For much of my life, I have struggled with the tyranny of perfectionism. Thankfully, when I was just starting my writing career, I happened upon Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life and this advice: Perfection is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you...Read More

Part memoir, part writing craft, Stephen King’s book On Writing will stir every writer’s heart and erase any doubt you had about King being a serious writer (he is). My favorite tip from King’s book is this gem: If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a...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

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

I frequently write about ways to combat writer’s block. One of my favorites: engage a different part of your brain. Though I am not an artist, I like doing art. When I shut down the computer and begin messing with beads, then the ideas begin to flow. Before I can string a bracelet, I have...Read More

Are you thinking about starting a freelance writing business? Do you write and submit regularly but barely make enough money to buy toothpaste for your family? You need Kelly James-Enger’s book Six Figure Freelancing: The Writer’s Guide to Making More Money. In the book, James-Enger offers solid advice to help writers move from writing for fun...Read More

I’ve had The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Walking for Health by Erika Peters on my shelf for two years and just opened it this week. I’m an avid walker and did not think I needed to read a book on the topic. My bad. After just a quick dip into the book, I learned at...Read More

  Tomorrow, I’ll be interviewing memoir writer Wade Rouse at my Write Now! Mastermind class. Rouse is the author of It’s All Relative: Two Families, Three Dogs, 34 Holidays, and 50 Boxes of Wine and three other memoirs. I spent a good part of Easter Monday reading It’s All Relative and thoroughly enjoyed it. Not...Read More

In 2003, I devoured the debut mystery novel featuring the Rev. Clare Fergusson and Police Chief Russ Van Alstyne, In the Bleak Midwinter in just a few days. With Spencer-Fleming’s latest Fergusson/Van Alstyne mystery, One Was a Soldier, I am taking my time. Maybe it is because it’s been two years since the last book...Read More

We all have them—critique group horror stories. Maybe someone lambasted you for your political point of view instead of critiquing your novel about a politician. Perhaps a critique group colleague told you that you’ll never amount to much as a writer. Or maybe you just did not get any helpful information from the critique. I’ve...Read More