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In the last three weeks, I’ve been asked to look at four books that came with great story ideas and very nice premises. The covers immediately hollered self-publishing, but, hey, there’s great writing in self-published books. I gave up that prejudice a long time ago. Truth be told, I’m still reading two of them, so that also speaks to the writing. One of those two, however, is formatted horribly. Double spacing between paragraphs and 1.5 spacing between lines. Paragraphs that go on for whole pages, which scream a need for editing. Dialogue without beats and tags that get in the way. Loads of telling versus showing in a story with vast potential for great visuals. The story, however, is incredibly remarkable. I kept thinking what a waste of a grand tale, because the numerous errors in writing got in my way of reading. The other book I’m reading is beautifully formatted. It entices me to read a story that doesn’t necessarily draw me in. Attention to detail gives the story some sense of promise. In the other two that I ceased reading, I could hear the author trying too hard to be an author. Too many mistakes. Too much in More

Did you know there are grant opportunities for those with disabilities, including those in the neurodivergent community? One came from my home state, Colorado, through the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR). After years of struggle as an independent author, a glimmer of hope emerged when I learned about the DVR grant. You see, I have bipolar disorder. Unique Perspectives I’m not unique. The National Alliance on Mental Illness, reports three percent of U.S. adults are afflicted. Ten percent are diagnosed after they’re fifty. This was me when I was fifty-one. I spent a week mental treatment facility and years getting used to my new life. Bipolar, along with related symptoms like depression and ADHD, places me in the neurodivergent community. Basically, our brains process information differently from what’s considered typical – whatever that is. Those with dyslexia, OCD, and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are part of this group. This doesn’t mean we’re disabled. In fact, we probably work with or hang out with you. Yet, sometimes, we have issues with everyday routines. Money For example, earning a living. As creatives, we would love to sit at our desks and write. However, fatigue, anxiety, loneliness, and wrong decisions take over more for us than for “typical” More

I was in my forties when I started a new career in writing, and it took me a little while to realize the importance of saving everything. My first published piece was a 900-word essay for a publication called the Dana Literary Society. I proudly saved the link but deleted the essay from my documents. I already had the link to the published essay, right? No need to keep the original file. A year or so later, I discovered that the publication and website no longer existed. My link was useless. That’s when I decided to save all my writi ng, published and unpublished. I started by printing a copy of everything I wrote and placing it in a desk drawer. When I began having success in several areas, including short stories, plumbing and home repair articles, and essays for parenting publications, it became clear that I either needed to make a change or get a bigger drawer. I decided to give my printer a break and enter the twenty-first century. Everything is now organized in files on my computer and backed up on flash drives. I use Microsoft Word for most of my writing and have OneDrive turned on More

When we feel things aren’t fair, when we feel someone got a step up that we deserved, when we feel we write better than someone else yet they got published, we stand at a crossroad. At that point, we have a decision to make. To feel we should get what someone else got, or to feel someone else wasn’t as deserving, we tend to grip hold of a feeling we call entitlement. At that point, we can decide to move on, direct our energies into progressing, or we can wallow in a sense of unfairness. That feeling of life being unfair can gravitate into bitterness, then a desire to bash those who managed to achieve what we wanted and didn’t. Then we start hunting for reasons to lash out, we fuss to social media, and we channel ourselves into thinking we were short-changed. We wind up disliking others for their success. All that energy is wasted and stolen from being productive, from finding opportunities, from improving ourselves so that we, too, can be productive. Avoid the spiral of feeling negative. Applaud those who do well, study them, and work to improve. When we fuss and argue about feeling robbed, we’re More

Formal and informal writing groups have been around for hundreds of years. Hybrid authors clubs are newer, rising in the 2000s and are becoming a staple of how authors connect with professionals and readers today. “Hybrid” writing groups exist IRL (or in real life), but also connect with other communities online – often internationally. Find Your Group There’s an appropriate writing group for every interest, experience level, and niche. Define what you hope to get from a group, and then analyze what you can give back in return. Hybrid groups sometimes meet in person, but also welcome online members. I barely leave the house, but I connect daily with my writing groups and message boards. I’d put writing groups in two columns: formal and informal. Mystery Writers of America (MWA), the South African Writers Network (SAWN), and the Horror Writers Association (HWA) are formal; they require membership, but offer formal benefits like insider industry information. Informal groups like the Self Publishing Support Group (Facebook) are useful for: advertising, critique, finding readers, and talking grammar or plots. Facebook, Reddit, and TikTok connect to the best, lively writing groups. This Reddit discusses reputable /r/WritingGroups, and this Write Life Guide lists active Facebook-run writing groups. I wrote a short guide More

