by Sandy Vaile After more than a decade of writing and teaching fiction, I have the luxury of looking back on my journey (thus far) to see where I could have done things differently to heighten enjoyment and expediate my arrival at the place I am now. And I’m goingContinue Reading
For me, the biggest emotional challenges of being a writer have been self-doubt and frustration. It’s been a long journey – 20 years, to be precise – from when I first began writing The Wayward Spy to its publication. The years were marked with near successes, gutting disappointments, and uncertaintyContinue Reading
With Father’s Day coming up soon, I was thinking about the many things I learned from my dad when I was growing up. One of thirteen kids, he quit school early to get a job and help support his family. Later, he enlisted in the Marines and served overseas inContinue Reading
How about a year’s worth of writing tips in one post? This year has been a crazy one for sure, but looking back, we’ve talked about several topics that may be helpful in your writing life. Some apply to your health as a writer—extremely important to your longevity in theContinue Reading
Did you know that November 1st is National Author’s Day? How cool is this? We authors get a special day to ourselves! We have to take advantage of it. Below you’ll find 20 ways to celebrate this unique occasion. Have fun! Where Did Authors’ Day Come From? Nellie Verne BurtContinue Reading
Do you need to change your work situation? Almost every day, I read something about a writer struggling to find time to write because of a difficult day job. Writers want to write, but after a full day at a demanding job, they face all sorts of barriers, from mentalContinue Reading
Whatever your experience as a writer, there are certain things you learn along the way. Perhaps the most famous lesson is to “develop a thick skin.” We’re told early on that we need to embrace criticism so we can learn to be better writers, no matter how difficult it isContinue Reading
If there’s one characteristic writers share, it’s “hard-working.” Most of us have day jobs and use our leisure time to work on our writing projects. Many of us have families we’re taking care of too—kids and sometimes aging parents—and it can seem like we have hardly a spare minute toContinue Reading
How can you improve your writing life? After over 20 years as a full-time professional writer, I’ve learned some things about that. Whether you’re writing part- or full-time; fiction, nonfiction, or freelance; it doesn’t matter—the bottom line is you’re spending a lot of time using your creative brain, as wellContinue Reading
Are you a discouraged writer right now? Did you get a rejection or bad review and feel like you didn’t know what you were doing? Have you thought about quitting writing because you aren’t getting the results you hoped for? Or have you been in the middle of your novel,Continue Reading
~Writing Well Wednesday Tip~ Sometimes a writer has to go back to the beginning. Back to where it all started, where that first spark of inspiration lived, to that place where the writer inside first came to life. Daily living and the “busyness” of a writer’s modern-day career tends toContinue Reading
I love my family and my life too much to waste it closeted away over an unfinished manuscript, isolated and border-line insane, with my stomach tied in knots over self-imposed deadlines. Seriously. If the actual writing of a book isn’t taxing enough, the burden of editing, re-writing, re-editing, gathering reviews,Continue Reading