Being the Best
This past weekend there has been a hullabaloo in baseball. The winners of the World Series are facing allegations of cheating—serious allegations, and various people are already facing suspensions and stiff penalties. In writing, we have a lot of various awards for writers, and as with any award, there are those who try to cheat. […]
Keep Books Special
Every year during the holiday season, I tend to have people ask to get hardcover books autographed as gifts. Of course this happens at other times of the year, but it is particularly true during the Christmas season. As a new author, I didn’t think much about how to get books that people will treasure. […]
Dream Big
“If your dreams do not scare you, they are not big enough.” — Ellen Johnson Sirleaf With the beginning of a new year, I always consider what my goals are for the new year. Most of us, I suspect, are pretty good at making “reasonable” goals. For example, I started a diet today. I don’t […]
The Opening Promise
Every new writer, and quite a few old ones, is familiar with that sinking feeling that happens when you start a new tale and wonder, “Where do I begin?” Many times when I’m judging a story for Writers of the Future, I’ll come upon a story that seems somehow malformed. The writing is great, but […]
Do You Want to Be an Apex Writer?
I’m going to call it the Apex Writer’s group. The goal of the group is simple: I want to help take you from wherever you are in your career, (whether you’re just beginning or are in your mid-career) to become an Apex Writer. An Apex Writer is one who sells books by the millions, whose books get wide advertisement, and who understands how to leverage the advertising from the film industry to make major deals before their books are even released.
How Long Does it Take to Write “A” Novel?
One of the most frequent questions you’ll get as a writer is, “How long does it take to write a novel?” There are several perfectly valid answers, and some that are utter bull-puckey. 1: Bull-Puckey Answer: You can write a bestselling novel in just a weekend according to one coach. Another says you can do […]
How Good is Your Agent?
Every day on my Facebook page or in my emails, I hear authors proudly proclaim, “I’ve been approached by a literary agent!” in tremendous excitement, and my first question is “Which one?” Now, there are some great agents out there. One of my clients was approached by a superstar agent just yesterday. But then there […]
Boosting Your Prose
When I used to write for competitions, I would make lists of ways that judges might look at my work in order to grade it. For example, some judges might look for an ending that brought them to tears, while another might be more interested in an intellectual feast. A couple of you asked what […]
Writing Priorities
One day twenty years ago I was working on a novel when my wife came in shouting, “The house is on fire!” Now, I had a rule: when I’m writing on my novel, I’m not to be disturbed except in rare situations. When the house is on fire, that’s one of the exceptions. So, I […]
Motivation vs. Habit
On the door at my gym, someone hung a sign that says, “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit keeps you going.” I began working out regularly over 20 years ago. Since then, I’ve dropped about 75 pounds, and I’ve run or walked something in neighborhood of 22,000 miles. I can’t even imagine how much I’ve […]