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Published and Profitable Writers Tips Blog
How to create a successful webinar for authors
Thursday's profit tip for authors Authors who want to enhance their back-end profits by creating successful webinars should study the techniques that Stephanie Chandler is using to promote her 2010 Nonfiction Writer's Conference. Here are some of the lessons I've learned watching Stephanie at work from a presenter's point of view: Get an...
Tell your story & engage web visitors in 1 screen
Wednesday's marketing and promotion tip for authors Jane Atkinson's Speaker Launcher website demonstrates how to tell a story and engage prospects using a 1-screen home page. In just 1 deceptively-simple screen, Jane Atkinson's home page establishes a brand, offers a list-building incentive, introduces her products and services, and--most important--provides multiple visitor engagement...
How do you keep track of new ideas?
Tuesday's writing tip for authors What happens if you come up with a new idea when you're not at your computer? How do you keep from losing the idea? Good ideas often have a mind of their own; they often show up at the most inopportune times, like when you're: Driving or flying At...
Issues involved in planning new editions of best-selling books
Monday's book planning tip for authors When does it make sense for author to plan a new edition of a best-selling book that has become a classic in its field? And, What should remain from the first edition; how much should be rewritten? These, and other questions, have been sparked by...
List building done right - Twitter, Facebook & Your Website
Thursday's profit tip for authors Phyllis Zimbler Miller's free report, Twitter, Facebook and Your Website: A Beginning Blueprint for Harnessing the Power of 3 for Your Business, provides a case study in list building and personal branding done right. Relevant content The quality and relevance of its content sets Twitter, Facebook and Your...
Personal branding success: outrageous + credible
Wednesday's marketing and promoting tip for authors Mike Michalowicz has based his personal branding success on combining a memorable, outrageous term, the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, with the credibility provided by his association with many of America's most trusted media and university brands. It's a combination that's not for every author, and it...
Word Strumpet
When something isn't working, there's a reason. I know. Duh. But how many times have you sat at your computer, beating your head against your desk, trying to make something work that isn't working? Trying to force a character to......
"Make work" is my all-purpose notation to myself that I use for both notes and on manuscripts. It is shorthand for "Make it work," and a very handy two words. If I'm writing notes, and they are a bit sketchy,......
Scenario #One: Life is going well. Really well. Your relationships are all in great shape, you're healthy, you eat right and exercise regularly. Your like your job, you have a great place to live, you love your pets, the sun......
Yesterday, all writing and other activities came to a screeching halt. This happened suddenly. One minute I was in the middle of a writing session. The next minute I was paralyzed. I realized that everything I had written was complete......
Attention, please. The following are no longer allowed during a writing session: 1. Whining 2. Worrying about the quality of your work 3. Obsessing over the odds for getting your work published 4. Wondering what others will think of your......
Becoming A Writer - Seriously
Threadbox, a new collaboration facility, has just gone into private beta. Tthis new collaboration facility allows a person to invite others into a discussion — and all replies will be gathered into one central place for all to see. I can see this software becoming very useful to writers...
PadNotes: A Handy iPhone/iPad App for Writers - Preview video demo sure tickles my interest
I just uncovered a demo video posted this week on YouTube about an intriguing new app for the iPhone/iPod — PadNotes. Speculation is already hitting the internet that this app become available for the iPad, where it will become very popular. There are aspects of this application that will be...
I just uncovered an online magazine and community that will be of special interest to anyone considering self-publishing. Self Publishing Review presents itself as a gathering place and membership site for such folks, offering news and reviews, as well as a forum for member interaction. Self-Publishing Review is the brainchild of...
Image via CrunchBase JUST A WEEK AGO, I blogged about online collaboration by writers, specifically pointing to a new, free online resource TypeWith.Me. Well, now online collaboration takes a HUGE STEP forward. Google has just bought DocVerse, the company that developed a Microsoft Office plug-in that allows users in...
March 7-13: Read An E-Book Week - The easiest way to explore the e-book universe
Image via Wikipedia I’ve been writing a lot about e-books lately. it’s certainly the buzz topic of the season. But I wonder: just how many of you readers of this blog actually read e-books? I’m betting many have yet to take the plunge. Well, now’s your time to give it a...
Image via Wikipedia For a glimpse of what iPad-maximized books will look like, Penguin UK previewed last Tuesday some of its upcoming releases tailored for the iPad. The interactivity is remarkable and will, I suspect, become the hallmark of iPad e-books. Engadget makes the comment that these are...
