Baby Steps To Writing Success After a lifetime’s worth of writing, I can file these baby steps under the “wish I’d known when I started” category. They’re vital. If you follow them, not only will you be successful at writing at some time in the future, you’ll be successful right now. One: Write every dayWriters write. That’s all. And they write every day, just like plumbers fix taps and electric...

Balancing Writing and Family How, given our hectic everyday lives and family responsibilities, do we find the energy, space, and time it takes to bring a creative work into being? As a full-time writer who’s also a work-at-home mom, I’ve grappled with this question for years. And I’ve found some answers I’d like share: Now’s as good a time as any to writeSure, you can wait until the living room...

Beat the Block with a Journal It’s nearing the end of summer, and I have no credentials to my benefit these holidays. As the end of the holidays approach, I keep wondering what I have to show for the summer other than the noticeable tan, and the load of incomplete articles adorning my computer. Having nothing to write about can be exasperating. But having plentiful to do, and not doing it out of...

Beating Perfection Syndrome so you can write It’s Saturday afternoon. Your partner has taken the kids to the park. You have a whole hour to write. Instead of which, you sit, staring out the window like Rodin’s Thinker in jeans and a yellow sweatshirt. Why aren’t you writing? A tiny item called Perfection Syndrome. You want whatever you write in this precious hour to be perfect. During the week, ...

Becoming a Better Writer – A 10 Step Guide The urge to write fiction seems God given for some, a learned skill for others. One thing is certain – it requires practice and a particular mindset. But, if you’re a beginner, where do you start? The following 10 tips will help kick-start your writing habit, whether you’re a complete novice, or perhaps a pro who has lost their way!   1. Step Away Fr...

Becoming the Total Package Being a great writer is no longer enough if you plan to score a big publishing deal, especially as a nonfiction author. Particularly if your book idea falls into the “how-to” or “self-help” categories, you not only have to sell your terrific writing, but you also have to sell yourself as the book’s conduit to the world. Publishers want to minimize their risks, so they...

Before You Begin Your Writing Project We often jump into a new writing project without much thought. Driven by passion and fueled by the excitement surrounding the creative process, we dive in. Sometimes, this is a terrific strategy. Pour out what’s in your heart; try to make sense of it later. Other times, you simply waste your time by not answering a few preliminary questions. If you’re serious...

Beginning Your Memoir Despite Family Guilt and Critic Voices When we first decide to write, we feel good about itwe have memories and stories that form who we are. We want to explore ourselves, to capture times long gone and preserve them in story form. To leave a legacy about our lives. But other voices compete with our writingwhat will people think; you should be ashamed; you will embarrass the...

Beginner’s Guide on How to Write an Ebook The hardest part of writing is the first sentence. When you look at the whole project, it seems like an impossible task. That’s why you have to break it down into manageable tasks. Think of climbing a mountain. You are standing at the foot of it and looking up at its summit vanishing into the clouds. How can you possibly scale such an immense and dangerou...