This is why we’re all here.
By Kris Saknussemm The problem with “should” advice is that it’s either something you already know, i.e., your diet should include more fruit and vegetables than cheeseburgers and martinis—or it’s something really difficult (like consuming more fruit and vegetables than cheeseburgers and martinis). Based on my own stumbling, fumbling experience, I offer the following list of things … Read more
By Barbara Stahura Memory is a tricky thing even in the best of times. But in times of great stress and chaos, you might as well kiss it goodbye, for all the good it will do you in accurately recalling events. When your world explodes, memory, too, falls into fragments around your feet — disjointed pieces … Read more
By Natalie Lorenzi You’ve heard the same advice over and over — nix the pink paper for submissions and don’t ever ask your loved ones to critique your writing (unless they are writers themselves — and even then, it’s questionable). Why are so many writers negative about feedback from friends and family? Feedback from Friends … Read more
By Dawn Allcot As a child, I spent hours playing Scrabble, Word Yahtzee, and Boggle with my mother. Thinking back, all this child’s play was merely a precursor to my adult life as a professional writer. I still love playing with word play; playing with letters and words, rearranging them to change their meanings, create … Read more
By Sandra Beckwith Publishers are willing to publicize nonfiction books when they’re released, but they rarely do much after the launch to keep books in the news, even though most deserve ongoing media exposure. Here are some easy things you can do to generate continuing publicity for your title. Use a mix of these ideas … Read more
By Ben Baker As a newspaper editor for longer than I really want to think about, I’ve written, read, edited, and cursed more newspaper feature articles than anyone except another newspaper editor. The cursing part comes in because most newspaper feature articles I read are one-person interviews which are almost monologues of the person being … Read more
By George Alex Windish Leslie Charteris is not a forgotten writer. Though he wrote other things, he will go down in literary history with his character, Simon Templar, the urbane, sophisticated, gentleman-adventurer better known as the Saint. Charteris was born in 1907, the son of Dr. S.C. Yin, whose roots could be traced to the … Read more
Review by Lynne Mahan Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande First printing: Harcourt, Brace & Company, New York, 1934 J.P. Tarcher, Inc., Los Angeles, 1981 175 pages Some of the amazing things about Dorothea Brande’s Becoming a Writer, a writing how-to book (in addition to the fact that it was written in 1934), are the techniques … Read more
Interview by Jenna Glatzer Rudy Shur is the publisher of Square One Publishers, and the author of the book How To Publish Your Nonfiction Book, part of the "Square One Writers Guide" series. Rudy has been responsible for the acquisition of more than 1,000 books, many of which have become bestsellers. He has lectured on … Read more
By Mridu Khullar Editors can be mean, unethical and downright unprofessional. But not all editors fit that bill. In fact, most editors would rather give you money than take it, would rather make no changes than rewrite whole pieces two hours before deadline, and would rather accept a piece than start their mornings sending out … Read more
