Susan Spann Spring is the time “when a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love,” but in autumn, writers dream of contract offers. With the summer contract season over, and many authors “on submission” with agents and publishers alike, the delights—and dangers—of publishing contracts gain an important focus at this time of year. One […]

One of the first things aspiring authors hear is a laundry list of things they should be doing to ensure success. If you somehow missed those directives, here are the “right things” you should be doing: Join a writing group. There are quite a few organizations out there to help writers at every stage in […]

Literary Agent Carly Watters In the past year Twitter pitch contests are everywhere. There’s #PitchMas and #PitMad (which is next Tuesday: Sept 9th!) and many others for specific genres. I’ve done one with the Women’s Fiction Writing Association with the hashtag #WFpitch. Some writers are seasoned at it and it comes naturally. Others think: “140 […]

We decided to have a bit of fun on this first day of September (right after hyperventilating that we're already in September) and issue a friendly 9-1 flavored writing challenge. Here’s how it works: Go to your work in progress or upcoming release or recent release. Pick the 9th paragraph of chapter 1 OR the […]

Over the last couple of months I’ve noticed something disturbing on Facebook—lots of my writer friends have been attending writing retreats. Why disturbing? Because I haven’t been able to go to any (cue violins). I read once that a writing retreat is to creativity, what a good nights sleep is to physical well-being. With the […]