Recently I finished teaching a six week workshop where one participant asked a tough question that has haunted me. “What shouldn’t I do as a writer? What mistakes can you help me avoid making?” I stumbled through an answer. I like to focus on the positive things writers can do to improve their writing and yet the question was a legitimate one. And in my… [Read More]
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have time the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that,” Stephen King wrote in his memoir, On Writing. When I hear from aspiring authors they don’t have time to read, I think about Stephen King’s observation. The likelihood of publication plummets when a writer doesn’t read. It IS that simple. As a developmental editor… [Read More]
You finish a piece of writing. It’s polished. It’s done. You feel the sense of completion in every atom of your being as a writer. Savor that moment. The end. Done. You save it. You print it. You revise it again. You read it aloud. It’s ready for reader feedback. So who do you ask? Not your lover or spouse. Not your best friend or… [Read More]
“There’s never been a book like this,” is a phrase that may doom your book propsoal to oblivion. When writing a book proposal, an essential document to prepare is a comparative title analysis. This is a report which identifies the current bestselling books like yours. If there is nothing comparable to your book in the marketplace of ideas, then there may be a reason for… [Read More]
Where to begin? Getting clarity on the genre of memoir is a good start. Then writing one memory. It can be intimidating to think of writing your life story beginning at your birth. So, don’t write autobiography. The classical forms of autobiography are called apologia, oration, and confession. Apologia are written as self-justifications for one’s actions. Orations are written to document one’s literary talents in… [Read More]
Before you send out your query or a book proposal, take a second look. Have you answered these questions? What is the “genre” of the book? (humor, history, memoir, travel, how-to, etc) What is the main subject of your book? (what subject headings would a library give your book?) What topics will be covered? (what keywords could describe your book?) Describe your approach to the… [Read More]
