I bet you’ve heard stories about writers who hoard their best writing advice, or how opportunities are snatched up jealously and the names of contacts never shared. This may be so in some writing circles, but it hasn’t been my experience. Most writers I know tend to give their all at presentations, in critique groups, and on blogs, etc. This has allowed me to joyfully learn at the feet of others, fill notebooks with writing advice, connect folks with each … Read More »

Whether it’s a 100 word picture book or a 100,000 word scholarly novel. To create a book that matters for any age reader—from 2 to 92—there are four things it must include. I call these the 4Hs of writing: heart, hurt, hope and humor. Let’s look at each one. Heart By heart I don’t mean sweetness or love. I mean a revealing and reveling in what it means to be human. Heart is the stripping away of artifice to see … Read More »

You’ve spit-shined that short story, non-fiction piece or poem. Great! Now what do you do with it? How do you find your way through the thousands of magazines and journals, and keep your sanity trying to keep track of it all? There are the trusted Writer’s Market guides published by Penguin that come out annually. But, often, the information there is a bit dated by the time the guide goes to press. Even some of the listings from the highly … Read More »