by Shannon Dittemore | Apr 26, 2019 | Description, Writing
My family joined a local archery club this year. I don’t have a bow, so I use the time for writing while my husband gathers up the kids and all their gear and hauls them to the range. The three of them have taken to repeating a phrase Mel Gibson’s character says in...
by Jill Williamson | Apr 24, 2019 | Encouragement, Learning from Other Authors, Writing Life
I spent last week under the redwood trees, surrounded by writers. Mount Hermon, which is just outside San Jose, is one of the most peaceful and beautiful places I’ve ever been, and each time I come back, I feel like I’ve entered a place of supernatural...
by Stephanie Morrill | Apr 22, 2019 | Antagonists, Characters, First Drafts, The Craft of Writing
**Today is the last day to enter the 100-word contest! Get your entries in by 9pm central. Details here.** Recently, I’ve come across something in a few different young adult and middle grade books that’s bothered me: The child character is absolutely...
by Shannon Dittemore | Apr 19, 2019 | Editing, Getting Published
A while back, I spent a few weeks talking about agents and query letters. To follow it up, I thought we could talk about what it looks like to be a contracted author working with an editor at a traditional publishing house. As a refresher, agents acquire projects they...
by Jill Williamson | Apr 17, 2019 | Creativity, Encouragement, Writing Life
So… I had prepared my blog post in advance of going to work on faculty at the Mount Hermon Christian Writers’ Conference. All I had to do was to–the moment I got home–fill in what I’d learned that week. I did not realize that when I got...
by Stephanie Morrill | Apr 15, 2019 | Writing, Writing Contests
I’m super excited to announce that another 100-word contest starts today! Here’s how these contests work: Your entry is the prompt sentence + 100 words. The prompt for this contest is: This might be difficult to hide. This should be the first sentence of your...
by Shannon Dittemore | Apr 12, 2019 | Author Life, Creativity, Mailbag, Productivity
Today’s question comes from Rachel and it’s a good one. You can definitely feel her angst and, boy, can I relate. I just feel so stuck. Why is writing so stupidly hard now?I’ve never written an editable book before, so I keep second guessing myself....
by Jill Williamson | Apr 10, 2019 | Creativity, Getting Published, Goals, Learning from Other Authors, Self-Publishing, Writing As A Business
Last week I launched a Kickstarter campaign to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of my first book (By Darkness Hid) being published. I can’t believe it’s been ten years already! But then I took this picture and saw that, yes, it really has been ten years....
by Stephanie Morrill | Apr 8, 2019 | Author Life, Writing Life
There are pieces of the writing life that get easier the longer you’ve been on your journey. Writing a synopsis, for example, used to be a multiple-day process with lots of grumbling. Now I’ve learned what makes it enjoyable for me (doing it before the...
by Shannon Dittemore | Apr 5, 2019 | Writing Exercise
Good morning, friends! I have a fun writing exercise for you today. It’s one I do with my kids all the time, but I don’t think we’ve ever done one like this before here at Go Teen Writers. Which, honestly, is a bit of a tragedy because it’s...
