THE WORDS WE CHOOSE TO USE

As children’s writers, we all know the importance of choosing the right word to use. Shakespeare has a famous quote “What’s in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” That philosophy might work in Romeo and Juliet’s situation but not for ours. In a nonfiction book […]

Book Coaches, Pt. 2

Take a careful look at the painting below. Would you hang that in your home? Neither would I—and I painted it. That’s my artwork I created at a Painting with a Twist party. Can you tell I copied a “masterpiece.” To get better at painting, I’d need an instructor. Obviously, I need to learn the […]

Leaving a Legacy

Six years of upstairs and downstairs entanglements and drama. Six years of pomp and circumstance. Six years of loyalties and betrayals. Six years of secrets and celebrations. All ending in 2016 at the end of season six. But it didn’t end there. Downton Abbey, the movie, released in 2019. And another Downton movie releases this […]

When Do I Need to Hire a Fiction Writing Coach?

The short answer is NOW! The long answer is NOW! A writing coach may seem expensive, but the experience will be less expensive than hiring an editor to fix it (and who won’t coach you along the way). You also may pay the price of not seeing your book get picked up by a publisher. […]

Small Writings

Small Writings Do you despise small beginnings? When we fix our sights on a book contract, it’s easy to dismiss anything smaller as unworthy of our efforts. But doing so could be a huge mistake. I’m a big believer in the benefit of “small writings.” The first payment I received for my writing was a […]