Lisa Illichmann
All good things must come to an end, as somebody (I don’t know who) once said, and in this spirit, my stories too must come to one. It’s been a year since I first sat down at my computer and typed the words ‘My New Glasses…’ . These words marked the...
I had just finished my last appointment and it was late. Evening was already falling crisply as I left the building and walked to my car. A light breeze caught in my hair as I went, ruffling my bangs with the cool scent of humus. It was only February and...
‘I have nothing to wear! I can’t believe it! ‘ I stomped out of my bedroom, glaring at my closet as I passed. I had an important appointment and had nothing to wear. How frustrating! And it was an important appointment, too. I had been invited to present my workshops at...
The wind whipped my hair back and whistled in my ears as we came round the last bend. Udo was already breathing hard, but he hadn’t slowed down a bit. He knew this stretch. He knew that we still had a few hundred meters or so before we reached the...
I was visiting a friend the other day to do some catching up. Sylvia and I hadn’t seen each other in quite a while, so I was looking forward to seeing her again and hearing about happenings. I was also looking forward to seeing her little boy, Andreas. He had...
My car slipped around the corner as if I were driving on soap and glided gracefully to the left and then to the right as I attempted to stay in my lane, or at least on my side of the road. I wasn’t being particular, but I did want to...
Remarkable Communication
How To Write For Regular Readers
Yes, it’s a guest post! My friend and all-around wise dude Charlie Gilkey graciously offered me this guest post as a way to rouse Remarkable Communication gently from its slumber. This is the second part of the How To Blog Like Shakespeare series from Charlie Gilkey. Check out How To Write...
I’ve been spending more time lately teaching folks who are new to marketing, and I’m finding it really fascinating. The same themes come up again and again. These are people who had an interesting idea for a product to sell or a service to market, but they run up against a...
How to Get Any Work Done (When Connecting Is Your Job)
If you’re doing any social media marketing at all, you know the drill. It’s all about showing up. Being your authentic self. Showing that you’re a trustworthy human being, making a connection, reaching out one-to-one. The cornerstone idea of this blog is that if you can create more remarkable relationships with...
I have a friend who’s creating a business. Actually, I have lots of friends who are creating businesses. And this is a story that reflects many of their journeys. One person inspired this particular story, but her story is the story of many people I know. She got an idea she...
Are You Sure Your Content MarketingStrategy Is a Good Fit?
When I was on vacation a few weeks ago, I went out to dinner with my friend Isabel. She wore a simple dress and a really cute cotton hoodie. Ever since I got home, I’ve been trying to find a hoodie just like it. So far, no luck. Why? Isabel doesn’t pay...
What’s Your Tribe’s Secret Language?
I picked up a couple of Nancy Mitford novels while I was on vacation in Taos a few weeks ago. Mitford wrote acidly funny, impeccably observed novels about her own background, which was as a child of the minor aristocracy growing up in Great Britain between the world wars. It’s probably...
Founders' Blog
Writing Room (Video) - A.K.A. “Manspace”
Browsing one of my favorite websites, TED.com, I came across author Sam Martin discussing how the building of his backyard writing space sparked his interest in “manspaces” nationwide. I’m uncertain as to how the term “manspace” applies, as my experiences have shown the need for personal space is independent of...
If you’ve seen Kung Fu Panda you know that the key to the "secret ingredient" is just to believe there’s a secret ingredient. So if you’re going to have your morning cup of java or tea, why not transform it into "screenwriting fuel" with this cup from Zazzle.com. Let it...
The Ergohuman is considered by many ergonomic chair experts to offer the biggest bang-for-the-buck in terms of ergonomic benefits. This chair competes directly with the Aeron by Herman Miller. Although one of the key features of the Ergohuman is the lower lumbar support, its “executive style” also fulfills my...
The one component most lapdesks are missing is a platform for the mouse to function. Granted, many laptop users navigate via the onboard mouse/touchpad and don’t require such, however for those of you who prefer an external mouse, Logitech has created a very accommodating lapdesk that not only keeps your legs...
Elizabeth Gilbert - Nurturing Creativity (Video)
I came across this video a while ago but it just occurred to me to share it with the readers of the Founders’ Blog. If you’ve ever been afraid to write, or do any sort of creative thing for fear of what people may think or how you’ll be compared,...
