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My first editor worked with me on five revisions of my debut story in a major magazine. Decades later, when I wrote about him, I understood what had inspired his stamina: my trying and failing and trying again to express what I wanted to say. The piece wasn’t spectacular, but it launched my career and established my admiration for what editors can do for a writer’s development. He demanded clarity of thought and precision in language; I used them to pitch and write everything that came afterwards. I’ve worked with two kinds of editors, copy editors and developmental editors. A copy editor focuses on content and clarity once you have a complete manuscript draft. A developmental editor is a mentor and colleague in the earlier stages of a writing project. Their job is to elevate your work, making it more salable while preserving your voice and angle of vision. A developmental editor understands the scope of published writing in your genre and the narrative structures and language choices other authors have made. Whatever their background or expertise, and whether they are a writer or not, it is attention to the possibilities of language that draw people to this line of More

A week doesn’t go by without someone asking me for money to self-publish their book. Nine times out of ten, they are beginning authors. There are no grants for this. And there are lots of reasons why. I’ll try to toss most of them in here, in abbreviated form so this doesn’t turn into an epistle. 1) Writing grants are mostly for writing the book, not producing it. Making the book (i.e., self-publishing) isn’t writing; it’s business. 2) Most writing grants don’t go to first time authors because they have not proven their likelihood of success. 3) Writing grants don’t always go to those in financial trouble. 4) Writing grants don’t often favor the disabled, the elderly, or the retired. They are for writing, first and foremost. Any other measures run second or third to the importance of quality writing. 5) Unless you’ve a proven track record in successful self-published books, grants go more to the traditionally published. 6) It’s not what you are writing. It’s how closely what you are writing matches what they want. 7) Grants are not for those beginning to write. 8) Grants are not for those who need an editor to learn how to write More

What makes a screenplay successful? This question has haunted many a writer since the dawn of motion pictures. No single genre, subject or storyline has so dominated the box office as to be dubbed a surefire winner. If one had, that’s all Hollywood would make. We’ve seen hits and flops from every kind of film imaginable. For every Spartacus, there’s a Cleopatra. For every Godfather, there’s a Billy Bathgate. For every Lawrence of Arabia, there’s an Ishtar. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t key elements producers look for in a script as bellwethers of success, because most understand that while you can make a so-so movie from a great script, you can’t make a great movie from a so-so script. It all starts with the material. As such, here are seven things your script should have, regardless of the scope and storyline. Originality Producers may want your material to fit a certain formula, style or genre, but that doesn’t mean they want derivative. Everyone is looking for the next great concept. Some unique take or spin on an idea that we haven’t seen yet. If you think every idea has been done already, just look at films from Guillermo del More

Most of you reading this have published somewhere. In newsletter, magazines, or blogs. Maybe you’ve done podcasts or YouTube episodes. Or you’ve published in an anthology, or even published a book or two. Along this journey, you’ve met people in the business. Don’t forget these people. Some will be editors and others marketers. Some helped you design your cover, and others selected you for a book of anecdotes. Someone interviewed you live, or on a blog. You may even run into peers who praised you. Peers who have done well for themselves, or may have knowledge of people you don’t have connections to. The point is to use your connections. If you’ve worked with anyone who can speak to your writing, publishing, or editorial skills, then ask for a testimonial, or a referral to someone you don’t know but wish you did. Using your contacts doesn’t come natural to many writers, especially the introverted ones. However, the moment you are give a positive reaction to anything you’ve done, ask the following: 1) Can you refer me to your person? 2) Can you write a testimonial I can use? 3) Can you make an email introduction between your person and me? More

I no longer belong to a writer’s critique group. I used to belong to two at the same time. One in person and one online. The first was 25 miles away, and we met biweekly, with a limit of ten double-spaced pages. The second was online and international. It was understood to submit a chapter at a time. I belonged to both for a while. One for a decade and the other several years past. I left the first one after publishing two books. My contract required me to write faster than the group could critique. At best I could workshop 3/4 of a book per year. As time went on, I had to write faster than the group could accommodate. The other lost two members to deaths that gutted us. The remainders try to keep on, but personalities got into play, and it disbanded. This week, however, I revisited the first group, to see old friends. I am thoroughly enjoying reading their feedback on my Chapter One from Slade’s next book. But they only accept seven pages now (roughly 1800 words), so again, I cannot continue, but the group reminded me of why groups are important. Feedback is important. More

