by Stephanie Morrill | Sep 23, 2019 | Book Proposals, Getting Published, Marketing, Writing As A Business
One of the questions that always makes me squirm is, “What’s your book about?” Cue panic and stammering! But I’ve become much better in the last few years as I’ve worked on how to answer this even before I write the book. In the...
by Shannon Dittemore | Sep 20, 2019 | Author Life, Getting Published, Goals, Writing, Writing As A Business, Writing Life
Did you know there’s a difference between being a writer and being an author? Okay, okay, in truth, the dictionary defines the two words very similarly. But when we approach the two terms from an industry perspective, we begin to see some differences. A writer is...
by Jill Williamson | Sep 18, 2019 | Book Club Posts, Story Beginnings
Today, as part of the Go Teen Writers Book Club, we’re discussing chapter three of Story Trumps Structure. Chapter Recap:“Stories revolve around dilemmas, not action. To build a story, you don’t try to make the right things happen but rather make the right things go...
by Stephanie Morrill | Sep 16, 2019 | Author Life, Book Proposals
Once upon a time, I imagined those paragraphs about authors that I read on the back of books were written by people at the publishing house or assistants. If you’re a Big Deal Author, maybe you do have people who write those for you, but every single published...
by Shannon Dittemore | Sep 13, 2019 | Mailbag, Writing
I have something new for you all, but REALLY, you helped create it. Yesterday, in a desperate attempt to come up with a blog topic, I sent out a call for writing questions on Instagram. Boy, did you all respond! THANK YOU for that. Many of the questions felt like they...
by Jill Williamson | Sep 11, 2019 | Book Club Posts, First Drafts, Learning from Other Authors, Story Beginnings
We are in week two of the Go Teen Writers Book Club. I’m enjoying this book so far and hope you are too. Let’s jump right into things today, shall we? Story Trumps Structure, Chapter 2: Orientation Chapter Recap: Mr. James is talking about story openings in this...
by Stephanie Morrill | Sep 9, 2019 | Author Life, Getting Published, Self-Publishing
Two weeks ago, I gave an overview of the traditional publishing process, and today I’ll focus on self-publishing, also called indie publishing. I don’t consider myself a self-publishing expert at all, but I did choose indie over traditional for three of my...
by Shannon Dittemore | Sep 6, 2019 | Author Life, Mailbag, The Craft of Writing, Writing, Writing Life
It’s another Go Teen Writers Mailbag! And today we have a heartfelt question surrounding an issue many of us have pondered at one point or another. Charlie asks: Do you have any tips on writing deep, moving scenes in your novel, while avoiding being preachy or...
by Jill Williamson | Sep 4, 2019 | Book Club Posts, First Drafts, Plot, Story Structure
Today kicks off the first day of the Go Teen Writers Book Club. I’m so excited to read a craft book with all of you. First, a couple items of business. The winner of a copy of My Day at Disney is Adaline Griffiths. Congrats! Also, I haven’t given you a Jill Report in...
by Stephanie Morrill | Sep 2, 2019 | 100-for-100
We are so excited about this list of finishers for our annual summer 100 words for 100 days writing challenge. While every summer feels fun, this one felt particularly exciting as email after email rolled in about how many words were being written and discipline that...
