Penny Sansevieri What is an elevator pitch and why do you need one? An elevator pitch is a short one- to two-sentence description about the book. It's the briefest of the briefest descriptions you can develop. The reason elevator pitches are important is that we have an ever- shrinking attention span, so you need to […]

 Tiffany Yates Martin Writers love their brains: We exploit our highly evolved prefrontal cortex to infuse our prose with dazzling verbiage and transport our reader to the world of our creation. Yet for creating tension—one of the most important elements of compelling fiction—nothing beats the lowly amygdala: the primordial lizard brain that handles the most […]

Vaughn Roycroft Certain I’m Uncertain: I don’t know squat. Not about writing. There, I said it. Glad that’s out in the open. I came upon this realization while pondering what I could share here, as a guest on Writers In The Storm (thanks for having me, ladies!). Yep, while seeking some sort of solid ground, […]

Heather Webb How many posts can we read on writing advice? I’ve read hundreds, yet I always come back for more. Why is that? Besides being passionate about improving my craft, for me, it’s about inspiration. I’m always hoping to find a little nugget to light a fire under my feet or change my view […]

Susan Spann  In recent months, I’ve seen the resurgence of several terrible publishing “offers” that business-savvy authors should learn to recognize and avoid. Some people might call them “scams” – though these particular “deals” are legal if an author signs them. They remind me of my law school contracts professor’s warning that “you can make […]