A Writer’s Life
| A Writer's Life
Will All Good Writers Be Published?
(Repost) My query box is getting filled faster and faster these days. I never cease to be amazed at how many people are writing books. Someone recently asked whether I thought that, with all the competition, will all the good writers eventually get published? With persistence and continued improvement of their work, will there be…
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All Those Bad Books!
(Repost)I’ve written before about how I get tired of writers complaining about all the “bad books” that get published. As a writer, it can be extremely frustrating to work your tail off, trying to master the craft, trying to “follow all the rules” of good writing… then open up any number of books and be…
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Heard it Through the Grapevine
(Repost)I’ve been extra busy lately, what with all the holiday activities, and I haven’t been preparing my blogs in advance like I normally do. So yesterday I was sitting at my desk pondering the 177 emails in my box, and the manuscripts that needed reading, and the proposals I’m preparing for submissions, and amidst all…
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Q4U: Bookscan Numbers on Amazon
The Internet lit up yesterday with the new development over at Amazon—the fact that they’re now giving authors their sales information from Bookscan. If you’re an author with an account at Amazon’s Author Central (if you have a book on Amazon, you’d better have an Author Central page!) then you can now access your sales…
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I Hate My Book!
There comes a time in every writer’s life when the current book—the one that’s contracted, written, revised and at least partially edited—becomes the single most hated thing in the world. All I really need to say about this is: That’s normal. Almost every author I’ve worked with has told me at some point that they…
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Comparison Doesn’t Work
One of the things I often discuss with my clients is their writing and publishing schedule—making sure their manuscript due dates are spread out enough so they can meet their deadlines. This requires honesty and self-awareness from each writer, because they have to be able to realistically predict how long it will take them to…
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Torn
A couple times recently I’ve asked you questions that encourage you to decide why you’re writing. (See If You Had to Choose, and What is Success?) I’ve been asking you to identify the goal at the heart of your writing journey—are you seeking to reach a wide audience with your words, or is it more…
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Rejection Isn’t Fun For Us, Either
“When am I going to stop feeling so bad about rejecting people?” My husband muted the football game. “What?” “When am I going to get thicker skin? When is it going to get easier for me to tell people no?” Okay, I probably should’ve waited until half-time to get into this conversation. But I’d written…
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Self-Care and Being Humble
I used to be one of those people who says things like, “Oh, I only get about five hours of sleep a night. That’s all I need.” Or, “I just don’t have the luxury of going to the gym. I’m way too busy.” But over the last few years, I’ve come to the realization that…
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You Thought YOUR Rejections Were Tough?
Rejection is part of the process of pursuing publishing, and I had to give my share of it at the writers’ conference this weekend. But lest you think rejection ends once you get through the query stage… just wait till you have a published book! Below are some book-reviewer quotes that I found compiled on…
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Can’t Get No Respect?
Never take a person’s dignity; it is worth everything to them, and nothing to you. ~Frank Barron I’ve been reading a terrific book, The Power of a Positive No. It’s by William Ury, one of the world’s most talented negotiators and author of several books including the negotiator’s bible, Getting to Yes. One of the…
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A Must-Read for Writers
(See below for how to win a copy.) A decade ago, I read Betsy Lerner’s book The Forest for the Trees and it quickly rose to the top of my “best books ever” list. I read it a few times over the years, then lent it out so many times I lost track of my…
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In it For the Long Haul
Over the last week or so, three clients have said to me, in completely unrelated conversations, “I want to be in this for the long haul.” It’s given me the opportunity to have some great discussions about what helps a writer accomplish this goal – and what can sabotage their efforts. It’s an important topic…
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When You Just Want to Disappear
Right now I’m at the American Christian Fiction Writers conference in Indianapolis. This is one of my favorite events every year because it’s like a huge gathering of my friends. I’m sure there are a lot of writers here who are nervous, and there will be more than a few awkward moments. So today let’s…
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