I once took a graduate seminar about the writing profession where I told a room full of Creative Writing MFAs that they didn’t necessarily have to get formal education to be a professional writer. “There are so many opportunities to get experience and learn the trade,” I said. Coming from a History background, I pointed out that MFA programs were only created after WWII when the federal government wanted accredited classes for the money they pumped into universities. “After all, … Read More »

The universe of software for writers is constantly expanding. I’ve looked into a few of the no-cost options. NaturalReader reads your document aloud to you. It’s a great way to find the little things a spell checker misses, like when you typed “if” but meant “it.” The speed can be adjusted. I like that it reads slowly enough that I can notice when a sentence ought to be farther up in the paragraph, or a section belongs in another part … Read More »

I love co-authoring books. For one thing, they’re so damn huge, it can be overwhelming. And if you’ve got a publisher’s deadline looming overhead, it can be comforting knowing that you have a partner you can blame when things go wrong to cut your workload in half. Two of my books had a four month completion window, each clocking in at 15 or 16 chapters. It would have been a full-time job for a single writer, but with two of … Read More »

There’s more to writing than craft. Successful authors know their business. Join us from the comfort of your home on September 22, 2018 at 11:00 am (ET) to learn the basics of how to run a writing business. Writers who treat their craft like a well-tooled company are far more successful than those who treat writing like a hobby. In this webinar, we will be talking about the basics you need to know to effectively run a writing business. Accounting, … Read More »