Alternate title: Oh God a Post on Commas Whyyyyyyy Well, no. We don’t have to. But a couple of things happened recently that brought us here. The first was a response I left on Twitter. It was more a subtle jab at my grammar-nerdy self than an actual question (hence the lack of question mark).…
Welcome to Part 3 of our Where Writers Get Stuck mini-series, inspired by this Twitter poll. Be sure to check Part 1 and Part 2 for solutions to planning and drafting problems. Today is where we put on a different hat, going from writer to publisher. Don’t freak out. We’re using the term “publisher” loosely.…
Welcome to whatever day we’re on in our A-Z series. Today we’re gonna get violent. Sort of. There’s a famous quote flying around in writing communities. Many writers think it was courtesy of Stephen King, probably because he was quoting Faulkner when he said it and more people know King. Behold. The quote is more…
For today’s post in the A-Z series, we’re taking a step back from the guts of story and looking at something that gets in the way: crutch words. I’m listing them under J for Just because “just” is one of my crutch words, AKA those words we authors get too comfortable with and overuse. They…
Last weekend, I published this post about why we stop reading books. Many of you submitted insightful comments, and as I read through them I realized something: many of our “reading pet peeves” can be boiled down to the author doing one of two things. Not bad, huh? Just avoid doing two things and you’re…
I’ve read a lot of books. A LOT of books. When I was a kid, I’d get sets of books and be thrilled at the promise of spending countless hours sitting upside-down in my mom’s recliner with an open book. Reading and appreciation of a good story is part of who I am. But in recent…
I visited a rather unique place last weekend. It’s a temporary exhibit at the Denver Art Museum, and seeing as my family 1. Loves Star Wars, and 2. Mostly hadn’t been to the art museum (I’m the only one who had), it was a good opportunity to gain some artistic insight. Isn’t this post about the…
A friend emailed me a question. She’s written a book and is considering what to do with it. Her question: “How do you self-publish on Amazon?” She didn’t mean what buttons to push on KDP that makes the book go live. She meant: “What are the steps necessary to prepare a book for publication?” I…
I started following this hilarious account on Twitter called Guy In Your MFA. He represents that potentially fictional, douchey guy who is obviously brilliant in his writing, wants to tell you how yours is all wrong, and will not accept that his work needs any changes whatsoever. Of course he’s a parody, but parodies are…
Nothing beats the feeling of typing The End following the last scene of your manuscript. You’ve spent weeks to months to years laboring over sentence construction, timeline details, and character development, among many other things. Now is the time to celebrate. Because soon, it will be time to edit. If you’re groaning, stop it. This…
Allison Maruska 