Memory Foam Slippers - Like Writing on Air
So there you are nestled behind your desk, wearing your favorite roomy t-shirt and sweats, all the while pecking away at your keyboard. Your back feels great in that new ergonomic chair, the extended monitor is candy-for-your-eyes and your keyboard and mouse setup feel like an extension of your body....
How Not To Write
An interesting title, seeing as I haven't posted here in a long while. It's a melancholy thing, but the reason is simple: I'm not practicing. Notice how I haven't blamed any one of a host of issues. I won't even bother to list them, because listing them invites them...
blub blub blub... The only thing I really have to whine about is being fat, and that's my own damn fault too. As we work through this craziness of writing, we all struggle with the same problems. It might happen at different times or in a different order. We...
The Morning Before You Didn't Write
The morning before you didn't write is a morning filled with promise. You are not writing just yet. You are sitting somewhere, in a cafe or maybe just lying in bed staring at the ceiling thinking that it will be just fine if you lay there for ten minutes more...
I've been lazy. Isn't that what we're supposed to say after the new year? Aren't we supposed to flail ourselves for our failings and weaknesses, promise to be better, and then within a fortnight (if you're lucky) fall, fall again into a pattern of loathsome idleness? Yes, I've been lazy. In the...
Shiny! I wonder if my dome is as blinding? The winter break is almost over. This morning, I am sitting in my favorite coffee shop. The world is just beginning to filter in: old men drinking coffee, reading newspapers in isolation; a couple enjoying breakfast; the staff getting jumpy because it...
I AM PUBLISHED! Ok, enough smiling back to work! This is a post I expected to write, I just didn't expect it to be today nor did I expect it to be this year: Today, my work appears in Brain Harvest. It's a short story. Just 750 words. ...
Wordful
Scribe SEO Review: How a Little SEO Goes a Long Way
Scribe SEO is a paid Wordpress plugin with a catchy name that helps your content rank higher in search engine results. With a click of a button, your content is analyzed and given a score based on its structure and keyword density. If your score is less than 100%, Scribe will...
5 Gentle SEO Tips for Creative Writers
For the sake of clarity, the term “creative writer” in this article refers to anyone who considers their writing a gift of art long before it serves a function of marketing. Not everyone who blogs or writes online is trying to get a sales lead or talk about their business. And not everyone...
Do you ever wonder why the people who are good at getting found on the web are often the ones who can’t write very well? It’s true, look around you. The web continues to serve up and reward bad writing. Bad writing drives people like us—who care about the quality and integrity...
Thesis Wordpress Theme Review — An Editor’s Perspective
One of the 2 Wordpress products I’m proud to be an affiliate reseller of is the Thesis Wordpress Theme by DIY Themes (the other is Organic Themes — more on that in a future post). For a non-code-loving writer and editor like me—and presumably you—the real selling point about Thesis is...
Editorial Awareness: So You Think You Got It?
Editorial awareness is the act of effectively connecting with readers through clear, honest expression and knowledge on a given subject. To find out if you have it, ask yourself these 3 questions: Why are you publishing? In a low-hassle, tech-enabled world, anyone can broadcast themselves far and wide. But that doesn’t mean they should. We...
3 Proven Ways to Succeed in Publishing
As I’ve mentioned before, now is a good time to start a commercial publishing operation. Startup costs are low, marketing is free and of course — great content is always in demand. The question that has everyone stumped, however, is how to make publishing profitable. Print as we now know it is a slippery...
Writing Forward
Maya Angelou, I love you. When I was thirteen years old, I spontaneously started writing poetry. I was lying on my bedroom floor, talking on the phone with a notebook opened in front of me, and I suddenly wrote a poem. Looking back, it was a strange thing to do. My main...
Every year on March 4, we lovers of language celebrate good grammar, and with good reason. Take a tour around the web, check out some misspellings on public signs, peek into a mass-market paperback book. You’re sure to find a grammar mistake or two (or two hundred). Throughout my adult life, I’ve...
Celebrating Good Grammar: It’s National Grammar Day!
Every year on March 4, we lovers of language celebrate good grammar, and with good reason. Take a tour around the web, check out some grammatically flawed public signs, peek into a mass market paperback book. You’re sure to find a grammar mistake or two (or two hundred). Throughout my adult life,...
