“Every day is a permanent page of your life’s story that cannot be edited, live it well.” ~ Rebecca Murtagh I just happened upon this quote and it struck home. As a children’s ghostwriter and author, I create stories. I dictate how the characters behave – their thoughts, their actions. I dictate how the story…
Category: writing tips
Where Does Your Story Really Start?
You may think you’ve started your story where it should be started, but are you sure? Go over it again or ask a peer to go over it and see it you should start it further along.
7 Steps to Writing Success Through Positive Thinking
Can you think your way to success? Is it really possible? Whether you call it positive thinking, a positive attitude, or a winning mindset, in regard to writing it’s the strategy of having a dream, creating a plan, projecting the positive results of that plan, and taking the necessary actions to accomplish your goal. Part…
Writing Elements – Is One More Important than Another?
There’s a lot of information on the elements of writing. You have characters, setting, point-of-view, style, theme, plot, and even literary devices. But you also have things like readability, consequences, and uniqueness. Could you choose which of these elements is the most important? It’s tough, isn’t it? Well, after doing some research and reading a…
Writing and the Winds of Change
“When the winds of change blow, some people build walls and other build windmills.” This Tray Hurn quote says a lot about the character of different writers. A common denominator for all writers is that they will at one time or another be rejected and/or struggle with a story or an assignment or some type…
Book Synopsis, Book Description, Book Review – What’s the Difference?
The book synopsis, description, and review are three book marketing tools that your books will absolutely need. But, when do you need these marketing elements and how do you use them? Let’s look at each one in the order you would use them. The Book Synopsis You’ve written an amazing story – it’s traditional publishing ready…
Tips on Adding Flashbacks to Your Story
Contributed by children’s author Linda Wilson A flashback is a literary device that momentarily departs from a story to a scene in the past. A flashback can be as brief as a sudden thought, a dream, or a memory. Flashback can help give your story depth, and make your main character more interesting. As Diane…
Focus and Writing
When you say yes to everything, you’re saying no to focused things that matter. Things that will help you move forward and create a strong brand. In addition to this, if you spread yourself too thin, chances are none of your books or products will be quality. The idea is to do it right by…
5 Things You Cannot Recover
5 Things You Can’t Recover The stone … after the throw A word … after it’s said An occasion … after it’s missed Time … after it’s gone Trust … after it’s lost I love this quote and wish I knew who originally wrote it. It was originally four things, I added the fifth. While…
5 Top Tips to Boost Your Writing Skills
There are a number of strategies you can use to create and build your writing skills, but I’ve found there are five top strategies. 1. READ! If you don’t read, you won’t know what good reading is. Along with this, it will help you fine tune your own writing, by broadening your vocabulary. Another thing…