Here it is. The piece of writing advice that really pisses me off: Write every single day. Lots of people give this writing advice, or some variation of it. Author Jeff Goins suggests writing for at least 30 minutes every day. In his memoir On Writing, Stephen King tells fiction writers to aim for 1,000 words a day, six days… View Post
I’m excited and a little bit nervous. Why? Because I’ve just launched my very first online course: Landing a Literary Agent: How to Find the Right Agent and Compose the Perfect Query. I’ve taught this class several times in person at the Bethesda Writer’s Center, and because of its success there, some friends encouraged me to put all the… View Post
Notice I said how to finish writing your novel faster, not fast. This is not a lesson on how to write a book in a month. For that, head over to NaNoWriMo or read Book in a Month: The Fool-Proof System for Writing a Novel in 30 Days by Victoria Lynn Schmidt. This post is for you if you keep… View Post
As a YA and MG writer, I need to analyze well-written kidlit the way one might in school: look closely at the structure, the language, the characterization. Think about these books, write about them, learn from them. Which is why I started The Great Children’s Literature Study, in which writers examine what we have to learn from classic (and destined to be classic)… View Post
Recently I finished the YA novel The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli, award-winning author of Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (which recently came out as the movie Love, Simon). Albertalli knows what she’s doing. YA contemporary romance may or may not be your thing, but either way, you have to admire Albertalli’s ability to capture the emotional, mental,… View Post