Don’t get me wrong. Journals are lovely, and I have a drawer full. But there are other, and often better ideas for gift giving to a writer. If you have a writer stowed away in your attic, in a closet, or other suitably tight, dark place please consider some of the following ideas for this holiday season. And feel free to check out last year’s post on gifts for writers. Some gifts are timeless (like the gift of time) and … Read More »

Here it is, November again—National Novel Writing Month. Every year, writers throughout America pledge themselves to produce a 50,000 word novel before the clock strikes December. Thanksgiving can make this good intention the road to a nervous breakdown, but just having a goal of some sort and a nation full of colleagues to hold you to it is bracing. No doubt many people actually do write a complete novel (is 50,000 words really a complete novel?). And that is admirable … Read More »

As I write this, the Royal Palm Literary Awards ceremony is merely days away, and the anticipation is building. While we couldn’t gather in person this year, it’s still nice to see so many writers taking the leap, having the courage to put their work out there, and entering the competition. Which brings me to today’s topic: Staying Positive. Focus on the Positives The publishing world is full of negatives: writer’s block, criticism, rejection. And it is SO EASY to … Read More »

You did the hard work. You dreamed, plotted, wrote, and edited the story within you that needed to be told. Then you did more hard work — writing that query letter. Some think it’s more of a challenge than writing the book itself! I’m inclined to agree. Query letters and blurbs will be the death of me, but that’s a topic for another blog. So, the carefully researched queries go out. Then what? Crickets These can be the most disheartening … Read More »

Finding a Place to Write Jean Kerr locked herself in her car to write. Ernest Hemingway stood at a drawing board. Erma Bombeck, I suspect, locked herself in the bathroom. Some of us used to haul the typewriter out every day to the kitchen table. Perhaps some still write on a legal pad on their knees in bed or on the couch. Have you found the perfect place to write, if there is a perfect place? I tried many ways, … Read More »

If you’re a writer who has unexpectedly lost hard-won sentences, paragraphs, or drafts to the electronic technology demons, you know all too well the chest-clenching feeling of panic and heartbreaking loss that comes with a file that will not open or the fatal error message that signals whatever you’ve written is forever doomed to orbit in some cyber underworld for all eternity. Never to be seen or retrieved again. Let me say straightaway that I am not technology-savvy, and most … Read More »