When you’re not sure your story will work, it’s easy to assume that uncertainty means something is wrong with the story. There’s a moment in almost every book where the writer gets scared for a very good reason. They’re not sure it’s going to work. And that’s a moment whenContinue Reading
If you feel like the only way to write your novel is to clear big blocks of time, your backstage brain is about to become your new best friend. If you’re trying to write a book while working, caregiving, or raising little kids, you already know how hard it isContinue Reading
I remember when I published my first novel. It was the culmination of much hard work and so many dreams. I love Ann’s story, here, about how she found her way to her first publication. If you want to be inspired, read on! by Ann Bancroft I started writing inContinue Reading
Do you need help plotting your novel? Bestselling author and story coach Jessica Brody (author of the #1 bestselling plotting book, Save the Cat! Writes a Novel) is giving a virtual writing workshop March 11, 2023, from 12:00-2:00 p.m. MST. You can be a part of it for only $47!Continue Reading
Fear was always the biggest challenge. I keep a Fear Journal. Every time I can’t write fiction, I process the feeling by figuring out which of the fears are getting in my way today. Up until I got a chronic disease, I worked for and trained to be a researchContinue Reading
by Barbara Linn Probst Like becoming a parent, becoming an author has been nothing like I imagined. There’s no end to the number of books out there telling us how to write, publish, and market our books. They’re all useful—and they’re all wrong. The Publication Journey Will Not Be LikedContinue Reading
by Melinda Rucker Haynes I love to laugh so I always open with—I learned to write fiction when I was a grant writer. In that reality, we also used to joke that grant proposals were judged by the weight. Therefore, repetitive and wordy details, explanations, descriptions, and narratives (much likeContinue Reading
by Crissi Langwell The Road to Hope came to me when I was grocery shopping. No joke! I was at Trader Joe’s in the produce section when I saw a toddler fall from a shopping cart. He had been in the large part of the empty basket, and his weightContinue Reading
Writing is a solitary process, ideal for introverts, yet there are few actions more extroverted than baring your soul in a novel and sharing it with the world. I wrote for decades, scribbling into notebooks alone in my room often at odd hours of the night, before making the slightestContinue Reading
by Iris Yang Wings of a Flying Tiger is a work of fiction. But to me, a Chinese-American, it is also personal. I was born and raised in China. My mother and grandma had lived in Nanking and escaped from the city just days before the notorious Nanking Massacre whenContinue Reading
by Pat Stoltey When I say I’m a dreamer, I mean it literally. I also have nightmares. My dreams are weird and my nightmares terrifying. A psychiatrist might wonder if I had a rough childhood full of traumas and abuse, but my childhood was wonderful. I grew up on aContinue Reading
by Jason Brick The initial idea for Wrestling Demons jumped on me as I was driving home from a martial arts event in LA. My protagonist (Connor Morgan) started talking to me, and after a while I turned off my radio and started to listen. The biggest challenge was getting theContinue Reading