WRITER CRAFT WEDNESDAY – Writer’s Block And How To Manage It

Originally this was written for Savvy Authors in 2013, and then Leslie brought it back November 16th because she was struggling with NaNo. Reading through it, I saw a few places where I could expand on ideas better, so here is the revised edition of Breaking Through Writer’s Block!  …

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WRITER CRAFT WEDNESDAY – What To Do When You’re Stuck

Let’s practice a little visualization… You sit down in front of your computer today with 6,000 words written and the plan to write Chapter 3. You have your notes and your outlines. This is the perfect time of your writing day, and everything is how you need it to be…

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Writer Craft Wednesday – Draft by Draft: How Books Get Written

One of the first lessons a novelist learns is that writing a book is not like writing an essay in school. The dynamics are different. The time factors are different. The end results are different. The drafts are different. With an essay it’s common to finish a full draft of…

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How Stories Happen

Anyone who has publicly admitted to writing a book has heard the question, “Where do you get your ideas?” And, because we have a certain reluctance to admitting we pull full manuscripts from a cursed well in the forest under the light of a new moon, authors will often stumble…

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Why Don’t We Quit?

“Why are we doing this?” My crit partner looked back from the computer screen. She’s on spring holiday in Australia and we were Skyping to discuss plots, goals, and problems. “I dunno,” I said, which was eloquent for that time of night. Being best friends with someone on the other…

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How To Write A Query Letter

QUERY(n) – the letter a hopeful author sends to an agent or editor with the express wish of getting the manuscript off their desk and onto someone else’s publication schedule.   The query is an essential part of the publication process even for Indie Authors, it’s also one of the…

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