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We all have our daily challenges, and I think most of us have certain things we struggle with over and over. My biggest day-to-day difficulty is the sheer number of things that need to get done. Sometimes the to-do list is so long, I get paralyzed. So I have a sticky note right by my computer. It…

I might be getting myself into trouble by asking this but… What is the most important thing you expect from a literary agent? (Let us know if you have an agent, or if you’re seeking one.) Have a good weekend!  

One of the most common questions I receive is, “When is is okay to send another query to an agent who previously passed?” Sometimes people are talking about re-sending a query for the same book that was already queried; the writer has either improved the query or improved the book and wants another shot. Other times,…

Neither do I. Here’s a look at some that have hit my inbox: “It’s not clear who the intended audience really is.” “It felt like a class research paper at times.” “I like the plot and hate the execution.” “The setup has so much potential for conflict, yet the story is dull.” “The content and…

Instead of posting here today, I’m sending you to another blog. Michael Hyatt interviewed me via Skype and the video is up on his blog today. Visit Michael Hyatt’s blog by clicking here. In the interview, Michael and I discussed advice for new authors looking for an agent, common mistakes new authors make in approaching agents, the importance of …

When an author gets a contract offer from a publisher, the first thing they want to know is, “How much?” And by that they mean, “What is the dollar amount of the advance they’re offering?” Obviously, the standard way to view advances is, the more the better. Right? Well, maybe… maybe not. A large advance…

When the humorist James Thurber was writing for New Yorker editor Harold Ross in the 1930s and 1940s, the two men often had very strong words about commas. It is pleasant to picture the scene: two hard-drinking alpha males in trilbies smacking a big desk and barking at each other over the niceties of punctuation.…

“More than half, maybe as much as two-thirds of my life as a writer is rewriting. I wouldn’t say I have a talent that’s special. It strikes me that I have an unusual kind of stamina.”                                                 ~John Irving   How much do you enjoy the revision process? How much effort do you put into revising?…

Recently I was corresponding with a client whose book is fairly edgy and in some ways, counter-cultural. He knows I totally believe in him and his book, but in this one email I used some cautious language. I told him we were “walking a tricky line” trying to find the right publisher for the book—one who…

Yesterday we talked about how it can be difficult to get an agent or traditional publisher if you had a self-pub book that didn’t sell. But that begs the question: What if you have a traditionally published book (or multiple books) that didn’t sell very well? Will that cause problems selling future books? Absolutely. In…

Dear Rachelle: Could poor self-pubbed Kindle sales affect a writer’s chance of getting an agent in the future? Is a pseudonym safer? Signed, Considering Self Pubbing Dear Considering: Yes, if you’ve self-pubbed a book and it sold poorly, it could affect your chance of getting an agent and getting traditionally pubbed in the future. But…

If you’ve been studying the craft of writing for long, you’ve heard all the “rules.” You know that you’re supposed to show not tell, use active not passive verbs, eschew adverbs, maintain consistent POVs, avoid repetition, and all the rest. But it’s easy to get too caught up in the rules and get frustrated at…

Some people believe in writer’s block; others believe in the power of discipline and “just do it.” Some writers wait for the muse, others just power through. Some have numerous obligations competing for their time; others are not so fragmented. All of us have moments… hours… days… or even weeks in which we can’t write. What, if…

A little shout-out to the place I call home… A young writer wanted to write a book about churches around the country. He decided to start with the most-populated states in the U.S., and work his way down from there. At a very large church in California, he began taking photographs and making notes. He spotted a golden…