They say March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb, but the older I get, the more I believe that proverb applies to every month, not just March. Many people cite spring as their favorite season. New life starts appearing and the sun starts its annual battle...
What if you won the lottery? What if you woke up in someone else’s body? What if you could fly? What if you could open your imagination to a whole new world of writing ideas? Today’s journal prompts encourage you to wonder. Some of them are based on reality. Others ask you...
Tanka, which literally means Japanese poem, is a form of Japanese verse that dates back to the Heian period (794-1186 CE). The term was coined to distinguish Japanese-language poetry from poetry that was written in the Chinese language by Japanese poets. The form consists of five units. When Westernized, these units...
What Kate Did Next
Not Drowning, Waving (Goodbye?)
Taken on the flight deck by the pilot - beyond the clouds everything is in perspective.How are you all? Thank you for all your lovely emails and comments - sorry I haven't been able to respond in person as usual. We're a few short days away from leaving home, and...
A few of you have asked for news of the Hound as we move to Qatar. As she has played such an integral part in WKDN I thought she deserved her own post. Improbably Afghans are banned in Qatar. (The other dogs banned are pit bulls, mastiffs...
Maybe when you run out of bookshelf space, you know it is time to move. The latest addition to my teetering stacks of much loved books is Kathleen Grissom's 'The Kitchen House'. How many of us dream of having our debut novels downloaded on Kindle? No, you...
Kate Forsyth's study (her hound is clearly much better behaved than this Kate's :) One of the single greatest things about blogging has been 'meeting' writers around the world and following their success. Writing is solitary - we're all beavering away in our sheds, studios and basements, pouring our...
Over the break I took some time off - the new draft is in, I'm playing around with ideas for the next book, but for the first time in ages I Read For Pleasure. Not course books ('World Postmodern Fiction', anyone?), not books to be reviewed, just what I felt...
You write to communicate to the hearts and minds of others what's burning inside you. And we edit to let the fire show through the smoke. ~Arthur PolotnikHello girls and boys, and hello 2010. A new decade. Forget happy new year - we have a new decade to celebrate...
English Study Materials
LookWAYup: Online Dictionary/Thesaurus with Spelling Correction
LookWAYup is an online English dictionary that contains a built-in thesaurus and allows multilingual translation to and from five other languages (French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Dutch). Free and easy to use, the dictionary incorporates a vocabulary builder and can be integrated into web... [This is a content preview only. Visit...
Daily IELTS Lessons from IELTS-Simon
IELTS-Simon is a superb blog dedicated to students who are preparing for the IELTS exam. Maintained by ex-IELTS examiner Simon Corcoran from Manchester (United Kingdom), this blog offers practical IELTS study tips and a wealth of free exercises designed to help IELTS candidates refine their... [This is a content preview only....
Free ESL/EFL Resources from Linguapress.com
Linguapress.com, the website of the well-known France-based EFL publisher Linguapress, provides a nice collection of free ESL/EFL resources that include a guide to English grammar, graded reading passages, and themed vocabulary games. For ESL/EFL teachers, the site offers useful teaching ideas and... [This is a content preview only. Visit my website...
Free Books Online at PublicLiterature.Org
PublicLiterature.Org is a website where literature lovers can read and listen to classic literary works for free online. It is also a blog where contemporary authors from around the world contribute samples of their work as well as discuss all kinds of issues related to... [This is a content preview only....
Exemplar is an online corpus of scientific English that allows users to find examples of how a word or phrase is used in published scientific literature. A joint-product of Springer Science & Business Media and the Center for Biomedical and Health Linguistics, the site is totally free to use... [This is...
Fiction Channel is a website where visitors can enjoy the literary works of many great writers who write in English, from Shakespeare to James Herriot. Providing texts that range across a variety of types, including fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, the site is especially useful to English learners... [This is a content...
The blog on Protagonize, a creative writing community
Feats of Wonder competition winners!
Just in time for Oscar night, we have your winners in the Feats of Wonder competition! First Place seldom, Jim Vs The Deep, Wide Ocean Second Place Tasha_Noble, William, in his Head Third Place darkliquid, Beneath First off, let me congratulate all of the entrants in the competition — we had an excellent level of quality in...
Protagonize Pub night, Vancouver chapter!
