Whether you are reading, researching, taking notes, or writing, your neck and shoulders are likely to get stuck at an angle which will make you tight, stiff, and eventually sore. Your head weighs about ten lbs. When you tilt your head forward, it will cause your neck and muscles to have to work as hard as if your head weighed 30 lbs., according to Erik… [Read More]
Joyce Maynard found ads for James Patterson Master Class in her Facebook newsfeed and signed up to discover the secrets to writing a bestselling book. She wrote an article for The Observer about what Patterson had to teach her about writing – and selling – books. That she herself was a published author of a couple memoirs and a dozen novels did not prevent her… [Read More]
The July publication of Go Set a Watchman revealed Harper Lee changed point of view when she rewrote it as To Kill a Mockingbird. The new book is an unedited version and shows Harper Lee sloppily slip-sliding between first-person and third. The difference between a story narrated by Jean Louise Finch, a 26-year-old daughter, about her disillusionment in Atticus and small town bigotry, and the… [Read More]
To be an author is a status many work hard to attain. Most of that work is invisible to the reader’s eye. Much of it doesn’t involve creative writing. The roles and responsibilities of an author go far beyond producing a wonderful manuscript. Writer is one role and the manuscript is one important responsibility. There are other roles besides writer and many more responsibilities. The role… [Read More]
Sharon Yntema, bookkeeper and author, shared her good experience with a small publisher in a recent blog and here she shares her story and good advice for the business of being an author. In 1981, I received my first author royalty check. Up until that point, my tax returns had been totally straightforward: one W2 was all I had to deal with, and so I… [Read More]