Guest blogs can be a great way to get your name out there as a writer. Most blog hosts will allow you to have links to your various online accounts and are happy to include a brief bio and profile picture. Let's face it, for the time and effort that it takes to write that blog post, you get free advertising. However, there are some rules that you should follow when it comes to pitching guest blog posts.
Developing the habit of writing…
Right now, writers from around the world have pledged themselves to either the NaNoWriMo or CampNaNoWriMo challenge. They’ve signed their lives away, at least for remainder of the month, determined to write 50,000 words within the span of 30 days. (For CampNaNoWriMo, they have elected to work toward something much smaller.) 50,000 words may sound like a lot, but it really isn’t. In many cases, it’s not even a full novel. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was 76,944 words.
So, 50,000 words in 30 days… For some, it can seem like a scary number, but it’s only 1,667 words a day. But this is where things can start to go awry.Read More
To Oxford Comma or Not?
Before one can make the decision about whether they should use an Oxford comma or not, one must first understand what the Oxford comma is.
Consider a list with at least three different items: apples, oranges and bananas. If one was to use an Oxford comma, then the list would look like apples, oranges, and bananas. Notice the use of the comma before the and. However, you won’t always find a comma before the and. If the list has only two items, that list of apples and oranges wouldn’t use a comma.
Confusing, right?Read More
The Value of a Synopsis
When one completes a manuscript, it’s vindication that you can do this. Then the hard work begins. I’m not going to kid you: querying for agents and publishers is a hard road, one that many turn away from.
Writing the manuscript is hard. Editing it into something worth reading is harder. Writing a query letter is harder still. And the synopsis is a nightmare. Let’s face it: compressing a full-length novel into one page is a frightening task. Not all agents want a synopsis, but most publishers do. So if you are fortunate enough to snag an agent without needing to write a synopsis, you will eventually need to write one.
During my preparation of my own submission materials, I struggled to bring my synopsis to under one page, like so many other writers, but I did it. Working out where to send queries is a different problem, and not one I’m going to address for this post. However, I have noticed that submission packets have a huge variation in requirements.Read More