It doesn’t matter if what you’ve written is five pages long or five thousand pages, or if it’s fiction or non-fiction; the first page is your most important page. That first page must do a multitude of tasks. It introduces your topic or story, shows the reader your writing style, and, hopefully, makes the reader […] [ ... ]
Unless you’re writing solely for yourself (and maybe for your family and a few friends) you need to know the craft of writing: formatting; point-of-view; chapter length; what tense to use, and so on. Although getting the story you want to tell out of your head and into some sort of printable form is the […] [ ... ]
Before I talk about the conference I want to let everyone know that my recently released e-book, Destiny Unknown (formerly published as a Loveswept romance) was advertised in one newsletter as being offered for .99¢ on Kindle starting today. I didn’t realize I needed to wait 30 days (after enrolling the book) before offering a promotion, so […] [ ... ]
In the last two weeks I’ve seen an email about a publisher that isn’t paying its authors, and I received a phone call from an woman wanting to know if she should sign a contract with a publisher for her cook book. In the case of the woman with the cook book, as soon as […] [ ... ]
Lately I’ve been seeing posts about prologues. Evidently some readers, agents, and editors hate them. Some well-know writers use them. Many readers skip the prologue and go straight to chapter one. New writers are often told to avoid using them, to label their prologues as chapter one. Who’s right? I’m one who believes there are […] [ ... ]
There are hundreds of publishers: magazine publisher, book publishers. Fiction and non-fiction publishers. Big, well-know publishers. Medium-sized publishers. Small publishers. University publishers. One-man (or woman) publishers. Take a look at the list on Wikipedia. Book Publishers Finding the right publisher for your book isn’t always easy and can be a gamble. I’m sure most writers […] [ ... ]
Okay, I’m getting old. That or they’re starting to hire news reporters, financial advisors, and doctors straight out of grammar school. I don’t think of myself as old, but whenever I look in the mirror, there’s this old lady who reminds me of my mother who keeps looking back at me. I wasn’t exactly young […] [ ... ]
I, and most writers, suffer a form of manic/depressive. When we have a new idea buzzing in our heads, we’re euphroic, positive thinkers, and have high energy. Be a finalist in a contest, or better yet, a winner, and we’re on cloud 9. Have an agent tell us we’re wonderful and that she wants us as […] [ ... ]
I think one of the most difficult concepts for writers to accept is that a rejection, bad review, or even a negative critique is simply that one person’s opinion. I can tell myself that, but still my first reaction is “The story sucks,” or “I suck as a writer.” Of course, if a lot of […] [ ... ]
I’ve heard some writers suggest to new, unpublished writers that the newbee should write short stories. Their point is by writing short stories the new writer learns how to put together a story idea from beginning to end, hopefully won’t be discouraged by the length or by any rejections, and might have their work noticed […] [ ... ]
I started entering and judging contests back in the 1980s. At that time the RITA was called the Golden Medallion, and the score sheets actually had points for various aspects of the book as well as space for comments. I remember my 1988 finalist, A Winning Combination, was marked down for a lack of conflict […] [ ... ]
“Could you read my story and tell me what you think?” Unless I know the writer well, know he or she truly wants to hear what I think, I dread hearing those words. Too often the person asking this question doesn’t really want to hear what I think. He or she wants to hear how […] [ ... ]
First, I’d like to mention that my first P.J. Benson mystery, The Crows, is being featured on Pamela Thibodeaux website this coming Saturday, January 10th. http://pamswildroseblog.blogspot I’d love it if you’d stop by and make a comment. Now, onto my weekly (first one in 2015) blog. I am once again formatting a story I finished […] [ ... ]
Earlier this week another writer and I were talking about how to sell more books. The question was: How does a writer get his or her work noticed? When I started writing, I though a writer sat at a desk, typed out a story, sent it off to an editor, who (of course) loved the […] [ ... ]
First, I’d like to announce that Jean Patton is the winner of last week’s Haunted House Blog Hop that appeared on my blog page. She will receive a copy of HAUNTED along with a $5 gift certificate from Amazon.com. And Shelly Hammond is the winner of the drawing held on Thursday (in the Living Room […] [ ... ]
Last week, during the Romance Writers of America’s® National Conference the RITA and Golden Heart contest rules were once again modified. From what I understand the rules have basically gone back to what they were a few years ago. Even as the conference proceeded, several members posted messages about the contest, which in turn sparked […] [ ... ]
I’m not particularly good at picking book titles. I’ve had a few that started as working titles and actually ended up on the book. I later discovered that wasn’t always good. After having had more than a few editors tell me I needed to come up with a new title, I now think of most […] [ ... ]
When I started writing, I had several misconceptions. (1) I thought all I wanted to do was write and sell one book. Just one book, and I would be happy. Ha! The first book led to a second, and then a third, and… I just sold #29, and I’m hoping to sell one more. Just […] [ ... ]
Last week I attended Sleuthfest 2014 in Orlando, Florida. For four days I was surrounded by writers and bombarded with ideas. Friday and Saturday there were four tracks offered each hour providing information and ideas ranging from basic writing tips to how to keep up with the changes in publishing. (As if that were possible.) […] [ ... ]
You’ve written a book and now it’s time to start thinking about selling it. Whether you send the manuscript off to an agent or an editor or decide to self-publish, you need to indicate the genre. That is, you need to let others know how it would be classified. “Why?” you might say. Well, one […] [ ... ]