Skip to contentWhether you’re self-publishing or submitting your manuscript to a traditional publisher, proofreading your work is important. A carefully proofread book makes you look professional and shows readers and publishers that you care about the quality of your work. Proofreading your own manuscript is not easy, though. After spending months or …
It’s November 1, and that means NaNoWriMo—NationalNovel Writing Month—is starting today. If you are participating, here are 10 tips on how to win NaNoWriMo and write 50,000 words in November. Set a daily writing goal. To complete 50,000 words on November 30, you’ll have to write an average of 1,667 …
Writers are often advised to write a first fast draft and get down the bones of the story as quickly as possible without stopping to revise, edit, or look up things, and then take their time revising. Other writers prefer to write slowly and edit as they go, polishing each …
Fall has begun, and that means that NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month – is approaching fast! I have participated several times and have made the 50,000-word goal every time. There’s just something about this mix of competition and support from half a million fellow writers that is a great …
Most authors I know keep track of their word count in some way. If you don’t already, here are some reasons why you might want to start. Seeing your word count grow is a wonderful motivator that will keep you going. Often, you don’t realize how far you have already …
You have probably all experienced it: you’re reading a book—maybe a romance or a mystery novel—and suddenly, you grind to a halt and wonder where all these zombies are coming from. I’m talking about sentences like these: Her eyes followed Kathryn around the room. Her fist knocked on the door. …
If you’re anything like I am, you probably read a lot of books or blog posts about writing. One thing I rarely see mentioned anywhere are so-called filters, so I thought I’d blog about it today. Filters have to do with point of view. What is point of view? Basically, …
The new year is quickly approaching and with it the time to make New Year’s resolutions. Most writers I know, myself included, set goals for the new year. Several want to get into the habit of writing every day or meet a certain word-count goal each day in 2015. So, …
If you’re a writer constantly trying to improve your writing skills, you probably subscribe to a few blogs about writing, publishing, and marketing your book. But time is limited, so you can’t read them all, and there are so many blogs on writing out there that it’s hard to know …
Just two more weeks until Christmas! If you haven’t yet done all your Christmas shopping for the writers in your life—or you want to get something cool for yourself—here’s my list of neat gift ideas for writers. #1 Fingerless gloves My hands get cold when I’m typing away at the …