Comma, semicolon or colon, which one should I use? Have I mixed past and present tense verbs in my story? Do my subjects and verbs agree? Do I have misplaced modifiers? Aaahhh. English grammar can be infuriating and confusing. But a manuscript riddled with incorrect grammar is a sure-fire trip to File 13. What do you…
Precise verbs are important to every great book, be it fiction or non-fiction. In fact, where preciseness is concerned I can say that about nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, and . . . Okay, all parts of speech. During the draft process, you are focused on getting the ideas out of your head and into the…
I’m visiting today with author Linda Rooks who writes books for adults and children. Linda has a lot to share, so we’ll dive right in. Linda, give us a bit of background on yourself. My writing journey began when I was in 6th grade. My teacher gave a writing assignment to the class. She liked…
You spend time reading a blog post because the topic strikes a chord. You’re right there experiencing exactly what the blogger is talking about. You leave a comment along with a question that probes deeper into the topic. The next day you visit the blog to see if anyone has replied to your question. But…
Grant Money The SCBWI Book Launch Award (must be a member of SCBWI), entries submitted June 1 – July 1, 2015, http://www.scbwi.org/awards/book-launch-grant/ The SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators), offers several other grants for members. If you’re a children’s book writer, investigate membership. If you haven’t visited FundsforWriters yet, be sure you do. It’s…
So, your work in progress takes place in the 1800s … or maybe it’s a contemporary story, but one that is set in a region of the country you’re unfamiliar with. You know you’ve got a lot of research to do to make your story accurate and credible, but where do you begin?
Are you in the process of writing your book? Or do you have a publishing contract in hand? No matter the answer, you can begin developing your marketing plan right now. But there’s so much that goes into marketing it’s overwhelming and time consuming. How do you make it more manageable?
Another year is drawing closed. Seems like only yesterday that I realized my dream of becoming a writer, yet it’s been over 12 years since the dream became reality. In 2002 Focus on the Family hired me as a junior copywriter. And even though I was now working as a writer, I struggled to think…