Writers love to romanticize discipline—the image of the early riser pounding out pages before sunrise, fueled by black coffee and sheer willpower. But here’s the truth: most of us aren’t Hemingway. We’re humans with errands, jobs, and the occasional Netflix...
Powerful endings don’t just tie up loose ends. They're the final impression, the echo that lingers long after the book closes. Whether you’re writing fiction, memoir, or nonfiction, a strong ending feels both surprising and inevitable. It delivers not just resolution,...
A common piece of advice is to write about what you know. But sometimes you have to write about the things you don't know about in order to learn. So, this blog post is about how to caption and credit public domain images. Time for me to figure this out along with...
Whenever someone tells me they want to write a children’s book, I usually say, “So do I! But remember, it’s harder than it looks.” People often think writing for kids is easy because the books are short. In reality, having fewer words to play with means every word has...
I admit it. I have done a terrible job training my pups, Misha, now 7 years old, and Moke, 4. You would think that, being on my fifth and sixth pup, I would have figured things out by now. But managing work, the house, life maintenance, and the occasional social life...
You’ve written your book—or maybe you’re still polishing the last chapters—and now comes the question every author faces: How do I get it into readers’ hands? Here’s a secret that most authors overlook because, unlike me, they never worked on a national magazine. One...
One of my writing coach clients, who is just about to self-publish her book, wondered about book pricing. Having priced out other books in her category, she’d done her due diligence, but that only confused her more. "I don’t understand how book pricing works,” she...
Good description doesn’t just paint a picture; it invites readers to experience a moment. It’s not about adjectives—it’s about precision, perspective, and personality. The best description reveals as much about the narrator as it does about the scene. Take this gem...
If there’s one thing we all share, it’s most likely a shortage of time. It seems that at almost every stage of life, there are more items on the to-do list—even if one of those items is to stop and breathe—than we can possibly cram into a day. Add authoring a book to...
The first time I published a book, I assumed reviews would magically appear. Spoiler alert: they didn’t. Turns out, getting your book reviewed takes effort—but it’s one of the smartest time and/or financial investments you can make. While reviews won't guarantee...
