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 […]

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 […]

@OrlyKonigLopez “Strong writing, great story, but I just didn’t love it.” Any writer who’s had a manuscript on submission with an agent and received a similar reply, knows that banging-head-on-table feeling. And haven’t we all whined back at the computer at some point, “But you liked it. Come onnnnnn”? How can an agent like your […]

@OrlyKonigLopez Show of hands … who’s had a recent stare-down with your computer, muttered politically incorrect things at the blinking cursor and blank page, then proceeded to clean the toilet, weed the garden and the neighbor’s garden, fill the car with all those boxes collecting in the garage for the past year and driven them […]