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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 […]

What is AI? AI is artificial intelligence which simulates human intelligence processes by the use of computers or machines. Some argue it has great value in writing the mundane, like blog posts, ad copy, and such. The computer is fed a collection of writing which it uses to create a document. I was recently in […]

Being a writer isn’t easy. One of the most common challenges is “that” elusive source or interview: the one that you (or an editor) relies on to make a piece solid. It’s usually the most difficult one to find. “That” source can be famous or high-level, though can also be someone with outdated contact information. […]

Books don’t make much money, but they do open doors. Even on the best of days, you can’t make a living off a book. In today’s publishing world you promote yourself and your book, while still making an income in other ways. But, a book, whether self-published or published by a traditional publisher, can give […]

This week I was scrolling through social media, stalling before writing another chapter in my book, and ran across someone asking how in the world self-published people put out such bad covers. That launched a flurry of their people echoing in agreement. My response was: Who cares? Not my place to tell someone how to […]

In my early forties, after working as a plumber for over twenty years, I changed careers and became a writer. I started out by writing what I knew – plumbing and home improvement articles. Before long I had established myself as a freelance writer, but I wasn’t satisfied with writing about only plumbing. I wanted […]

Not long ago I was on a Zoom meeting of writers. We spoke of recommended how-to books, how AI is impacting writing and whether or not we’ve used it, and then show-don’t-tell. When it came time to brag about our individual successes, one writer spoke of how she had talked of writing, read of writing, […]

The day my agent sold my newest novel for middle school readers, I sat down with a giant piece of paper and my daughter’s colored markers. I created a bubble graph of the topics and themes in the story and how I might explore them in nonfiction articles for newspapers and magazines. Though having been […]