by Chris Mandeville Arts and crafts, anyone? Get out your old magazines, some scissors and glue, and a poster board because—believe it or not—creating a collage can serve as a powerful writing tool. Just ask award-winning bestseller Barbara Samuel (who also writes as Barbara O’Neal): “Collaging gives me a way to brainstorm without words, to find the mood and
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By Christina Delay Three weeks ago, 14 writers set out on a mission. The mission? Cross off as many bucket-list items as we could, create as many new memories as possible, study writing craft, write lots of words, and develop relationships with some of the top professionals in the publishing industry. Mission: Success! Cruising Writers, led by hostess Christina Delay,
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By Joan Selby As a writer, proofreading your work is one of the most grueling tasks. Most writers (perhaps even the majority of writers) don’t like doing it. Even so, it is a vital part of the entire writing process because this helps you improve your work’s overall result. During this process, you start looking for any grammatical mistakes, spelling
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by Chris Mandeville The first page of your manuscript contains only sixteen lines, and this “sweet sixteen” is an essential tool for hooking a reader. If Page One doesn’t capture the interest of the editor, agent, or book browser, chances are your story will be set aside, so it’s important to make those first sixteen lines as successful as possible.
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By Gloria Kopp Trouble combating writer’s block? For many, fear is a primary cause of writer’s block. You may be afraid of failure, and that others will judge your writing. It is not uncommon for writers to strive for perfection, but nothing is never perfect on the first try. To overcome this, take any criticisms as means to improve. They
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