It’s Messy in the Middle: Answering the Call for Diversity

It’s Messy in the Middle: Answering the Call for Diversity

According to Ron Burgundy, played by Will Ferrell in the 2004 comedy Anchorman, “diversity is an old, old wooden ship that was used during the Civil War era.” Of course, this is both hilariously false and maybe the perfect metaphor for understanding the struggle around answering the call for diversity within the publishing world. Answering… Read more »

Kid Lit Craft: Interview with Anna Staniszewski

Kid Lit Craft: Interview with Anna Staniszewski

Hello fellow Kid Lit Writers! This week, I have the pleasure of introducing author Anna Staniszewski.  Anna has been writing children’s books for 10 years now; her first book came out in 2011, and her most recent book, Double Clique: A Wish Novel, came out in December of 2021. She was born in Poland and… Read more »

#5onFri: Five Ways Freelancers Can Keep Clients' Data Safe

#5onFri: Five Ways Freelancers Can Keep Clients’ Data Safe

Being a freelance writer can be an empowering career path. You have the opportunity to pursue a creative activity you love while also keeping a schedule suited to your lifestyle. However, as with any business owner, you also have certain responsibilities to your clients. The need to keep clients’ data safe and secure is one… Read more »

Writing from Your Perspective

Writing from Your Perspective

As an author of color, I often hear from writers like me that they think their main characters need to be white in order to be widely read. I’ve been a Pitch Wars mentor twice (a mentoring program where an agented/published writer or industry professional picks one writer to work on their manuscript for three… Read more »

How Do I Establish a Disciplined Writing Practice?

How Do I Establish a Daily

Disciplined Writing Practice?

However ambitious your literary dreams, achieving them relies on an essential step, one that is solely within your control. You must write. You must do so consistently. Establishing a disciplined writing practice is the most important thing you can do and this post will help you do just that. Landing on a bestseller list, earning… Read more »

To Find Your Motivation, Ask “How Can I Make This Happen?”

To Find Your Motivation, Ask “How Can I Make This Happen?”

Are you struggling to form a writing habit? Do you find yourself saying “I should be writing regularly” but never doing anything about it?  You know what? That kind of resistance is totally normal. Resistance invades the artistic process at every level. In fact, resistance is so pervasive that Steven Pressfield wrote a book about… Read more »

Cozy to Cold-Blooded: My Auto-Buy Series, Part 2

Cozy to Cold-Blooded: My Auto-Buy Series, Part 2

Last time, I shared part 1 of this list of auto-buy series, so today you get part 2 of my auto-buy series. You will get the authors next time and will probably be surprised at the different types of books. 😉 I recently realized that in the course of writing this column, I haven’t shared… Read more »