To start, there's the official definition: Project management is the practice of initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and closing the work of a team to achieve specific goals and meet specific success criteria at the specified time. The pri ...
Everybody's been talking about bullet journals, how great they are, how they've changed people's lives, how fun and pretty they are. But did you know that we as writers can also use them? There are specific benefits to using a bullet journal specific ...
Oh, the Kidlit You'll Write! is my column over at DIY MFA. Here's the latest! Say you have a novel that stars a main character between the ages of 17 and 19, right on the cusp of adulthood. How do you pitch or market it, as Young Adult or Adul ...
A short, powerful, reusable online course that will help you prepare for NaNoWriMo! Every year I see writers who either forget about National Novel Writing Month until two months or less before November, or who know it's coming but keep putting of ...
You've decided you want to join a writing group. But what kind of writing group? There are so many combinations out there! Online or in-person, critique or support, small or large—and in what combination? The possibilities are endless! Here's a brie ...
(and people short on time, like me) Bullet journals are all the rage. Basically, a bullet journal is a DIY planner. You take a blank notebook and set it up the way you want, and use it to track anything from appointments to daily habits. It's a wa ...
I'm probably the last to the "Year in Review" party, but I have a good excuse! The mountain behind my house was on fire. Literally. See, where we live is very dry and fireworks are banned in the entire municipality. But, someone decided to celebrate ...
It's nearly that time again: National Novel Writing Month. Every November I and thousands of other writers challenge ourselves to write 50,000 words in just 30 days. It's a big goal, and it's really hard, and it's a lot of fun. It's also the way I dr ...
It's a question that gets asked a lot in writing circles, and the answers vary depending on who you ask. I know writers who doubt their decision both ways—whether they decided to get an MFA or not. Articles and whole books have been written about whe ...
It's finally here! THE MONSTER NOVEL STRUCTURE WORKBOOK is available for pre-order, releasing on September 15, 2018! Beta readers agree, this book will change the way you novel. “I feel like I've won the novel-writing lottery! For the first time ...
In October Author Mentor Match (AMM) will open to submissions from YA and MG writers! The program matches unagented writers with published and pre-published author mentors who help with revision and career strategy. To learn more about AMM, like how ...
A novel synopsis is a summary of the major events of a novel. It retells the story in a condensed form so that a reader can get the gist of the book without having to read the whole thing. If you plan to query your novel you'd best prepare a synop ...
I've used all kinds of tools to track things across the length of a manuscript. I've used giant pieces of paper, spreadsheets, and meta-data. But I think I'm in love with this one: Aeon Timeline 2. First, let me explain what I'm tracking and why. ...
Seeing as I love spreadsheets, are you surprised that I keep my digital files relatively well-ordered? I just saw yet another post from someone lamenting that she's working on Draft Number "FinalNoReallyThisTimeForSureIMeanItEtc" for the millionth ti ...
At some point in your writing career you're going to be given an edit letter. Edit letters are what a publisher, editor, agent, or even a critique partner or beta reader, give you in addition to any notes they've made on the manuscript itself. It's t ...
I'm impatient to get going this year. I mean, there's always some impatience going in, but this year feels stronger than in the past. It's a mixture of excitement and anxiety. And just plain, "But I wanna!" I realize that I didn't actually blog abou ...
It's well established that Scrivener is a great tool for writers. You might not be aware of how well it integrates with other writing tools and systems. For this, there are Scrivener templates. A template is a collection of Binder items that are a ...
It's time for #PimpMyBio! Every year Pitch Wars hopefuls post fun profiles of themselves to share with the community. Pitch Wars is a contest where the prize is a mentor to help you revise your book. Learn more about Pitch Wars at organizer Brenda Dr ...
I realize I never made an announcement here, so here goes. I'm hosting a weekly Twitter chat for writers, called #RPmyBook. RP stands for role-play, and the idea is that writers answer questions as their characters would. What's the benefit to write ...
I was selected for QueryKombat! QK is a contest where queries and novel excerpts are pitted against each other, bracket-style, until the strongest query is reached. I'm on Laura Heffernan's team, competing with the query for IN HER OWN SKIN, my YA ...
I've got another guest post on diyMFA! This week it's about Twitter chats. #5onFri: Twitter Chats for 5 Different Writers Writing hashtags are hot right now. There are plenty of pages explaining them and what to look for, but who are these chats fo ...
I have a guest post up on diyMFA this week! diyMFA is a site that encourages and guides writers to educate themselves, keep writing, keep reading, and grow their communities. I've followed the project for years and I couldn't be happier to be a part ...
I recently went on a hunt for unnecessary backstory in my first 50 pages. Early backstory slows the pace right as readers are looking to dig into your story, not get bogged down with what already happened. Thanks to Margie Lawson and her EDITS sys ...
Right up front I'm going to be honest and disclose that I have a horse in this race and his name is Plotty McPlotface. It took me a long, long time to figure out how much plotting I needed to make a working novel happen, and yes, I started out pantsi ...
