Every journey starts with a single step. Every published book, novel, short story or poem begins with a single word. This week, I finally finished the first draft of my novel. It isn’t the first novel I’ve ever written, but…
How Writers Can Avoid “The Perfect Trap”
In past blog posts I’ve talked about skills, strategies and tips that help in your writing life. A lot of the qualities I’ve focused on–time management, structuring deadlines, dedication and perseverance–are skills that can be transferred to other areas of…
Holiday Season and the Seasoned Writer
The weather gods are shining lately. Even where I live (where summer usually amounts to a slightly less than rainy weekend somewhere around June) we’re enjoying a heat wave. It’s holiday season, and while most of us work around the…
Deadlines: How Writers Can Handle Them
Deadline time. Douglas Adams said, “I like deadlines, I like the whooshing sound they make as they go flying by.” Now that may be fine for old Doug, but if you’re furiously sweating to make a tight deadline, then this post…
Social Media: Making the Best of You
Once upon a time, there were writers. A lot of writers. And they wrote books and, mostly, that was it. Sometimes they may have featured on the radio to talk about current literature, but in the main, readers never heard…
Writer’s Block: This Too Shall Pass
There comes a time in every project where you hit the wall. After a certain amount of inspiration and momentum comes the crash. The road block. Writer’s block. I like to think that if something comes too easily, it’s not…