I’m a little bit behind in posting this, but it’s already been posted in a couple of spots (including in the Protagonize Pub group and on Facebook), so here goes. We’ve got an informal meetup (which I’m calling the Protagonize Pub night) happening here in Vancouver, BC, Canada (site of that big sporting event...
In honour of the Olympics, a competition
In honour of the Vancouver Olympics currently taking place in Protagonize’s hometown, a competition of equally monumental proportions seems in order, does it not? The Challenge Oftentimes it seems as though the smallest pebble can dislodge half a mountainside if you push it down the hill just so. Acts both large and inconsequential...
Recipe for creativity: A crowdsourced picture book
This is the third in a series of guest posts from select authors in Protagonize’s creative writing community. Do you have something to say that might be of interest to our members? Feel free to contact us with blog ideas and share your passion for writing with our readers. My name...
New discussion features & 20 Writerly Questions!
Little bit of an update for you folks this evening. I’ve got a few tweaks (not sure if I’d call them features) to the discussions within groups, and a shiny new sponsored group for you all to participate in. First off, we’ve launched our very first sponsored group this evening, courtesy of Random...
Momblebee Blog
The American Idol Guide to Brand Building
Ok, I’m going to make a confession. I’m coming out of the closet and admitting that I watch American Idol. There, I said it. But it’s not what you think. Although I always pride myself as someone who generally operates outside of the mainstream, I find myself intrigued by this American Idol...
The Cashier At Walgreens Is My Consultant
The “Consultant” I was at Walgreens the other day and I noticed that the young woman who rang up my birthday card, shampoo and toothpaste was wearing a name tag that read: Susan, Beauty Consultant. I also noticed that Susan had chipped electric blue fingernails, multiple rings on all of her...
Dish Network: A Profile In Poor Marketing
A few weeks back, this direct mail piece came addressed to me from Dish Network. It features a picture of an olive-skinned and black haired beauty on the front and handsome dark haired, stubble-bearded man on the back. Beyond that, I cannot tell you what it says because it’s written...
Pay No Attention to that Guru Behind the Curtain
You all know the scene: Dorothy and her three friends return to Oz with the broom in hand after a harrowing near-death experience dealing with the witch and all those flying monkeys, only to have Toto pull back the curtain and expose the wizard as the charlatan that he truly...
Who Is Afraid Of The Big Bad Lawyer?
There was a recent discussion on Copyblogger, about the importance of spreading the word when you have an idea. The point of the article basically was that instead of hoarding your great ideas in a file on your computer, you should share them with anyone who will listen to spread...
The Domino’s Effect: Is Being Bad Good For Business?
Domino’s Pizza has recently launched a new TV ad campaign which not only announces attempts to improve the quality of their pizzas, but incorporates the negative feedback from consumers about their product. Now, I know that transparency, listening to your customers, engaging with them and responding to their needs...
Write to Done
Motivation Tips that Actually Work: 6 Sure-Fire Ways To Get Writing and Keep Writing
A guest Post by Annabel Candy of Get in the Hotspot Have you noticed how easy non-writers think writing is? When you’re a writer that can be frustrating. There are three main things about writing that make it lack the social proof people expect of professional activities. It’s intangible – Many people don’t...
Persistence Pays – But Not Enough to Cover the Rent
A Guest Post by Wayne E. Pollard, Creator of Bo’s Café Life I believe that persistence is the most important trait you should have if you want to get published. To get my first piece published in The New York Times, I pitched it to at least five different editors until...
How To Write Relentlessly Focused – and Still Say Everything You Want To
A guest post by Bamboo Forest of Pun Intended Wouldn’t it be fantastic if there was a method ensuring every article you wrote was concise, relentlessly focused and said everything you wanted it to? There is. I recommend using a thesis statement and outline for many posts that you pen. Jesse Hines has written, “A...
10 Writing Rules You Can’t Break…And How to Break Them
A guest post by Eric Cummings of On Violence First, there was the “old school.” A bunch of stubborn grammarians got together and decided what defined “proper English.” Don’t end sentences with prepositions, never begin a sentence with “and” or “but,” and never split infinitives. They were strict, but they established...
10 Lessons I Learned from A Magnificent Failure
A Guest Post by Markus Urban of Art of Blog In December of 2009 I decided to undertake a lofty challenge – to create a website/blog in one week and get 100,000 unique visitors within a week of launching it. I knew it was possible, and the sheer enormity of it...
