Mentoring young writers toward fiction writing excellence
"In a hole in the ground, there lived a Hobbit..." With these words J.R.R. Tolkien launched an epic fantasy that has thrilled generations of readers. Yet he chose to begin his story with not with action nor with characters, directly, but with … [Continue reading]
“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.” So, last week I talked a bit about marketing and looking at it from a fresh angle. What might be some ways to NOT promote yourself (or others)? When looking … [Continue reading]
There’s much said in writing circles about “marketing.” Most of it I did my best to ignore, at least until getting my first contract, when I realized it was suddenly relevant and I better pay attention, because even traditional publishers have … [Continue reading]
I read a pretty popular novel recently, written by a fellow author in my genre, and I enjoyed it. I might have given it a solid four stars. BUT, I mentally only awarded it a three-star effort for one single reason. Near the end of the story, the … [Continue reading]
"Plagiarism and copyrights and trademarks! Oh, my!" (Read this in your best imitation of Dorothy, the Scarecrow, or the Tin Man in Oz.) Sometimes, like Dorothy and Toto, we may get into situations where suddenly we realize we're "not in Kansas … [Continue reading]
