Opinions

Why Writers Should Ignore (Most) Social Media Best Practices

Although social media is here to stay, there's little question that the face of social media is changing. Centralized, independent platforms (e.g., Facebook, X, Pinterest) long have been the standard. But now, some experts are...

23 Ways to Define Success as a Writer That Aren’t Being on a Bestseller List

In a recent post on LinkedIn, Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, Managing Director, Editorial at Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., highlighted the recent decision by The Wall Street Journal to do away with their bestseller list. Sivasubramaniam explained why he...

The Value of Writing to Be, Not Do

As a business writer, most of the articles I produce have one rule: Give the reader one or more action points. The idea is to let them feel as though your advice is both accessible...

4 Myths That Deserve to Die About Writers

Some elements of the writing profession never change. The books or other pieces of content we write are always our babies. Tears are shed over lost files. Rejection letters hurt even when they're nice. These...

The Reality of Writers Who Have Bills to Pay

This week, as a high punctuation on the trend of colleagues and loved ones losing jobs, I found out that my husband's company is going to lay him off. It's not because of any fault...
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Why More Technology Doesn’t Always Help Writers

Name something that technology hasn’t touched. Go ahead. I’ll wait. Even fishbowls can have automatic, computer-based feeders and cleaning systems these days. Writers, too, are flooded with all kinds of technologies that are supposed to...
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Why Every Serious Writer Should Hate (Most) AI Services

I saw another one today. An advertisement, geared toward writers, for AI-based content generation. There was a time when I hated these services just because they were so astoundingly bad. Flow and grammar were awful....
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Why Every Writer Needs to Draw Their Books

Generally speaking, writers aren’t known for being visual artists. Their whole deal is crafting something beautiful with words, not with color or line or visual perspective, so they often do not draw. But if you’re...
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Yes, Opinion Writing Is Real Writing with Real Value. Here’s Why

Let me start by saying I don’t lose the irony that this entire post is opinion writing. With that out of the way (phew!), I’ve been trying to spend more time interacting with writing groups...
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Should You Write in Multiple Genres?

A while back, I had the opportunity to attend the Northwestern Christian Writers Conference (virtually, thanks to COVID-19). In one of the panels, another writer asked a relatively innocent question: Is it okay to write...