You’ve worked hard developing your writing skills, including learning how to properly format your manuscripts. Your critique group has given the thumbs up on some of your articles or short stories. The next step: try to market your work. But who do you submit to? There are many resources to help you find the right [...]

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In order to improve a skill, one needs to make an investment of time. A good writer doesn’t just happen. You must dedicate a certain amount of time to develop your storytelling skills because even if you write non-fiction, you are still trying to deliver a message. But with such busy lives, how do you [...]

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Do you have dreams of sending out your first manuscript and having it instantly picked up by the first publisher you send it to and then selling a zillion copies? To be honest, I think most writers have that thought hidden in the back of their heads. But that is just an illusion. The reality is [...]

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Before you send out articles or manuscripts, you need to know the proper way to format or present your work. With the stiff competition in this field, you do not need a badly formatted manuscript to ruin your chances of success. Writer’s guides often give some specific tips that will help, but it’s better if you can [...]

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Now that you’ve figured out your target audience and genre, you need to study the type of books you want to write. Don’t call it homework: call it creative researching. If you want to write picture books for kids, go to your local library and start pulling out stacks of books. Try to read the [...]

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A genre is a particular style or category of writing. Western, mystery, romance, adventure, and science fiction are all examples of genre. There are even stories that mix genres, like a mystery in space or a historical romance. Although recognized more for fiction, genres can be non-fiction, too. Biographies, action/adventure, and police stories are examples of [...]

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As you start developing your writing skills, you need to think about your target audience. Who do you want to write for? Do you want to write for adults, kids or teens? If you want to write for children, what ages? These are very important considerations because each target audience will have very unique requirements. [...]

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You’ve written a few stories and read a couple of books on how to write. Now what? I would advise joining a critique group. A critique group is a made up of a number of writers who get together at least once a month to share their writing projects. The purpose is to help develop and [...]

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You want to be a writer, but where do you start?  Start writing. I’m not talking about shopping lists and sticky notes; I’m talking about writing stories. Hand a friend a stack of 3 x 5 cards and have her write a topic on each one. Pick a card each day, set a timer for thirty [...]

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Writing isn’t as easy as it sounds. Not only do you have to know how to spell and how to write a proper sentence, but you have to be able to tell a story from the beginning to the middle to the end.  Of course there are helps you can use. There is spell check [...]

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