It’s Banned Books Week!

You can read more about it here. In the meantime, what’s on the ALA banned and challenged list that you’ve read and loved? The books on this list are books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century that have been the target of ban attempts. F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great … Read more

How to Write a Book That Will Actually Sell

By Patricia Fry Is it possible to predetermine the success of your book before you start writing it? To a degree, yes. Some of your choices during the planning and writing phases of your book can definitely influence eventual sales. There’s no sense in leaving the future of your book to chance, when you can … Read more

Agents — Who Needs Them?

By Apryl Duncan Many authors, especially first-timers, think a literary agent is someone you associate with names like Stephen King, Judith Krantz and John Grisham. Truth is, having an agent handle your work really depends on your own personality. Before taking on an agent, you have to first evaluate yourself. Are you the type of … Read more

Interview with Bernard Cornwell

Interview by Christopher Seufert Bernard Cornwell was born in London in 1944, an illegitimate “war baby” whose father was a Canadian airman and whose mother was in Britain’s Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. He was adopted as an infant and raised in Essex by a family belonging to a religious sect (now extinct) called the Peculiar … Read more

Book Review: 52 Projects: Random Acts of Everyday Creativity

52 Projects: Random Acts of Everyday Creativity. By Jeffrey Yamaguchi Perigee 2005 192 pp. Nonfiction Review by Amy Brozio-Andrews There’s something about the thrill of creativity—seeing something through from idea to execution. The feeling of purpose that comes from having a project to work on, that you’ve got something worthwhile to spend your time and … Read more

The 3 Most Important Elements of Fiction Writing

By Magdalena Ball Even highly celebrated and well-paid authors miss them. While almost all writers are clear on the importance of plot, there are other writing skills such as a strong narrative voice, good deep characterization, and relevant, subtle scenery description that set a work of fiction apart, rendering it literary or great. In my … Read more

Interview with Eugie Foster

Interview with Eugie Foster Interview by Amy Brozio-Andrews This is an interview from several years ago. Eugie K. Foster was an award-winning writer of short fiction and children’s books. Eugie Foster, author, editor, wife, died on September 27th 2014 of respiratory failure from cancer at Emory University in Atlanta. In her forty-two years, Eugie lived … Read more

The Accidental Publisher

By Elisabeth Keely Wilson Ostensibly, it was your basic itch just begging to be scratched. You know—the kind of itch that can’t quite be reached, so it keeps twitching and itching, demanding your attention. Finally, in order to appease the little beast, you have to twist and turn your body into various odd positions, until … Read more