Legacy By Mayra Calvani A great blurb can make the difference between a customer taking out his/her wallet to buy your book or putting the book back on the shelf. Great blurbs sell books. But what is a blurb, exactly? A blurb is the copy on the back cover of your book. After the cover, the … Read more
By Patricia L. Fry When you become the author of a nonfiction book, you are also considered an expert in your field. People want to read what you write and hear what you have to say. You want to promote your book and get personal exposure by writing articles and speaking publicly. Author interviews are … Read more
By Michelle Gardner Maybe it’s because the writing life is a lonely one that we surround ourselves with comfort clutter. Or maybe it’s because we always have a story or stories in various forms of completion that causes the research notes to spill into each other. Or maybe it’s because we want to have everything … Read more
By Catherine Franz When we are stressed or blocked, it is wise to make a change so that we don’t stay in that place. Yet many times we forget some of the simple things that we can do for ourselves, quickly and easily, to bring our inspiration back and increase our creativity. If you usually … Read more
Interview by Amy Brozio-Andrews William Shunn’s novella Inclination appears on the just-announced 2006 Preliminary Nebula Award Ballot. William Shunn is a Nebula Award-nominated science fiction writer (cite>Dance of the Yellow-Breasted Luddites)and stage/film reviewer. His work has appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, Science Fiction Age, The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Science … Read more
Five Tips for Handling People Who Want You To Critique Their Manuscript (for free, of course) By Jonathan Moeller First, some context. I am a writer of no significance whatsoever. I wrote one novel, which disappeared without a trace, and I’ve written some short stories and nonfiction articles, but none have ever become well-known. In short, in … Read more
By James D. Macdonald My father, W. Douglas Macdonald, was a chemical engineer and an electrical engineer. Most of his life he worked for building materials companies, including Glidden Paint, US Plywood, and Eucatex. He died entirely too young—at 72, of congestive heart failure secondary to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; that is to say, smoking … Read more
By James D. Macdonald Hello. My name is Jim Macdonald, and I write books. Fantasy, science fiction, horror, technothriller, and non-fiction, mostly. Upwards of thirty, total, over the last fifteen years. Jenna asked me to write a column on “Writing the Commercial Novel,” so that’s what I’ll be doing. I can’t guarantee that what I … Read more
By Julie Eberhart Painter Had it not been for Mr. Sklar, my art teacher, I would never have survived college long enough to rediscover writing. From age eight I’d wanted to write — short stories, poems, books — but my parents insisted I attend Moore Institute of Art in Philadelphia so I could help them … Read more
By Albyn Leah Hall Writing fiction is like allowing yourself to be the ugliest person in the room and the most beautiful person at the same time. The “beautiful” you swans into the party, garnering admiration, presuming that everyone else will be interested in what you have to say—about anything. The “ugly” you would prefer to … Read more
