I’ve spent most of the day puttering around the apartment, cleaning off my desk, pulling out my favorite pens and writing craft texts. Generally, preparing myself for the next 30 days of frenzied writing abandon. I’m talking, of course, about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). A 30-day writing challenge where writers (both professional and amateur) … More Another November, Another Novel: NaNoWriMo 2015
NOTE: Last week I blogged about Dan Wells’ Seven-Point System and dissected some successful short stories to see how their structure worked. I’ll be referring to Wells’ system again this week, so I recommend reading last week’s post (HERE) so you know what I’m talking about. We know that the Seven-Point System works for short … More Plotting with the Seven-Point System
One of my favorite things about being a writer is that my “training” never stops. There will always be conferences, workshops, new (or old) books on craft and technique to discover. When your goal is to be a professional author, the learning never ends. With writing there is always some new technique to learn or … More Short Stories and the Seven-Point System
My experience at the Yale Writers’ Conference. … More The One with the Yale Writers’ Conference
For me, writing is all about sprints, while making a living as an author is a marathon. Stick with me as I unpack this extended metaphor a bit… Writers, like runners, have to build strength and stamina through (writing) exercises, diet (of quality reading material), and specialized training (in the form of workshops and writing … More Running and Writing
Editor’s Note: This week’s guest post comes courtesy of writer Ashley Horn. I thought for a while about the best way to handle the elusive pitch section of the query. I decided that it would probably be best done in four sections because I tend to think of pitches in what I call the four … More The Queries Series: The 4 C’s of an Effective Pitch
Editor’s Note: Many thanks to author Sean R. Robinson for contributing this guest post! It’s funny that at this point in my life, numbers drive so much of my writing. Or maybe I’m driven (a little crazy, perhaps) by numbers. When I was in high school about a decade ago, I loathed math. With all … More The Queries Series: Talkin’ ‘Bout My Motivation
When I proposed the concept for this series, many people expressed interest, but few brave souls were willing to share their own stories or publishing journeys. Perhaps that’s because, as frank as we are about the difficulties of being a professional writer, there is a sense of shame for many of us who continue to … More The Queries Series: Numbers Game
*May your pens be full of ink and your liquor cabinet full of tequila* ~Sarah Proverb This post is inspired by my wonderfully supportive husband who said “You should blog about that!” My husband recently completed his Master’s degree in a highly competitive field. We live in an area of the country where the market … More Moping and Margaritas
SF: We met back in the spring of 2010 when you were a Visiting Writer at Gettysburg College. I took your “Writing What You Don’t Know” class where we read magical realism stories and workshopped our own pieces. What have you been up to since then? LvdB: It’s funny—I know that class was only five … More Author Interview: Laura van den Berg
Life's Sentences 