Writing Process: 4 Tips To Make The Numbers Game Work For You

How’s your writing process? We’re almost at the end of the year. Perhaps you’re doing your annual review of what worked, and what didn’t work, for you. Recently, several writers told me that they want to change, improve, or create a new writing process in the new year. Want to achieve more in 2023? Start by considering the numbers. Your … Read more

Sell Your Fiction: My 6 Best Tips To Write And Sell

Want to sell your fiction? I receive questions about fiction sales a couple of times a week—often from baby authors, who haven’t yet started writing. These embryo authors want guarantees that their writing will sell, before they invest time and energy. Sadly, writing comes first. Please, write consistently, and effortlessly. If you’re forcing yourself to write, it will always be … Read more

Plan Your Novel: 3 Easy Strategies You Can Use Today

How do you plan your novel? Do you create an outline, or forget plotting and just write? In a recent fiction writing class, we discussing planning fiction, and how much planning is necessary. I’m a big fan of fast plotting. In this post on plotting fiction, we discussed plotting in an hour or less: Plotting fiction in an hour (or … Read more

Writing Fiction: Here’s Why You Write In Scenes

You’re writing fiction. Perhaps you’ve heard the saying: show, don’t tell? “Show, don’t tell,” is shorthand for write in scenes and it’s a vital skill. Writing fiction: why is “writing in scenes” so important? Essentially, writing in scenes helps you to write exciting, unputdownable books. In today’s publishing climate they’re the kinds of books you MUST write if you want … Read more

Quick Copywriting Skills For Writers: Pay Attention

If you want to improve your writing, develop copywriting skills. By “copywriting skills” I mean skills in writing to sell. As writers, we’re selling all the time, no matter what we write: a tweet, an email message—or a novel. Start by paying attention to what gets your attention, every day. If you want to develop copywriting skills, pay attention We … Read more