April 18, 2017     Note From Rochelle     Dear Readers, A few years ago, my son gave me the book, You are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life by Jen Sincero. When he handed it to me, he said, “Because you are, Mom, even if...Read More

      I’m delighted to welcome fellow Minnesotan Gretchen Carlson to the blog to talk about her new book. First, here are the details about the book. In Getting Real (Viking), celebrity news anchorwoman Gretchen Carlson opens up the conversation of what it means to be an ambitious career woman in America today. From...Read More

Around my birthday, I wandered into my favorite Indie bookstore, Boswell Book Company (just blocks from my house!) and looked for a signed copy of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. I’d been eying it for weeks, waiting for an opportunity to treat myself. But I’d waited too long—they were sold out. Boswell...Read More

From Dale Carnegie’s now classic tome, How to Win Friends and Influence People to the new How to Think More about Sex by Alain de Botton—how-to books sell big. What is a “how to book”? I’ve heard the how-to book called procedural nonfiction (Ouch! That sounds both technical and painful!) and prescriptive nonfiction. But basically,...Read More

Today, I’m delighted to welcome Angela Ackerman to the blog. She’s an insightful writer and blogger who is the coauthor of The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Character Expression. In today’s tip, she talks about how you can create characters that hook a reader’s heart. (And check out below how you can win an...Read More

Take Your Blog from Blah to Breathtaking in Six Easy Steps by Rochelle Melander I watched a bit of the Olympic trials for gymnastics on television. I noticed that the best athletes made their sport look easy. They jumped, flipped, and twisted with ease. Yet I know that many hours of practice support every elegant...Read More

Today, I am delighted to welcome Nina Amir as my guest blogger. Nina is an author, coach, and the founder of Write Nonfiction in November. She will also be my guest on tomorrow’s Write Now! Mastermind class at 12:00 PM CST. The class is complimentary. Click here to sign up. 6 Things to Do Before...Read More

The marathon lifestyle promotes doing rather than watching…by adopting the marathon lifestyle you can confront your own lions, be your own hero, fight your own battles, challenge yourself. —Richard Benyo When I did my first write-a-thon in 2004, I had no idea what I was doing. It was National Novel Writing Month, but I was...Read More

For me, poetry is related to walking. Words and images fill me when I wander somewhere alone. Writer Bruce Chatwin lived with nomads and believed inspiration, as well as true rest, could best be found in motion. Sometimes I wish I could walk forever, jotting down notes and words. —Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge, Poemcrazy When I...Read More

  “Writing a book is a long, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness.” —George Orwell Have you ever thought about writing books as a long, difficult struggle? I certainly have—and I LOVE writing! But over the years, I’ve discovered the joy of writing a book marathon style. When the book-writing process...Read More