When writing a novel, many do not fully understand the entire process involved. In this analogy, let’s look at the writing process itself: consider your story idea as a “seed” and your finished published book as a healthy “garden.” Consider the following writing analogy: —- There is a lot of preparation required before planting: tilling the […]
Research: Bane or Boon of Novelists?
Research. Does the word send you into spasms of frustration, dread or anxiety? Or conjure up images of formulas that you could never remember for the test? Or does the adventure of learning fire you up, get your juices flowing fast and hard? When I asked Suzanne for suggestions, she came up with this one. […]
Writing for Fun or Profit? 5 Reasons To Be Clear
Are you writing for fun or profit, is it a business or is it a hobby? Without evidence of published works and records of profits and losses, it is a hobby, so says the IRS. Why even ask the question? Why does it matter? All too often, in my experience anyway, we women deny the importance […]
The Rules of Writing – There Are No Rules
“John, I know you were a Marine, therefore you love rules. The rule you need to remember here is that there are no rules.” My husband is a psychologist and told me about this simple piece of advice from the head nurse of an inpatient psychiatric unit where he was working as an intern. That […]
5 More Tips for the Novice Novelist
In an earlier post, “Want To Write A Novel? 5 Tips to help you find out…”, we discussed the ‘why’s’ of writing a novel: tips for the novice novelist to ensure that the story and characters are liked, maybe even loved because of the amount of time needed with our stories. Now that you’ve decided […]
Writefull – A Companion App to Improve Your Writing
Writefull is a companion app that can be used in any writing tool from MS Word to Gmail. It helps you to improve your writing by analyzing text that you select and comparing it to thousands of documents in Google Books, Google Scholar, and Google Web databases. You can then use that analysis to adapt […]
Draft – An online tool for revision management and collaboration
Draft is a writing program that emphasizes simplicity, version control, and collaboration. I found Draft while I was looking for a program that allowed me to easily save and access specific versions of my writing project as I was working on it. Draft was created by a programmer looking for an ideal work space in […]