Blogger: Mary Keeley
I highly recommend participating in a critique group. You can improve your own craft as you critique your partners’ work often as much as you can by receiving their feedback on your work. But this can’t replace …
Critique groups
Writing Success: A 3-Pronged Approach
Blogger: Mary Keeley
Let your heart not grow weary from the increasing volume of proposals competing for fewer publishing slots. If you are patient, you’ll continue to have opportunity with traditional publishers as long as they are still acquiring. I …
Lessons for Writers from Business Giants
Blogger: Mary Keeley
What do Amazon, Apple, Walt Disney, Google, Harley Davidson, Hewlett Packard, and Yankee Candle Company have in common? Each entrepreneur launched his multibillion-dollar company from someone’s garage with nothing but knowledge and a willingness to work hard …
Celebrating Christian Writers
Blogger: Mary Keeley
Yesterday a PW Daily article reported that “adult book sales fell in the first half of 2016” compared to the same time period last year, 2.8 percent to be exact. Sounds like more discouraging news, doesn’t it. …
The Very First Page
Blogger: Rachel Kent
The first page of your manuscript is more important than you might imagine. You want the opening paragraphs to shine because, it turns out, if they don’t stand out, often that’s as far as an editor or …
Check, Recheck, and Then Check Again
Blogger: Mary Keeley
I was asked to proofread a newsletter this week. Because it had already passed through two sets of professional editorial eyes, I doubted I would find anything wrong, but I agreed to give it another pass because …
Celebrating Writers
Blogger: Mary Keeley
Writing is a life-long learning process. Just ask veteran authors and they will tell you. Call it the Writing-LLL course. I’m devoting today’s post to celebrating writers.
Maybe it’s that the scent of spring is finally in …
Genre Glue
Blogger: Mary Keeley
This has been a puzzling week. Conversations with authors revealed that a few of them were brainstorming new book ideas in a different genre. Tremors in the industry or the feeling of being stuck may have precipitated …
Surround Yourself with Motivation
Blogger: Mary Keeley
The view out my office window yesterday morning was spectacular. Just the right amount of pure white snow had fallen. But what took my breath away were the trees. They had been clothed in crystal white ice …
A Writing Entrepreneur
Blogger: Mary Keeley
We talk often talk about the craft of writing and aspects of the writing life here on the Books & Such blog. Today, I want to view you as a writing entrepreneur and talk about what that …