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 …
Writing Life
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
Hoops Jumping for Writers: Another Perspective
Blogger: Cynthia Ruchti
This was initially posted a couple of years ago, but it’s as evergreen a topic as a Christmas tree. We hear the resistance to “hoops” almost every day in the publishing world. Maybe this will strike you–as …
Should You Use Sensitivity Readers?
Blogger: Rachelle Gardner
Sensitivity readers have been on our radar for the last few years, and in some circles they’ve even become controversial. Here’s a brief overview of what sensitivity readers do so that you can decide whether to consider …
Books into Movies Redux
A year ago, I wrote a blog post about my ventures of turning books into movies. I stumbled across that post a few weeks ago and realized a lot has happened and an update might be offer more insight into …
Do You Have a Holiday Writing Plan?
Blogger: Rachelle Gardner
No getting around it, the holiday season is here. Next week is Thanksgiving, families are gathering, and stores are already playing Christmas music. The joys, the stresses… here they come.
What does this mean for writers? This …
Carrot or Stick?
This month being the famous NaNoWriMo month, I thought it would be fun to explore our motivation for writing. Motivation and inspiration are closely linked but actually very different. Inspiration is often soul deep while motivation may be very visceral. …