I spent nearly the whole weekend reading. I stacked up books next to the sofa and ploughed through several mysteries and a memoir. I cannot think of a better way to spend a holiday weekend. All summer, I will be reviewing these books on my blog. If you’re interested in learning about great new books...Read More

I can’t be trusted with a page-turning novel at bedtime. It does not matter that I’m an adult with a job to do and children to care for. Give me a good book with a bit of suspense, and I’ll stay up long past midnight to finish it. So I’ve given up reading page-turners at...Read More

Social media—they’ve become the buzzwords of this new century. Every writing workshop has at least one class on social media. And if you are going to write a book proposal that sells, you will need to master social media. Here are three ways to use social media to better your book proposal. 1. Research your...Read More

Last night I heard Ann Patchett read from her new book State of Wonder at Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee. The store was packed and readers were excited to hear this book group favorite talk about her life, writing and books. As a writer and writing coach, I was most interested in hearing about Patchett’s...Read More

Every day I meet people who want to write and publish a bestselling nonfiction book. I always encourage them. But, I know how hard it is. The market is tighter than ever before. At the end of 2009, an agent reported that she had read and responded to 38,000 queries and signed 6 new clients....Read More

In the Summer 2011 issue of Yoga International, Anne Dubrovsky profiles Anusara teacher Amy Ippoliti. In a sidebar, Ippoliti suggests keeping a separate journal for positive events in your life. I love it! Detail Success. Over the years, I have frequently asked clients to record their achievements, the encouraging events in their life, or the...Read More

I started reading memoir years ago, thinking it might help me write my own. It did. As I revise my memoir, I continue to be fascinated by how other writers structure the narrative of their lives. Here are some of the memoirs I’ve read in the past year and a few that sit on my...Read More

In Ralph Fletcher’s marvelous book, A Writer’s Notebook: Unlocking the Writer Within You, he encourages readers to examine their fierce wonderings and bottomless questions. Today’s assignment, writers, is to make a list of everything you wonder about. What are you curious about? What are your bottomless questions? What places, things, books, events, and so forth...Read More

Being a real writer means being able to do the work on a bad day. —Norman Mailer I’ve read and shared this quote from Norman Mailer multiple times. He gives good advice: real writers work even when they don’t sleep well, the kids get sick, and the basement floods. Last week, I had an opportunity to see if...Read More

  This past weekend at WriteCamp 3 Milwaukee, a writer asked me what I thought was the most important trait for professional writers. I did not even need to think about my answer: persistence. Today on Online College, I read a post about famous, much-rejected authors. I already knew that publishers had rejected my favorite...Read More