September 28 – September 30, 2018, I spent the weekend at the SCBWI Carolinas “Word and Line” conference. The weekend was filled with craft, networking, and catching up with fellow writers and Pennies. But you know the feeling you get after spending a week or weekend at a workshop or conference filling your mind with ideas, tips, inspiration, and motivation? It’s a little exhaustion, a … Continue reading Conferences – Sharing What I Learn
For the last couple of years, every time one of my writer pals would ask me what I was working on, the answer was the same breezy, “Oh, I’m still plugging away on that rockstar mom book I told you about ages ago.” I’m pretty sure that more than a few of them wondered if I shouldn’t just give it up and move on to … Continue reading How to Survive Your Toughest Draft
The end of the year is close. When I changed the calendar from October to November, I felt as if I wasted the entire year. Of course I spent too much time on social media, binge-watched several TV shows, and stood for what seemed like hours in front of the coffee machine waiting for the cup to fill, but as far as writing, what exactly … Continue reading What Did I Do in 2017?
Shhh. I’m in the closet with my laptop. Should I mention there’s no air conditioning in this closet. And it’s at least 90 degrees outside. I’m sweating like I’m in a sauna. And the air smells like teen boy sneakers. Why am I torturing myself? I just want uninterrupted writing time. My kids have been out of school for a whole week already. Every three … Continue reading Hiding in the Closet (and other tricks to find writing time in the summer)
Waaaayyyy back in January, I wrote a New Year’s post about goal-setting. A few of my fellow Pennies were inspired by that post to write down their goals with me – remembering to be specific, set deadlines, stay flexible, and above all, not beat ourselves up if we didn’t quite hit our marks. Now that it’s June, about halfway through the year, I wanted to … Continue reading Halfway through 2017 (GASP!) — Let’s Do a Goal Check-in!
Last month, I talked about how to build your platform: https://thewingedpen.com/book-marketing-p…re-your-best-bet/. This month, I will talk about how you can bait your readership further. A sale funnel will turn an indifferent audience into a warm audience. Your audience is made out of readers and writers like you. Think of your future audience not as potential buyers, but as a group of people who love the … Continue reading Book Marketing Part 2: Your Mailing List
Life has gotten really full. There are emails to answer, phone calls to make, and have you signed the kids up for summer camp yet? Enter the bullet journal. It’s basically a notebook into which you pour all of your appointments, tasks, plans, goals, lists, musings, and memories. And once you have it written down, you’ve captured it. That little thing that you’re afraid you’ll … Continue reading Bullet Journals for Writers
It’s the New Year – new calendars, new notebooks, a new start! I am a New Year junkie. I love the reminders to reflect on the previous year and lay out plans for the year to come. But as a staunch list-maker, I don’t just noodle on my goals for the year, I write them down. At the end of each year, I pull up … Continue reading Want to Make More Progress in 2017? Write Down Your Writing Goals
If you read Julie’s post, you know it’s National Novel Writing Month again, which means a whole bunch of us are sweating through each day trying to write 50,000-ish words by the end of November. While I’m not participating this year, I am still trying to keep up my own momentum on my current WIP. But time has been so very tight for me this … Continue reading Ready… Set… WRITE!
After being almost completely disconnected for ten days this summer, I found it a bit jarring once I returned to my normal online-heavy life. I’m deep into drafting at the moment, and all that “noise” has been wreaking havoc with my ability to focus. Hearing about others’ progress, chasing the link to yet another craft article or agent’s wishlist, or just keeping up with the … Continue reading Going Dark: How Do You Tune Out Online “Noise”?
Or as I like to say, how I made the most of interrupted time. Think back to June. Was this you? “I have an incredible writing project planned for this summer. I’ll write a first draft. Complete revisions. Write, query, get the book published, and go on a worldwide book tour. All before school starts in September.” Well, that did sound a bit like me … Continue reading How I had a Productive Summer
My parents gave me a subscription to THE WRITER magazine when I was a kid. Years later, as an adult, I shyly checked out writing books from the library. You’d think I was checking out something indecent, but laying the books on the check-out counter felt like hubris. It was hard to meet the librarian’s eyes. I mean, if anyone knows what a writer looks … Continue reading 10 Tips to Control Writing Book Fever
