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I’m always posting fellowships, scholarships, and opportunities for writers to attend retreats. Some of them come with the responsibility of teaching, others require you take care of the property, maybe even the livestock. Some have you meeting in groups, collaborating on each other’s material. Others throw you solo without internet connection out in the woods […]

Sometimes you just have to ask. Conferences charge admission fees. Did you know that you can ask the conference leader if there are scholarships, fellowships, or co-op opportunities to have part or all fees covered? Sometimes they are income-related and other times you have to volunteer and work for the conference in exchange. They often […]

We were two grandmas, and two authors in a coffee shop discussing writing. One of us multi-published, self-confident, the other convinced her first publication in a Chicken Soup for the Soul book was a fluke. “Why would anybody be interested in my ordinary life?” said the latter, “Nothing extraordinary has ever happened to me. I […]

Last week I posted a brief editorial about mature writers still being relevant. If you are breathing, you are still able to write. Amazingly, writers came out of the woodwork thanking me for addressing that fact and respecting the senior writer. Some of them were close to giving up. Some were still going strong and […]

I enjoy visiting libraries. They have purpose, and they can give your book a lift in the community they are responsible for tending, literally. They definitely fill a need. When I appear at libraries, my preference is to make a presentation. I’ve visited libraries to teach how to write, how to publish, how to put […]

Most writers have had or still work a full-time career. In our working years, we acquired knowledge for that job, and whether we retire or segue into full-time writing, we often think that information isn’t relevant any longer in our lives, but it is. Said experience could be beneficial for future writing income, especially when […]

From a reader: <<As the weather warms, I notice your list of readings/signings growing. Recently I looked at (another author’s) site and saw that before covid she had constant speaking engagements. The schedule looked exhausting! Another acquaintance hired a publicist to set up his tour. So would you write more about setting up engagements now […]

Someone recently told me she was too old to try to write. I reminded her she was still breathing, which was all the reason she needed to put pen to paper. I get it. Sometimes we see technology over the writing. All the talk about AI, writing to SEO, white-papers on topics we do not […]

Writers can spend years taking writing classes and attending conferences, and never land a book deal. Often the problem is that writers want to be published with one of the Big Five, and forget there are other ways of birthing a book. For instance, have you heard of graded readers? Graded readers are books to […]

A fellow writer sent her manuscript for me to critique. I’d published over a dozen stories for a particular outlet, and she wanted to see if she could get her story published with the same publisher. So, of course, I agreed to look over her work. The outlet that she hoped to write for had […]

Financial writing is a wide niche, and it’s worth learning the ropes. I’ve written many features about finance and becoming more money wise; however, if you write about credit, cash, or cryptocurrency financial writing turns into a whole different world. Suddenly, it’s not like copywriting in Kansas anymore.Here’s how to approach financial writing and enjoy […]

I began my full-time writing career a few months before having my baby, and that new parental perspective helped provide the inspiration for many articles. I write nonfiction in the form of reported articles on everything from health to travel, but also more personal opinion pieces where I share my view on the world. As […]