blogger: Cynthia Ruchti
What are six unexpected essentials every writer needs?
Keyboard Protector
Let’s start with an unessential but wildly helpful tool. The serious writer may notice that one of the bits of fallout from working hard at the craft …
Writing Life
The Imposter Syndrome
“I can’t really call myself a writer, I haven’t yet been published.”
“I know I’ve written seventeen books, I just hope nobody ever finds out I never finished college.”
“My book has been on the bestseller list for three months …
Turning Knee-Jerks into Profitable Exercise
blogger: Cynthia Ruchti
Who says writers don’t exercise enough? It’s not uncommon to find a writer doing knee-jerks.
Agent hasn’t responded to writer’s query. It’s been two months. Knee-jerks:
- I don’t matter enough to that agent.
- I must not matter
Be Anxious About Nothing
Anxious? Unless you live in a cave you have been bombarded with negative, anxiety-producing information of late. In less than one hour of listening to news today, I heard more doomsday-type news than a body can stand. The icecaps are …
Great Expectations for Writers
blogger: Cynthia Ruchti
A simple two-word phrase–great expectations–has maintained a steadfast and recognizable connection to one literary work first published 160 years ago. What else could come to mind when we hear those two words together but Charles’ Dickens’s highly …
To Rewrite or Not to Rewrite
This week three of my clients are rewriting their entire manuscripts, each at the behest of a publishing house editor who has expressed serious interest in the project. That means three of my clients faced the dilemma: To rewrite or …
An Agent’s Favorite Words
Blogger: Cynthia Ruchti
An agent’s favorite words?
A joke used to make its way through the family circle whenever someone took out a checkbook (remember those?) to repay another family member for borrowed money or for his/her portion of a …
Unusual Distractions and the Writing Life
Blogger: Michelle Ule
Sitting in for Rachelle
In the course of writing a book you often have to write with distractions demanding your attention.
It’s the nature of life in general, but sometimes unusual events intrude.
(Death, birth, fire, natural …
Will Your Readers Get the Point?
Blogger: Cynthia Ruchti
Not long ago, I read a mildly interesting nonfiction book that promised more than it delivered and that derailed halfway through.
I could probably stop there. MILDLY interesting. Didn’t deliver. Derailed. Not what you want to see …
Resolved: No Resolutions!
Here we are in the middle of the holidays and with Christmas over, we’re rushing headlong into NEW YEAR’S which for many of us means… resolutions. I’ve always loved the feeling of starting a fresh year and optimistically making