Jessica Strawser Ever wished you could have a do-over? Join the club. We’re all members—including your characters. Our longing to rewind time can range from the frivolous (I may have once backed my car into something incredibly loud right in front of a guy I had a crush on—and the loud thing may have […]

Our current brave world of publishing demands that an author "build a brand." What does that mean exactly?  Simply put, your brand is the picture that pops into people’s mind when they hear your name. Your author brand is how your fans identify you. How do you figure out what to talk about online? [I can hear […]

  Aimie K. Runyan I just started writing a new book—well, two of them, but that’s a story for another time. Yesterday I sat in front of my screen for hours and ended up with fewer than 600 words to show for it. It seemed like every bit of volunteer work, every mundane administrative task […]

I thought I was going to make a blob-like paperweight, until Nate, our teacher, showed me a gorgeous straight-sided largish vase. He asked what color I'd like to make the glass, but I was so stunned by the piece he held in his hand, I couldn't answer. "Or you could make it a different shape." […]

 Piper Bayard Writers have only two motives—we write to say something, or we write to be heard. One is all about us. The other is all about the reader. In a perfect world, good writers combine both the desire to convey information and the desire to serve the reader by “speaking the readers’ language,” giving […]