Yikes! The Editor Needs an Editor!
I will admit that I was a little harried last week trying to stay on top of things. That’s my excuse for being what some might call careless in my eagerness to get everything done, including a post on my own blog. I wrote it, gave it a quick read, made it live and clicked that overdue item off my to- do list. And then I got this text from my proofreader/mom. “You have some excellent ideas here but you need to do some proofreading. Read your post and you will see what I mean.” I generally adhere to the concept that getting something done less...
read moreLet’s Go Fishing for Some Readers
(Note – this post has been edited and changes are indicated for purposes of demonstration.) Do you want to get your reader’s attention? Really? Are you sure? Of course you do. What a ridiculous question. Why have I even bothered to ask? It’s simple: I want your attention. It’s called a hook. As in the hook that goes on the end of a fishing line. You want to snag your reader’s interest immediately and then reel them in. If they think for a split second that you’re not offering up a tasty meal, they’ll swim off in search of something...
read moreThe Easy Way to Write
I’ve sat here for a solid five minutes or so starting this paragraph and then deleting and starting something else. After all these years and all the mounds of copy I’ve written, it should be easy, right? Sometimes it looks like it must have been easy – the words are so perfect, so engaging, so easy to read that it seems they must have flowed right off my fingers. It’s more likely that it’s the product of agonizing hours spent putting the words on the page and then editing and finessing until they sounded just so. Agonizing? Must writing be...
read moreWho’s Afraid of a Blank Page?
I’ve been teaching myself to draw. I’ve actually been working on it for many years now and I finally feel like I’m making a little bit of progress. But even though I’ve drawn some things I really like, I still get sweaty palms when I sit down in front of a blank page. I’m not sure of how the drawing will turn out. I fear it will be awful. I feel stymied by not knowing exactly how to draw what I want. I don’t want to make a mistake. I go through all these emotions even though I don’t really expect anyone to ever see the picture. The reality is...
read moreWhere Does Writing Fit on Your Priority List?
One of the biggest, most troubling questions entrepreneurs and pretty much everyone else faces every day is: What should I be doing right now? Which should be followed closely by: What am I doing right now? Some of us are great at making lists, setting up our schedule and tackling tasks in order of importance. Others of us meander around and sometimes manage to get just enough done. I’m somewhat of a hybrid. Regardless of style, it is likely that there are some things that don’t get done just because there are so many things that need to get...
read moreAnother Way to Write: Start at the End
This is the third in a series of three posts. Don’t worry, you didn’t miss the first two – they haven’t been written yet. I wanted to talk about something that is too often neglected but could arguably be the most important part of writing, and that is “The End.” We talk a lot about the beginning, and with good reason – it you don’t start off well, you won’t engage your reader and rest of what you’ve written will be a tree falling in a forest with no one to hear it. Without a good ending, you will have wasted your reader’s time. Sometimes,...
read moreMistakes Happen – Even to Best Selling Authors
Rick Riordan has become the author that many writers aspire to be. He not only writes books, he does it for a living. Two of them have been turned into movies. And children will drag their parents into Boston on a Saturday morning and stand in line to get into a crowded church just for a chance to see him speak. Riordan told his audience at the Boston Book Festival about how he got started as a writer, including his first rejection at age 14. His mother framed it, and it was the only thing to survive the fire that burned down his family’s...
read moreBoston Book Fesitval October 25th
Looking for something to do on Saturday? Stop by the Merrimack Media Booth at the Boston Book Festival. And, if you’ve been thinking of writing a book, sign up for a free 30 minute phone writer coaching session.
read moreWrite Now to Get it Done
I was talking recently with someone who has published scholarly books and is in the midst of writing another. He is well past the deadline his publisher would have liked him to meet but never the less he continues with the expectation that it will be done in the next three to five years. As we talked about publishing and what it takes, he shared that he’s noticed something about his colleagues: those who write a little bit every day eventually finish and publish while those who wait for a big chunk of time to finish their work generally...
read moreThe First Question a Blogger Should Answer: Why?
I talked recently with an author who believes she should be blogging to get the word out about her book but wasn’t. At first, she said she had just been too busy, which is probably partly true. But often, there’s more to the story. “Writing comes easily for me so I don’t feel that there’s much of a point to it,” she explained. “And I have so much to say but then I wonder is anyone even interested? I don’t want this to be all about me.” As we talked, it became clear that the problem was a lack of focus. She didn’t really have a good sense of...
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