I make a point of walking up to an author’s table and talking to them, often buying their book. Having spent many an hour in their shoes, I understand the difficulty of sitting there (they ought to be standing, but that’s another article). Invariably, I’ll look at the book, and if I cannot tell who published it, I’ll ask. Ninety percent of the time it was self-published. Once they know I’m an author, they often open up about the difficulties of publishing. We ultimately wind around to the point I ask they if they considered traditional publishing. The number one reason they give for not attempting traditional never fails to surprise me. It sounds complicated. I don’t understand it. I don’t want to go there. It’s not that they CHOSE self-publishing. It’s that they DEFAULTED to self-publishing because they don’t understand the options. Nine times out of ten, they just use KDP. Nine times out of ten, I can tell. Just like you do not publish until you have rewritten a zillion times and had the book edited several times, you do not publish until you know all your publishing options. There is such a thing as publishing badly. And More

Novel writing software and word processors are faster, fancier, and more feature-filled than your old typewriter. However, are they any better than your old word processor for getting jobs done? Here’s a look at various writing software, what they cost, and how they work. Scrivener Scrivener gets rave reviews, and it’s a favourite of bestselling thriller author Deon Meyer. Scrivener costs $19.99 to $49 depending on your operating system. Features include the ability to create a “flip-file” style database for characters, plot twists, or changes. There’s a separate section for outlines (Outliner), and a Corkboard for notes. Surprisingly, Scrivener doesn’t use artificial intelligence. Novlr is similar, but it is freeware and cloud-based. NovelWriter: Free NovelWriter is a freeware novel writer software. Notes can be displayed alongside your main document, and users can keep track of “story elements” with a notes and storyboarding feature. Writers can make a “decision tree”-style representation of their work on one page. It’s described as a “multi-document plain text editor” that’s particularly handing for referencing one file (e.g. notes) with another two actively open. Fade-In Pro Fade-In Pro is designed as a powerful screenwriting processor. At the cost of $79.95, it is beneficial above word processors with its ability to keep More

Many writers are afraid to throw away work. It could be something they can’t seem to sell, or it could be the original version of a chapter rewritten. It could be that perfect sentence that someone told you to cut out, that you can’t see to let loose of. It could be a scene you played with once, and it was perfection . . . you just didn’t have any idea what to do with it.   We’ve all written those pieces we could not throw away. I used to save them. And I occasionally cut out a section of a chapter and keep it just in case. The truth is, however, out of the 20 books I’ve written, I’ve only gone back and salvaged two of those little pieces. One was a six-hundred-word scene. The other was a long paragraph. Today, I throw things away. The chances of me using them again are slim to none. It’s just hoarding. Once traveling cross country, I wrote on a novel to occupy my time. I created an entire chapter and edited several others. When I arrived at my motel room, however, the flash drive was gone. I had not saved it More

Google crawls, scores, and then ranks all online content. Search results are based on these rankings. Writers can have an advantage by understanding how Google scores their online writing. Here’s how search engines read. What Google Scores   Google uses more than 200 ranking factors to score online content for searchability. Readability and keywords, domains and backlinks, originality, and the amount of passive (versus active) voice counts. Lower-scoring sites are downranked, while higher ones go up. A 2024 Google searching algorithm change meant that many websites, including Great Bridge Links, had to alter content to keep scoring high. According to Google Blog, the update meant “45% less low-quality, unoriginal content in search results.” Unfortunately, the update is also harsh on legitimate content and media houses. New York Magazine lost 32% of its traffic. A BBC piece says, “the internet will never be the same.” Write with search engines in mind. AI Content Google doesn’t like artificial intelligence content. Simply, don’t use it. However, human writing can still be wrongfully identified as AI if not unique enough to sound original.  Score your finished drafts against a free AI checker like Quillbot or Scribbr and you’ll guarantee a higher content ranking. Original More

Your author photo is like your handshake. What does it say about you? We often feel uncomfortable with our author photos. However, if you don’t have one—or if you use some other alternative—you appear to be hiding. Readers and clients will have a harder time relating to you. I’d go so far as to say that if your photo doesn’t look professional, you could be losing clients and readers. Feel more confident with professional photos, as they are likely to show you at your best. Find a Good Photographer The right professional photographer can make all the difference, and today’s photographers are more affordable than you may think. I recently had my author photos taken to coordinate with the release of my new novel. The last time was 11 years ago. I didn’t want to go to an event and have people think that my professional photo did not line up with who they were seeing in person! Turns out I ended up paying much less for my photos this time around. I’m sure there are many reasons for that, including the demands of the marketplace and technology improvements, but it made me see clearer how accessible this effort can More