As a writer, informed criticism can be one of your most exciting learning opportunities. Without criticism, you could spend years holed up with your laptop, making the same writing mistakes, over and over again. So welcome criticism: And if you feel particularly flattened by an over-zealous critic don’t angrily dismiss the criticism or write a defensive…
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Be the Heroine in your Own Life
Do you ever get lost in a TV program or a good book, to the point where you daydream about your heroine (or hero) and wish you could enter their world? That’s one of the most fun parts about being both a reader and a writer: But how much do you let yourself be the…
Defining Yourself with your Writing… or Not
Years ago, in the early nineties, I had the oddest experience. I was grappling at the time with defining myself. Was I a writer? An artist? A musician? The problem was, I was borderline “good” in all these areas, but instead of just settling down and concentrating on one, I would go through addictive, obsessive-compulsive…
Making Money Writing when you have Health Challenges
Writing is an online job it is possible to do really well when you have health challenges or any sort of chronic disability. You don’t need the ability to run five miles before breakfast: You just need a computer, some sort of affinity for writing and a specialty you like to write about. Here are my…
Know your Tropes: Avoid Clichés
Screen writers are hyper-aware of tropes: Fiction writers (especially new ones) not so much. Tropes are common scenarios that happen in TV or in the movies (and occasionally in real life) Clichés… are phrases. Simple as that. Clichés are fatal in writing: Not only because they are so overused that they lack (or even defuse) emotional meaning,…
Writers Groups: To Join or Not to Join?
Joining a writer’s group—or not joining one—is usually a decision made out of personal preference. Reclusive or introverted people say things like: “I don’t do well in group situations”, and outgoing writers love to join writer’s groups. But regardless of your personality type, becoming a member of a writer’s group can help you grow and…
What’s Your Writing Meme?
Memes for writers. (Hey, you can’t take yourself too seriously–even if you do take your writing seriously.) I find that a picture cut out and stuck to my bulletin board is helpful for inspiring me on those rare days when I need a kick in the writing pants. This is my current reminder to achieve my…
Scottish Rain
I wrote this spontaneously as a response to a call to participate in a fifteen-minute writing exercise suggested by author, Judy Reeves, on the Transformational Writer blog. It was a fun exercise and I plan to do it again, every day or so, even though the results, to me, seem stiff and self-conscious. (This is where being…
The Inadvertent Plagiarist
If you are a copywriter or ghostwriter in the internet marketing industry, you know what the culture can unfortunately sometimes be like. Many do-it-yourself copywriters under the pressure of deadlines research only two or three sources and rewrite chunks of someone else’s work to pass off as original. This is not only unprofessional and lazy, it…
Two Fatal Reasons Print Publications Reject You
Every aspiring writer should include print publications in their writing career planning. It’s all about building your reputation, making publishing connections and gaining niche audience visibility. Besides all that, there are two other facts to consider: Print publications often pay astoundingly well Magazine editors live to have the perfect article pitch arrive on their doorsteps…