Critique Groups Away From FB

Social media has a lot of perks, but it also comes with a downside. It's a rabbit hole of information and various interests, and it's easy to get caught up in various things. To help reduce that itch to explore when you're supposed to be working on your WIPs, here are some recommended critique groups.…

5-Alarm Heat for Romance

Romance works have long been on the forefront of changes in the writing world. The readership is one of the largest by genre, and that hunger functions in books as porn has for the evolution in film. Romance books are a spectrum of heat from sweet and clean to 5-alarm and spicy. There isn't a…

Increase Counts Like A Champ

Why do writers feel like it's a competition when it comes to how many words they write in a day, a session, an hour, and every other measurable standard? Perhaps it's because we feel like we're standing still while others are accomplishing their dreams. Maybe that's not your reason. I see it every day in…

Self Edit Hacks 101

In a previous post, I took self editing and broke it down to revisions and edits along with what things should be looked at in each part. If you missed that post, you can find it here—http://bit.ly/WwDSelfEditing. In this post, I will cover some of my go-to hacks to make the revision and editing process…

What the Plot

What the Plot?! created by Writing Prompts This was a limited-run crafted game from the social media icon Writing Prompts (FB, Instagram, Tumblr). For those who aren't familiar with writing prompts, they are ideas for stories. It really isn't much more complicated than that. https://www.instagram.com/p/B_H142pH06M/ They're not always so creepy. Some are downright adorable, like…

How Important Are First Lines?

As writers, we hear frequently how "important" that first sentence is. Examples of what are passed around as "first line musts" Must be unique and memorable.Must be vivid.Must be truthful, funny, scary, etc any emotion.Tells the reader the genreIntroduces all the main characters.Make the reader care. It's the magical key that keeps a reader reading…

Newsletters of the Future

Not so long ago, followers signed up for things like "clubs" to learn information about their favorite anything. Some of you might be too young to remember the Jonathan Taylor Thomas clubs of the 90s. I didn't get into such things, but they were a way of staying connected. The rise of the internet gave…

The Book Launch Planner

Launching your book into the world can be a nerve-wracking experience. From remembering who you wanted to hire, who you've contacted to share your release, and the timeline of when these little parts need to be done can make one feel as if they are going around in circles. This planner was designed by Mandi…

Working with Editors

Working with editors is a hard leg on the journey of publishing. From finding recommendations, vetting their abilities, and paying for their services, it can be a complicated ride for a novice. If you’ve tried using Google, you’ve probably made your head spin from what type of editing is needed to the roller coaster of prices…

Pirating Sites—The Rampant Rash of Writers

From small fries to world renown authors, pirating and plagiarism go hand in hand. Some "writers" take snippets and weave it into a story while others just straight up copy an entire book and claim they wrote it. Thousands of readers flock to pirating sites that remind us of Napster or LimeWire (for those too…