As a starving freelance writer, I always look for ways to turn craft into coin. Enter Substack. Think of it as a personal online publishing platform with which you build a paying readership. Setup is free, intuitive, and quick. Fill it with previously published work, new articles, OpEds, short stories…whatever tickles your fancy. Create subsections, the content and purpose of which are only limited by your imagination. Insert graphics to make your written word pop (free tutorials for your account help you find royalty-free images). I launched The Island Intelligencer Substack on Independence Day 2023; it took four hours. The core of the written material comes from a monthly newspaper column that I write for a local rag and focuses on espionage and national security. With my editor’s blessing, newly released pieces post on the Substack the same day they come off the press and are sent to the email inbox of my subscribers, including those with free accounts. To draw subscribers, I include free access for everyone to a Flipboard magazine (another free tool at www.flipboard.com) that I stock weekly with news clippings about the global cloak-and-dagger world. Paid subscribers can access more features related to the subject of the writing (intelligence). Especially More

I’m someone who does not believe in writer’s block. However, I have to admit that everyone, sooner or later, is touched by Imposter Syndrome. For those unfamiliar, it’s when you believe you cannot write up to the standard to be taken seriously, you feel you cannot fulfill a task, or you feel like a fraud. One tends to feel this when: 1) They are starting out and pitching to editors/publishers/agents. 2) They are attempting a bigger or more complex project than they have attacked before. 3) They have done a lot of writing and get sideswiped by the feeling that regardless what they’ve accomplished, the luck is gone. Notice something in those three examples? The truth is that imposter syndrome can flare up at any time in your writing career. I have written hundreds of articles, appeared in many Writer’s Digest events, spoken at dozens of conferences, done hundreds of book signings, and written 19 novels. Every once in a great while, as I am seated at the computer about to launch into whatever project stands before me, I wonder if my material is marketable or if I’ve been lucky. . . and the luck is about to run out. More

In having coffee with a local writer, we started talking contests. She has a goal of entering one per month with her works in progress. She writes mainstream and romance, so she has to select contests open to other than literary fiction (which makes up a lot of contests). She’d heard me say that I once entered contests, before being published, in order to take measure of how well my writing had advanced. I felt once I started placing or winning contests, I must be improved enough to risk pitching agents and publishers. It was a good challenge and, actually, the agent who signed me up said my contest wins had helped show her that I was serious about this writing thing. This friend of mine was hoping the same would happen with her. Try harder, submit, try harder, submit. Additionally, she was entering contests that gave critiques and feedback, to help her along her journey. Contest turn-downs are less painful than those of agents and publishers, for some reason. Most of the time you only know you didn’t win when the winners are announced. However, the critiques are worth the rejection, IMHO. Keep that in mind when scrolling through More

Whether you write poetry, nonfiction, gardening books or novels, writing book reviews is an excellent way to expand your writing practice and your publication credits. The task sharpens your skills, deepens the reading experience, and helps support the writers’ community. The niche also separates you from the crowd: literary journals are besieged with poems and short stories, but not, it appears, with reviews. Just to be clear, the reviews I discuss here are not ones people leave on Amazon. Although there’s nothing wrong with doing Amazon reviews, that type of review doesn’t increase your list of publications, therefore, aiding your resume. Paid reviews are more distinct pieces of writing, published in a magazine or journal. Literary magazines, the genre I write reviews for, usually have a section on their guidelines pages asking specifically for reviews. Here you will find word counts, genres, deadlines, and pay scales. Some magazines also maintain a list of recently published books, and prefer that you review one of them. Most magazines ask for the completed review, while a few require a pitch. If this is your first time submitting to a particular magazine, you might have to include a link to previous work. If you More

I am a fan of The Marginalian newsletter/website, aka Maria Popova. She is insanely well-read and looks at humanity through the lens of many classic creatives. Recently she wrote on normalcy. . . and its affiliation with rejection, or in the case of those frequently rejected and distraught, breakdown. https://www.themarginalian.org/2021/10/13/alain-de-botton-normalcy-breakdown/ The world comes at us with pressure to be normal. Be unique….but keep it between the lines or you, as a writer, risk being cancelled, chastised, or review bombed. More than ever, people not only think they have a voice, but they believe it has to be heard. . . and heard loud. We are fearful of being the object of that obnoxious noise. The result being we often reign in our attempt to be a unique creative for fear we are too unique and, therefore, too subject to public embarrassment. We are afraid that the loud, dynamic, mouthy reviewers who get off on tearing into why they didn’t like a book will target us. Being unique draws attention, and it can can make you or break you. (When Goodreads reviews go bad https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/feb/17/god-forbid-that-a-dog-should-die-when-goodreads-reviews-go-bad) So when I read Maria’s latest Marginalian post, I had to bring it forward to you. She wrote More