The criteria for whether you’re ready to apply for mentorship in contests like Author Mentor Match are pretty clear: you want to be traditionally published and you have a full manuscript that you’ve already fixed up as much as you can. But are you ready to be a mentee? Actually, it’s a bit of a trick…
I found a mentor in Author Mentor Match round 7!
It’s not about race, it’s about believing people when they say that poor characterization hurts them.
What happens when a perfectionist takes the advice to write more short stories.
Last month, the second anniversary of my transition to being a full-time writer passed without my noticing. Maybe the second anniversary is never as exciting as the first, but I also have an excuse: I was finishing my book! I told myself I would finish in April. Then in May. Then in July or August….
Author Kimmery Martin asked to see word counts in corkboard view for Scrivener. While I’m not positive this is what she wanted, it sounded like a helpful feature, so I tried to figure out a way to do it. First, I’ll show you how I do it. I have my scenes and chapters organized in…
At the beginning of this year, I set for myself what I considered to be ambitious but achievable goals: accumulate 75 rejections and edit my second book. Of course, I wasn’t really after 75 rejections; I was hoping that I could find an agent who wanted my book before I hit that number. But querying…
Facts about me I can’t remember when I didn’t want to be an author. I wrote my first story in Kindergarten, and I still have it (thanks, Mom!). It was about a princess, a dragon, and a knight, so… not much has changed. I graduated from the University of Michigan. (Go Blue!) My favorite Doctor…
I last participated in NaNoWriMo in 2010. Since then, I’ve had two kids, quit my job, and rewritten my novel twice. Along the way, I picked up quite a bit about story structure and am now a reformed pantser (although no one is ever only a plotter or a pantser, many lean far to one…
Happy November, everyone! For writers, the day after Halloween brings not just a candy hangover but the beginning of National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. Those who sign up attempt to write a whole novel during the month of November. (The target of 50,000 words is technically a little shorter than most novels,…