The Motivational Editor

Helping Writers Go from Unpublished to Published

writers

An Author Interview with Jennifer Slattery

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I’ve got an extra treat for you this month. Author Jennifer Slattery, whose books include Beyond I Do, When Dawn Breaks, and now her newest release Intertwined, has stopped by for an interview.

Author Jennifer SlatteryJennifer writes soul-stirring fiction for New Hope Publishers, a publishing house passionate about bringing God’s healing grace and truth to the hopeless. She also writes for Crosswalk.com, Internet Café Devotions, and the group blog, Faith-filled Friends. When not writing, Jennifer loves [Read more…] about An Author Interview with Jennifer Slattery

Battling the Fear of Self-Doubt

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Have you ever said to yourself “who wants to read what I have to write?”

Maybe you hear those niggling words in your head everyday? Once a month? Maybe it’s just once in awhile, but even that is more often than you want to hear them.

I’ve been battling those particular words since I started writing back when I was 12 years old.

The verbiage may vary, [Read more…] about Battling the Fear of Self-Doubt

One Stop For Writers: An Online Library Unlike Any Other

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Every once in a while, something comes along that changes things for the better.

We all know just how much sweat, courage, and persistence it takes to write a book and then release it into the world. So having the right tools at our fingertips is wonderful.

Today I’m pointing you toward a new website I hope will help writers brainstorm stronger characters, craft deeper, more compelling plots, and teach us how to be more effective with our description so we draw readers in. [Read more…] about One Stop For Writers: An Online Library Unlike Any Other

6 Lessons I Learned about Marketing Strategy from Playing Board Games

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When it comes to marketing strategy, I’m a babe barely out of the cradle. What I know today I’ve learned by reading articles and by the mistakes I’ve made marketing my own books.

I wish I could tell you my efforts to market Carried by Grace have been a wild success—they haven’t. What I can tell you is I’ve done everything wrong.

Monopoly boardThankfully, I can start over.

The majority of writers I talk to tell me they dislike marketing. As an introvert, I haven’t particularly enjoyed it either.

Writers want to write. I get that. But the fact is, today’s writers must be engaged in marketing.

If you intend to make any money selling your book, you have to spend time marketing. So, the Marine in me is going to tell you to suck it up and deal with it. Your bad attitude only makes the time you do spend marketing that much more miserable.

I’m still learning the world of marketing strategy, but I’ve finally begun to get a better grasp on it. Today, I’d like to share my latest insights that I hope will not only make my tasks of marketing easier, but yours too. [Read more…] about 6 Lessons I Learned about Marketing Strategy from Playing Board Games

8 Books on Writing I Recommend

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My 8 recommended books on writingWhat book on the craft of writing has been the most helpful to you?

I recently asked that question on my Facebook author page, but no one left an answer.

So I have to wonder if I’m wasting my time with today’s post.

But maybe it was a question that required too much thought.

Or they weren’t trolling Facebook that day (after all I posted that on a Monday).

Or maybe they didn’t find any book particularly helpful. And if that’s the case, [Read more…] about 8 Books on Writing I Recommend

Discover what’s so great about Scrivener!

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Scrivener, Scrivener, Scrivener.

You’ve been hearing about it from a lot of writers, including me. In fact, I recently taught a workshop on using Scrivener at the Called to Write conference in Pittsburg, Kansas.

You may be wondering what’s so terrific about this software and why you should consider using it.

So let’s take a look at it. [Read more…] about Discover what’s so great about Scrivener!

The Top 3 Mistakes Writers Make When Submitting and How to Fix Them

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rejected book proposalDo you dream of getting published? What writer doesn’t?

But in their excitement and exuberance of completing a manuscript writers often make these 3 crippling mistakes when submitting their manuscripts to publishers.

The No. 1 Mistake

They don’t include a book proposal.

The book proposal is [Read more…] about The Top 3 Mistakes Writers Make When Submitting and How to Fix Them

Discover How Point of View Impacts Your Story

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little girl looking through paper towel roll
Encourage your children’s creativity.

How much thought do you give to point of view (POV) as you begin a new story?

The best POV for your story is not always the protagonist or even the antagonist. Consider how different the book To Kill a Mockingbird would have been if told from Atticus’ POV. Or Gone with the Wind from Ashley’s POV.

To help you experiment, here’s a writing exercise.

[Read more…] about Discover How Point of View Impacts Your Story