blogger: Cynthia Ruchti
Marketing or madness? They don’t have to be synonymous.
Did I ever tell you about the high-pressure fudge salesman who accosted my daughter and me with marketing gone mad? One would not think high-pressure and fudge would …
Writing Life
Minimize the Obstacles to Publication
Blogger: Rachelle Gardner
When you’re a debut author trying to break in to traditional publishing, one of the most important things to remember is this:
Minimize the obstacles.
You already know it’s not going to be easy to break in, …
When An Agent Doesn’t Reply
blogger: Cynthia Ruchti
When an agent doesn’t reply to your query, proposal, burning question, or manuscript submission, is it because she/he doesn’t care?
Admittedly, sometimes writers–whether aspiring or veteran–choose the default answer, “Yes! That must be it! I’m not important …
I Only Cheated a Little
I recently read in the daily online newsletter Publishers Lunch about a cavalier cheat that landed UK thriller writer Mark Dawson on the Sunday Times bestseller list. The author not only admitted he bought hundreds of copies of his book …
It’s a Flexible Life
blogger: Cynthia Ruchti
Contrary to popular belief, the writer’s theme song is not “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Not that it isn’t wonderful. So much of what we do–musing, creating, building story worlds, research, interviews, developing characters, or finding ways to …
Fighting Ennui
There’s no question many of us are plagued by a feeling of ennui these days. I decided to suggest three anti-ennui activities for both fiction and non-fiction writers. So. . . let’s get to it.
For Novelists:
Ennui Fighter #1…
A Virtual Writers Conference–Good or Bad?
A couple of weekends ago, Wendy Lawton, Cynthia Ruchti, and I served on the faculty of the Northwestern Christian Writers Conference, which was conducted virtually. Being on the faculty of a writers conference was nothing new, but a virtual …
Write Another Book
Blogger: Rachelle Gardner
Recently I had lunch with two writers, one published and the other not yet, but close. The most impressive thing about these two women is that they’ve each written more than a dozen books. Because of that, …
Authors’ Magical Thinking
I’m sympathetic regarding what a pain it is to create a proposal. When I was writing books, I felt grumpy when I had to do a proposal. That’s when I dipped into what I call Authors’ Magical Thinking.
That’s when …
All the Good Worry Accomplishes
blogger: Cynthia Ruchti
Image courtesy of Pixabay
Let’s face it. Authors are not immune to worry. It’s natural. Except for the completely confident or the delusional, writers worry that their words won’t matter, that no publisher will want them, that …