Concise Answers to Your Top Beginner Blogging Questions
Don’t let blogging overwhelm you. By Leo Babauta Blogging can be a mighty confusing endeavor for newcomers. And yet, in my experience, it’s one of the most rewarding, life-changing things you can do, from the comfort of your own home. If you’re just starting out as a blogger, or contemplating making the leap, don’t...
Fiction Matters
What Is An Independent Publisher?
Just like in other media markets, there are the major players and independent counterparts. In publishing, the Big Six are the entrenched, powerful entities, the “majors” if you will. But independent publishers, when viewed as a group, are a major power unto themselves. What Constitutes an Independent Publisher? By definition, an independent...
Fiction theory can come from anywhere. Case in point – Monday afternoon I was working from my couch when my laptop dropped the WiFi connection in the middle of a conversation. All things being equal, it was a pretty cozy situation suddenly disrupted by a spurt of sudden misfortune. Technology...
Platforms and Communities – The Big Words in Author Marketing
Agents, editors and publishers have wanted authors with platforms for quite a while now. The logic is simple – an author with a platform comes with an audience ready to purchase a book. These sales can either prime the pump and build word of mouth or, if a platform is...
The term “The Big Six” is commonly used on blogs and within publishing circles to talk about the six largest publishers in the industry. Each of the big six publishers has a collection of imprints, or smaller publishing houses, that reside with relative autonomy within the larger publishing umbrella. Here’s a...
Pam Satran is neither a stranger to the Internet, nor the best seller lists. Her numerous baby name books have made the leap online into the successful NameBerry.com, and her blog How Not To Act Old was picked up by HarperCollins and landed at number 7 on the New York...
Fiction Matters recently passed our first year mark, our first anniversary if you will. And that event was marked by work getting in the way of any posts at all last week. So, this week I’ve decided to sit Fiction Matters down and have a good talk with it, really...
Editor Unleashed
“Why I Write” Popular Ranking Starts Today!
Popular Ranking for the Editor Unleashed/Smashwords Why I Write Essay Contest begins at 12 noon EST today! Ranking will take place from Feb. 1 – Feb. 28 on the Editor Unleashed forum. You must be a registered forum member to participate in essay ranking (registration is free). Here’s how to vote: 1. We’re...
By Alegra Clarke Every year my husband and I make two lists on New Year’s Eve. One of the lists is of our resolutions, the other is our requests. We like to look at resolutions as things that we know we can achieve by our own efforts. The requests represent our...
Well, Happy New Year everyone! Great news: I was able to find a tech genius working over the holidays to fix our broken forum. Check it out—good as new. Due to the forum downtime, we’re extending the deadline of the Editor Unleashed/ Smashwords “Why I Write” essay contest to January 31....
I just wanted to let everyone know that I’ve run into substantial technical issues with this site and I’ve been having a difficult time diagnosing and fixing the problems. I upgraded the blog to the new version of WP last week, and it hasn’t worked quite right since. The EU...
Dr. Wicked: NaNoWriMo’s Obstetrician
By Alegra Clarke November has come and gone and left me with some valuable lessons. The first lesson is that a heavily pregnant woman (that would be me) should never brag to her husband about how she “feels pretty confident that I will be able to write the first half of...
Live Chat: Agent Ginger Clark tonight 8 p.m.
We’re hosting a live chat with literary agent Ginger Clark tonight at 8 p.m. EST so come talk books and publishing on the forum tonight. Here’s the thread. And you can find her interview in the previous post. -Maria Schneider...
Life on Avenue Z
So, the contract is signed, and the book is begun. Holy smokes. The entire manuscript, complete with hundreds of graphics, dozens of contributions and about 200 pages, is due to the publisher May 1. That’s 54 days from today. Before I begin writing, I have to collect and organize an insane...
In Borders, do you think they might file alphabetically by first name, just this once?
Sitting in my inbox at this very moment is an email that may very well change my life. Or not. It’s a book contract, sent to me by a small publisher who approached me about writing the hard-copy version of The Cheapskate Freelancer tools and tips. He’s been a follower of this...
I’m making a plan and sticking to it. Who’s with me?
What could you accomplish if you REALLY kept your New Year’s Resolution? What if you just stuck to a plan until you achieved a life-long goal? How would this change your life, make you better, give you a sense of pride? As we start a New Year, I think we need...
