by Jill Williamson | Mar 13, 2019 | Author Life, Encouragement, Learning from Other Authors, Writing Life
Jill here. I love reading books about the lives of writers. While every author’s journey is different, we can learn much from those who have gone before us. I recently read a biography on the life of Louisa May Alcott that focused on her time working as a nurse...
by Stephanie Morrill | Mar 11, 2019 | Author Life, Getting Published, Writing As A Business, Writing Life
Last Tuesday, my seventh novel released: Available now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Audible, your local bookstore, and wherever books are sold! One of the things I’ve learned since my first book came out 10 years ago is that release day isn’t my...
by Shannon Dittemore | Mar 8, 2019 | Characters
Happy Friday, all! I am off on an adventure today with my husband. We’re celebrating 17 years of marriage this weekend, so if I’m slow to reply to comments, I’m sure you’ll understand. The post below is a reprise–originally published here...
by Jill Williamson | Mar 6, 2019 | Author Life, Brainstorming, Editing, First Drafts, Goals, Writing
First of all… Sorry that my video wasn’t showing up last week! I messed up somewhere and the post never made it out of draft mode. I don’t know what happened other than I clicked (or didn’t click) the right thing. So if you were looking for...
by Stephanie Morrill | Mar 4, 2019 | Description, Writing
“How do you describe things in a story without slowing everything down” This question was asked on our 2018 survey, and it’s one that I get a lot when I teach too. Description was a struggle for me as a new writer, and it’s still an area where...
by Shannon Dittemore | Mar 1, 2019 | Author Life, Getting Published, Productivity, The Craft of Writing, Writing Life
One of the more challenging aspects of blogging for writers is the wide audience you find yourself talking to. Even if you focus specifically on teen writers, none of the advice doled out is one-size-fits all. Not only does every writer have their own style and their...
by Jill Williamson | Feb 27, 2019 | Brainstorming, Characters, Fantasy, Speculative Fiction
It’s been a busy few weeks for me, and I’m closing in on finishing the rough draft of my novel. How are you all doing? If you’d like, report your status in the comments so we can cheer each other on. I managed to find time to edit another Storyworld...
by Stephanie Morrill | Feb 25, 2019 | Author Life, Encouragement, Productivity, Writing Life
Let’s start with a website creation pro tip: When you create a new website, and you put forms on there for people to sign up for your newsletter or email you directly, TEST THEM TO MAKE SURE THEY WORK. Because last week, I discovered that the reason our email...
by Shannon Dittemore | Feb 22, 2019 | Author Life, Encouragement, Getting Published, Writing Life
For the past couple Fridays, we’ve spent a lot of time talking about querying an agent. I’ve mentioned this as often as I felt I could without beating you over the head with it, but really, failure is a huge part of success. If you’re going to be...
by Jill Williamson | Feb 20, 2019 | Editing, First Drafts, Writing
Generally speaking, the more you write, the stronger your writing becomes. If you’re not studying the craft of what makes writing clean and powerful, however, you could develop poor writing habits, which makes more work for you during the editing stage. So, yes, you...
