Category: Tips for Writers

August 10, 2012

Tips for Writers: Forgivable Errors? (Plus Contest)

Win a free book! I live in a small town served by a small-town newspaper. The paper is owned by Gannett, however, so in…
August 4, 2012

Tips for Writers: Show AND Tell

I had the honor today of speaking at the 2012 “Navigating Your Writing Life” Symposium of the Virginia Writers’ Club. Only in its second…
July 8, 2012

Tips for Writers: Are You Sure?

Many years ago, I participated in a workshop at a writers’ conference. My workshop instructor was pretty famous and I was a little intimidated…
June 20, 2012

Tips for Writers: Setting Goals

Today, June 20, is the first day of Summer in the Northern Hemisphere.  School is out. Work schedules are relaxed. Football season is a…
May 27, 2012

Tips for Writers: "Alright" is not all right.

  I don’t know where “alright” came from, but it’s not standard and should not be used in writing. I see it in submissions…
May 5, 2012

Tips for Writers: Which vs. That

Let’s try to untangle a knot that some writers find themselves in: how to know when to use “which” and when to use “that.”…
April 20, 2012

Tips for Writers: Back up!

  Usually in my Friday Tips for Writers I focus on some element of craft—how to make your work the best it can be….
April 15, 2012

Tips for Writers: Strictly Business

> Unless you write strictly for pleasure with no intention of publishing your work, there is a side of the writing craft you can’t…
April 6, 2012

>Tips for Writers: Take a Hike!

> It isn’t writers’ block exactly. It’s more like writers’ knot. Surely you know the feeling. You’re working on something and you can’t get…
March 30, 2012

>Tips for Writers: Read Poetry

> With Poetry Month just around the corner, I thought this would be a timely tip for fiction writers: Read Poetry. Seriously. While plot…