• What Editors and Agents Really Want

    Tweet All the rejections from articles, essays, and poems lay in a heavy heap over my heart. They are evidence of one thing that I have to keep learning repeatedly. Success doesn’t come from replicating successful writers. This I have to tell myself after yet another agent/teacher recommends I read a bestselling book in hopes their innovative ideas, voice or style…

  • Get Off Your Writing Couch and Do Something!

    Tweet Thank you Stephanie and Jan for reminding me about 2 things: 1) To keep up this blog! 2) To be more compassionate.  Their comment comes on the heels of a short answer I compiled for O magazine. If you want to read my little published shpeal on compassion, it’s right here. But the main reason I’m writing this is…

  • What Inspires You to Write?

    Tweet Some authors claim certain writing instruments do it. Others insist on a severely quiet room. Then there are those that require the opposite. Equipment and environment, however, does not ensure writing success. Each writer has to find what works for them. Yet, aren’t we chomping at the bit to know what it is that works for J.K. Rowling, for…

  • Feel Free to Moan, and Groan…But Never Ever Give Up!

    Tweet I’ve spent enough time studying the grooves of my ceiling to know that every creative person, writers included, needs to take risks and risk the repercussions afterwards. Just like you may have a flood of ideas and are eager to set each one free, you may spend nights like me staring at the ceiling bemoaning over your impulsivity for…

  • My Last Gift for Writers in 2010

    Tweet {photo credit} This is it! It’s December 31st, 2010. We’re just hours away from the end of the new year. Before 2011, I wanted a chance to give you one more gift. And since it’s the last one, it has to be BIG. So here we go! TIP #8: Live BIG! I don’t know if you noticed, but I…

  • Bad Haircuts and Bad Business

    Tweet Photo by striatic Have you ever had a bad haircut? I’m sure we’ve all had them. As for me, I’m like TLC’s Duggarts, I’m on my fifth and counting. The thing my husband always says after I get back from another disappointing hairdo is, “I don’t get it. You tell them exactly what you want and they never do…