Need new contacts? Step outside your box
For the second year I’m hosting the Avenue Z Virtual Food Drive (you HAVE to see the new cool site. Click here and Pledge!), and I’m hoping for TWICE the donations as last year (click here for the original story). Since I’m stepping up the publicity and the goal, I...
Am I allowed to be scandalous?
The last couple of days have been very exciting. This fall I read one of my short stories at a DimeStories event, and it tickled the funny bone of a reporter for The San Diego Reader. When he wrote a column about the event, he called my piece “the funniest...
If you enjoy Avenue Z, please give a little something back
My dear readers, I’m at it again…On February 28, 2010, I will run my 5th marathon, this time the Mardi Gras Rock & Roll Marathon in New Orleans. Frankly, I can’t figure out why I continue running marathons*: my knees hurt; I love the couch; no one wants to see me...
PoeWar
Dealing with your to your Inner Observer
I have a voice in my head. Don’t worry. I’m sane. I took a FaceBook quiz that told me so. The voice in my head is me. It isn’t the logical part of me although it sometimes pretends to be. It is more of the observer of me. It looks at...
My Move from Unemployed Worker to Freelance Writer
Once I had some money coming in, I concentrated on improving my presence on the web. I upgraded my online portfolio site. I updated my resume on sites such as Monster, Dice and LinkedIn. I let my friends on FaceBook know I was looking for work. I also had lunch...
The Changing World for Writers
Change is in motion, and accelerating. The financial landscape of publishing and media in general is in the midst of a major transition, and there is no definitive idea of where it will end up....
Are you ready to move to a full-time freelance writing career?
The final piece in the puzzle is to think long and hard about whether or not you have the discipline for self employment. Life without a boss sounds great, but it means that you have to be the one to push yourself to achieve....
How to subsidize your freelance writing career with a (shudder) JOB
Most writers, even successful novelists, have jobs. They are teachers, lawyers, doctors, dentists, advertising executives, auto mechanics and grocery store clerks. Some are technical writers, copywriters, editors and proofreaders. It is certainly possible to freelance full-time, but many writers collect paychecks along with their invoices. This is especially true in...
As you complete the high priority tasks on your list, allow yourself to feel a sense of accomplishment. Don’t fret the fact that there are still more items on your list. There always will be....
The Screenwrightist
Writing can be confusing at times because the way things were done at one time are not always the best way to do them, it is just all they had back then. At one time novels were the highest form of storytelling technology. Anything you can think of can be...
Eternal Sources of Character Story Conflict
Playwriting and much television writing is mostly dialogue. What people say to each other can come off as simply talk if there is no character motivation behind it. When writing dialogue it is easy to bless whatever comes out of your head as gold, but a yardstick can help keep...
TV Writing is Mostly About Dialogue
Writers often put on paper whatever comes into their minds first. Freewriting is a great skill to have, but a consideration of the media you are writing for can help you communicate in it best. Just as novels cannot as accurately describe things like a photograph, there are certain things...
Many writers overlook short form material, concentrating on full-length works such as novels, films, and plays. Though longer works can seem more fulfilling and more in demand than shorter pieces, there are some great reasons to put effort into short writings. A short film especially holds a lot of value...
Writers Should Learn Story Structure
photo: oscheneMany writers just write whatever comes in their head and when it feels "finished" they bring it to friends and then share it with the world. They do not believe in any kind of act structure and feel constrained by the idea of craft. These writers yearn to be...
Writing Places Most Writers Overlook
photo: Tuvie Writing is mostly a solitary activity. Since writing only requires a writer and a writing instrument, writers spend a fair amount of time alone. Although others can be around as the writing happens, they are not necessary and can even sometimes get in the way. Being along so often...
Writing Forums
I have just realized how much I like to write, in fact I hope to make a career out of it. I really think going to college will help with that goal,......
I have a really bad habit of changing my tenses in my writings. Anyone got any pro tips on how to stop this?...
Since when is using a tag other than "Said" bad?
I got a critique on this other site, and the guy just flipped his top every time I used a word other than "said" for my characters. Throughout the......
I need to practice writing, but I don't know what to write. It's not that I have no ideas, I have plenty, it's just that whenever I think of......
hi my name is michael kaye. i joined this forum to seek information and to make new friends. So HELLO!! to everyone. A little about me: I been......
Hey guys, So I'm editing this to tell you a little bit more about myself. I've been writing and acting forever. Well, since like 6. I lived in......