No Rules, Just Write

By Jeanne M. Fielding 1,000 words a day or more? You’ve got to be kidding! As if writing a story wasn’t daunting enough, published writers have killed many a tree imparting the “writing is a discipline” mantra. You must commit to writing five gazillion words a day—no matter how long it takes you. My reply … Read more

Writing and Menopause

By Laura Lee Carter Becoming a writer is made so much more interesting by menopause. Since I’m going through “the change”and changing everything else in my life (hair colors, houses, husbands, etc.), I decided to change careers too. Ask my new and unbelievably patient husband, Mike, who listens regularly to my sobbing fits in the … Read more

So, You Want to be a Writer?

By Babs Halton It was a winter’s evening. I lay sprawled on the sheepskin rug in front of a log fire. “I want to be a writer,” I said. My husband sat in his leather armchair, pen poised over a crossword. “Do you know another word for ‘spiny anteater’?” Our youngest piped up. “I know, … Read more

Promoting Your Prose

By Mary Emma Allen Promoting Your Books At Writers’ Conferences When I mentioned to a colleague that I’d sold eight of my writers’ resource books and another on Alzheimer’s at a writers’ conference, she remarked that she didn’t know writers could do that. It all depends on the conference, but these are good places to … Read more

Travel Writing: Be Prepared

By Roy A. Barnes An old saying goes “People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.” Not being prepared is one of the biggest detriments to fulfilling one’s dreams. For me, the dream of being a published travel writer took many years of preparation. When I was a youngster of about four years old, … Read more

Backstage: De-average Your Writing Life

By Radika Meganathan You always wanted to be a writer. Back in school, you won prizes and competitions in creative writing and storytelling. Why, you have even had few articles published. Still, you aren’t exactly loaded with assignments. There are no surprise checks in your mailbox or even returned manuscripts. You do not know what … Read more

Persistence

By Mark Terry A long, long time ago (in what occasionally does seem a galaxy far, far away), I decided I wanted to be a writer. This was toward the end of my college career, between, I believe, my junior and senior years. I was majoring in microbiology and public health and not doing a … Read more

Absolute Write’s Tribute to Inkspot

You might wonder how the staff at other writing websites feel when one of our “competitors” goes out of business.  Are we glad?  Do we rub our hands together with glee and cross out a name on our list of businesses to annihilate? Hardly. The online writing community has always been just that: a community.  … Read more

Interview: Miriam Goderich, Vice President Jane Dystel Literary Management

By Laura A. Hazan The song New York, New York goes something like this: “If I can make it there I’ll make it anywhere. It’s up to you, New York, New York.” That pretty much sums up the feelings of many writers, too. Breaking into the elusive New York publishing world equals success, and the … Read more