So there you are. You’ve had a hard day at the day job, you’re kids need help with homework, it’s your night to prepare a meal for your family, you need to spend some quality time with a roulette of family members and you just don’t feel like writing. What to do? That novel isn’t … Continue reading »
Tagged with writing tips …
Washington Irving On Writing
This week my students are reading “The Devil and Tom Walker” by Washington Irving, a hilariously satirical story about a Scrooge of a man who becomes a loan shark for the Devil only to lose his soul in the process. In preparation for our study of Irving, I noted some quotes by the author that … Continue reading »
The New Podcast Is Live!
The New Podcast Is Live! We are waiting on iTunes to list us via the feed, but until then, here is the first podcast for you to listen to or download. We will release one of these ever other week. Enjoy!
NaNoWriMo Tip #16: Free Write
Today’s tip comes from a lyric I heard in the new Soundgarden album King Animal (It has indeed been too long). The song is entitled Halfway There and the lyric follows: “I woke up with my feet nailed down and my head moving the speed of sound” (Chris Cornell) As a writer, many times I … Continue reading »
NaNoWriMo Tip #15: The Midway Point
Well, here we are. The midpoint. We are now 15 days away from the deadline and many of you should have most of your novel completed if you want to spend some quality time editing and revising. I have a few encouraging words for you today so that you will not quit when you have … Continue reading »
NaNoWriMo Tip #8: Adverb Use
One of the ugliest faux pas of any writer are the use of meaningless adverbs. There are three adverbs used by writers which slow down any writing style: really, actually and extremely. If you can avoid these all together and find better adverbs or remove them altogether, your prose will take on a much more … Continue reading »
3 Tips for Writing a Good Action Scene
As the first book of This Broken Earth, The U.S. of After draws to a close, my heroes find themselves in the middle of a struggle to survive as a militia warlord bears down on them for one last attempt to wipe them off the face of the broken earth. There are many factors at play in … Continue reading »
5 Editing Strategies for the Self-Published Novelist
We self-published authors don’t have the luxury of a team of editors, a crack commando unit of wordsmiths that go through our rough drafts and snipe away at the roguish bad writing, errors, type-os, and other problems that will drag down our work and make it look less than professional. I have taught writing for … Continue reading »
5 Ways to Meet a Deadline
As an independent author, I set my own deadlines for rough drafts and the final draft publishing date. However, just because I do this myself doesn’t mean I don’t hold myself to the standard of finishing on time. You might say: “You’re not like a real novelist who has a deadline from a publisher set in … Continue reading »
3 Reasons I’m Getting My Own Domain Name
I’ve thought about it for a while, and have decided that on Monday my blog will no longer have the word “wordpress” in my URL. It will only cost me $18 a year, and here are the benefits I will reap: 1. Professional Image – My blog will no longer be “just another WordPress blog”, … Continue reading »
