Category: motivation

  • What Will You Be Reading This Year?

    What Will You Be Reading This Year?

    “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft I’ve come across this tip for writers by Stephen King in many places, but I’ll never forget the first time I came across it in his…

  • Kicking Off the Year With Writing Advice From Authors

    Kicking Off the Year With Writing Advice From Authors

    I’ve interviewed authors for this blog for the past few years. One question I ask is: What advice do you have for aspiring authors? I collected all the answers in this post. Since it’s the beginning of a new day, a new month, a new year, and a new decade, I thought I’d do round…

  • Infographic Tuesday: Why I’m Not Getting Any Writing Done

    Infographic Tuesday: Why I’m Not Getting Any Writing Done

    It’s not too late to evaluate what goals you have for your writing in 2020. Here’s a humorous infographic from Rick Chillot to help motivate you when your creativity is running dry.

  • Are Writers in Competition With Each Other?

    Are Writers in Competition With Each Other?

    This is something I’ve been wondering about for a while: are writers, especially indie writers, in competition with each other? It’s easy to see another’s writer’s success and become … jealous? Envious? Maybe, on Facebook, you’ve seen a writer you follow sell their latest manuscript, or maybe, on Twitter, an author celebrates selling another hundred…

  • Some Tips on Increasing Blog Production

    Some Tips on Increasing Blog Production

    Usually, I blog about fiction writing tips, but now I’m going to switch it up. I’ve started some practices that have helped me increase the numbers of blog entries I write as well as me be more motivated in my blog writing. These tips are not directly geared toward increasing the number of followers who’ll…

  • Friday’s Findings

    Friday’s Findings

    Some articles on writing I’ve read lately: Seven Deadly Sins for Writers How to Get a Literary Agent: A Simple Two-Step Process Use Secondary Characters to Sway the Reader Writing that First Chapter: 10 Do’s and Don’ts for Starting Your Novel Five Tips for Writing Nail-Biting Suspense Why You Should Set A Reading Goal For…

  • Shame. Shame.

    Shame. Shame.

    Game of Throne fans will understand the title of this post. But even if you don’t know the reference, you may understand the feeling of “shame” when you don’t finish National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) with fifty thousand words. And I say, “It’s okay. Forget about it.” Some years I “win” NaNoWriMo, some years I…

  • Writing Advice From Authors I’ve Read

    Writing Advice From Authors I’ve Read

    Have you ever read a novel and wondered “How did the author write such great dialogue?” or “How can I write like her?” Sometimes after reading a book I liked, I’ll check out the author’s website. I’m excited when I see they have a page of writing advice. Here’s writing advice from some authors I’ve…

  • One Solution for Your Mid-NaNoWriMo Blues

    One Solution for Your Mid-NaNoWriMo Blues

    Is your NaNoWriMo story going nowhere? Here’s one possible solution: Throw in a new character. Don’t have time to create a new character? Here are some quick ways to create a new character for your work-in-progress: Index Card Shuffle: Take 10-15 index cards. On each card, write one character trait (ex. loves cars; wears homemade…