Archive for January 2024
The Last Choices Left to Survive as a Writer
Today, as I did my usual LinkedIn perusal, I read about the bloody week the news industry has had. Major outlets like Business Insider, The Los Angeles Times, and Forbes are all cutting staff or experiencing walkouts. It’s a cherry on top of the chaos within the writing industry, adding to the shakeups at traditional…
Read More4 Ways to Create Your Book Cover
Need a book cover? There are four basic options to create one, and I cover them all in this quick video. https://youtu.be/NQaAGzQQ2o4 Watch/Subscribe:https://youtu.be/NQaAGzQQ2o4 My preferred option is… In complete honesty, I have no idea which of these options I prefer. I feel pretty confident in Canva now, so I could definitely mess around in there.…
Read MoreWant to Self-Publish a Book? Here’s What You’ll Need
You need more than a finished manuscript to self-publish a book. In this video, you’ll learn the other basic resources you need to prepare before you launch. Watch/Subscribe:https://youtu.be/3aTVpzZeSeE re: ISBNs — It’s MUCH cheaper in bulk! If you know you’ll write and self-publish a lot, go for the 100-ISBN bulk package. re: art — Tools…
Read MoreHow Censorship and Invalidation Psychologically Damage Writers
Writers always have faced some degree of criticism and difficulty getting their work out into the world. We’ve never had the easiest time when it comes to having our craft respected. Now, though, censorship and invalidation are making wordsmithing almost unbearable. At least, that’s how I’ve felt over the past year. The forms of censorship…
Read More8 Influential Books That Changed My Life
Write for the right reasons. There are other professions where it’s way easier to make money, so focus on making a difference with influential books or other content. Because I didn’t have a lot of role models or experiences, thought-provoking books with meaning were a gateway for me to understand the world. These are the…
Read MoreHow to Deal With the Feeling Your Writing Dream Won’t Come True
I think every writer has felt like they’d never make it at some point, like their writing dream would never come true. Take some encouragement from this video in which I provide a simple strategy for moving past that yucky emotion. I think what compounds the feeling that the writing dream won’t come true for…
Read MoreThe Number of Books You Read Is Not a Badge of Honor
In her piece for The Atlantic, Emma Sarappo dives into the practice of keeping track of the books we read. Can someone explain why people do this? Just because you read doesn’t mean you remember or apply. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve learned or enjoyed yourself. Why is the number a badge? When I was…
Read More5 Mistakes (Most) Beginning Writers Make
I’ve been in the writing game for almost two decades now. But once upon a time, I was a newb. I had no idea what I was doing. (Like, seriously, none.) But looking back, it’s easy for me to see where I went wrong and might have done better. Because I believe there is room…
Read MoreWant to Be a Great Writer? Go Over the Top
OMG, lol… A little over the top, yes? But if you think about it, over the top means standing out. I can get behind that. It’s kind of a serious point, though. As writers, we often censure ourselves because we’re afraid of going too far. But sometimes, too far or over the top is where…
Read MoreSpew and Write First, Edit Second
Yes, you have to edit. While you write, though? How about not? I’m not talking here about minor edits where you are catching errors and assisting with the overall construction of your document as you go. (I recommend doing that because it’s so easy to forget if you say you’ll come back to it.) But…
Read More