Yay!

I get a yay this week. The 2-novella collection Art of Dying (co-written with top m/m writer Josh Lanyon) is a Barnes & Noble.com bestseller! Holy cow!
Find it on Barnes & Noble
Find it on Amazon

Getting Hit With Tips

Writing tips are funny things. You don't really hear them until you're in a spot where you need to hear them. The key is putting ourselves in that spot as often as possible. Here are three tips I brought home from WisCon.

1. Instead of setting yourself a wordcount goal, imagine what needs to happen in the next section you'll write. It's a much more tangible goal to sit down and accomplish. A wordcount goal is pretty abstract when you think about it. (I do think you can do this in combination with a wordcount goal, but that the wordcount is secondary to the action that needs to take place.)

2. When you're stuck, try working the problem out in longhand. Handwriting comes from a different part of the brain than typing. I've really found it to be true that I come up with surprising solutions to "stuck" parts when I work out the problem in longhand. I need to use this technique more.

3. Submit in fives. Try to submit stories and queries to markets that take multiple submissions and send them in batches of five. It's a lot easier than working up the steam to do them one at a time.

Your Assignment

Read some how-tos. Try Writer or Writer's Digest magazines, or the following sites:
http://www.sfwa.org/writing/
http://www.fictionfactor.com/

See what kind of tips resonates with you. Maybe even re-read some of your older writing advice books. You may discover something new that you weren't in a place to absorb before.

Do you have a good non-commercial site you turn to for writing advice and inspiration? Share it in a comment!

| Download | Duration: 00:22:55