This is why we’re all here.
By Monica Di Santi Humor, which is the ability to find a comic or amusing quality in a situation, action or group of ideas, can help you not only to laugh and have fun, but it can be a great tool to help you harvest new ideas, overcome writer’s block and improve your craft. To … Read more
By Chris Stewart Open any book on “how to write,” and somewhere you will find a discussion of how many words you should write every day. Forget the struggle to get ourselves to the paper or the computer every day, now we have to produce a certain number of words? Me? I don’t write every … Read more
By Lisa Silverman With the tremendous success of such memoirs as Frank McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes, Mary Karr’s The Liar’s Club, and Dave Eggers’s A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, the 1990s and early 2000s saw an explosion in the genre. The boom was seen in the number of memoirs acquired by publishers, the number of titles shelved in … Read more
By Julia Rosien Women in conflict with the law have taught me more about my own journals than any book or motivational speaker ever will. I teach journal writing at a federal prison for women. They write to heal. And their writing reflects a path filled with heartache, shame, courage, and for some, hope. We … Read more
By Jan Weeks I eased into freelancing while teaching middle school. Back then, record-keeping for tracking expenses and income was easy. I just added my meager writing pay to my form 1040 and filed it with my W2 from my regular job. Then I started submitting and selling more, and suddenly all those scraps of … Read more
By Jodi Brandon Hurrah — your book proposal or your magazine query has been accepted, and a contract is on its way. “Great,” you say enthusiastically to your agent or editor, even though you’re thinking, I don’t know how the heck to read a contract! Don’t panic. Perhaps the most common misconception among writers—especially new writers—is … Read more
By Karyn Langhorne It’s that time of year again: the time of reassessment and reevaluation, renewal and revision. In short, it’s time to resolve. Since we’re all writers here, it seems appropriate to use this space to make some writing resolutions for 2005, resolutions that are true for me—and might also resonate for you as … Read more
Ask the Pros: Screenwriting 101 Questions Answered by Industry Professionals Edited by Howard Meibach and Paul Duran Lone Eagle Publishing Company 2004 205 pp. Amazon.com price: $12.57 Review by Patrick Beltran Ask the Pros: Screenwriting is not your typical screenwriting book. Edited by Howard Meibach (of Hollywoodlitsales.com fame) and writer-director Paul Duran, this book does … Read more
By Julie Rogers and June Ford My editor and I frequently talk to writers—many who are or have been members of writer’s groups. More and more we find ourselves pulling out these tips because we believe healthy writing etiquette among peers in writer’s groups encourages good writing habits. When a writer begins working professionally with … Read more
By Selina McLemore “Karyn?” I bet she thinks I sound young. Really young. “I’m Selina and I’m going to be your editor on this project.” I love calling debut authors. I feel like I can really relate to the rush of excitement a new author feels. She’s worked so hard on her manuscript, rewritten it … Read more
