29, 2019 | Blog, Life, Self-publishing, Writing

With the start of October, we move into something I hadn’t realized existed—Planner Season! Apparently, October is the time when people start thinking about what planner they’re going to use the following year. They look at all of the offerings out there and decide...