Contributed by Suzanne Lieurance Become Totally Committed to Your Own Success. Why do some people succeed against all odds while others never live up to their potential? Those who succeed aren’t necessarily more talented or have more valuable contacts than those who don’t succeed. But what they do have is a total commitment to their…
Author: Karen Cioffi
Karen Cioffi is an award-winning author and children's ghostwriter. She loves to help those who want to be the author of a children's book fulfill their dream. Contact Karen today to get your story started!
Traditional Publishing and Self-Publishing – The Differences
It seems the publishing waters are getting murkier and murkier. The most significant difference between ‘real’ traditional publishers and services that are NOT ‘real’ traditional publishers (such as vanity presses, self-publishers, and others) is the cost. This is aside from ‘quality’ in many cases. If you are submitting to a ‘real’ traditional publisher, you will…
Children’s Writing – Creating your Main Character Part2
This is Part2 of a two-parter on creating your main character. Well, not just create one, you need to create a powerful and memorable main character (MC). Both parts are based on an article I read by Jerry Jenkins, author of 186 books. Part one discussed six tips: – Naming your character– Making him quickly…
6 Power-Tips to Creating Your Main Character
View Post I read an excellent article by Jerry Jenkins, an author of more than 186 books and a New York Times bestselling novelist. This is a writer who knows about writing. The article was about creating memorable heroes. Every author wants to be able to do this. So, below are the first few tips…
Secondary Characters – Are They Important?
Before I get into the importance of secondary characters, let’s go over what they are. A secondary character is any character in the story aside from the protagonist (main character) and the antagonist (villain or force in opposition to the protagonist). Just a side note here, an antagonist doesn’t have to be a character. It…
Be a Successful Writer Even if You Don’t Think You Have Enough Time
I always think about time and how there just isn’t enough of it to do all the things I must. Then, I look at two quotes that put time in perspective: “Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur,…
Picture Books – A Different Writing Style
A writing style is the way a writer writes a story. It’s the words used, the sentence structure, the tone used, and even the method used. The children’s picture book writing style is unique for two main reasons: 1. You’re dealing with young children.2. You’re often dealing with parents and teachers who will read the…
Writing Nonfiction – Using Quotes
If you’re a fiction writer, there are a number of elements a writer needs to incorporate to create an engaging and believable story, such as characterization, plot, structure, clarity, and so on. Well, Writing nonfiction also has a set of elements that must be incorporated into the piece to create similar results, such as clarity,…
Raise Your Writing Standards
Contributed by Suzanne Lieurance I watched a video of Tony Robbins on YouTube the other day and he said something that really stuck with me. He said, “If you are unhappy with anything in your life, simply raise your standards in that area.” So what did he mean by that? Well, according to Robbins, we…
Read as a Writer
Every writer has been told to read, read, read. Read as much as you can to improve your writing skills. Well, I read an interesting article at Writer Unboxed that explained why simply reading to improve your writing won’t cut it. According to the author, Julianna Baggott, Faculty Director of Vermont College of Fine Arts…