Uncategorized THE WRITER’S THREE PRIORITIES One spring I attended the Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was privileged to hear Jane Yolen speak. Yolen, the author…
Uncategorized Creativity: Name Your Gift The LORD spoke to Moses: See, I have called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah: and I have filled him…
Marketing tips Releasing a book during COVID? It’s a whole new world out there. A strong, digital presence has always been essential, but now without the benefit of end caps, window displays, or author signings in your favorite bookstores, it’s more important than…
Writing tips When You Are Stuck When you are stuck in a book; when you are well into writing it, and know what comes next, and yet cannot go on; when every morning for a week…
Marketing tips Mistake Number Two The second mistake brands make is they cause their customers to burn too many calories in an effort to understand their offer. When having to process too…
Writing tips Kurt Vonnegut on Writing and Talent https://www.pw.org/content/kurt_vonnegut_on_writing_and_talent
Writing tips Longing to Belong from “Adorning the Dark” by Andrew Peterson During our first ten years in Nashville our family lived in four different houses. We liked the adventure of a new place.…
Writing tips How I Feed My Writing – by Robert Benson I have very specific ways I read to feed my writing. I consider a day without working the crossword in the New York Times has been lived considerably less…
Writing tips Advice, From One Giant of 20th Century Literature to Another Kurt Vonnegut’s 1967 entreaty to José Donoso. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/kurt-vonnegut-jose-donoso/
Marketing tips Mistake Number One The first mistake brands make is they fail to focus on the aspects of their offer that will help people survive and thrive. All great stories are…
Writing tips Raw material This is why so many inexperienced writers get writer’s block. They try to edit before the generative flow is finished. They start thinking analytically too early, and so the material…
Writing tips An opportunity for personal growth A great many writers are interested in memoir because they understand it to be a spiritual practice. On the surface, writing memoir may seem like a flat transcription of memories,…
Writing tips Voice Equals Psyche Unfortunately, nobody tells a writer how hard cobbling together a voice is. Look under “voice” in a writing textbook, and they talk about things that seem mechanical – tone, diction,…
Writing tips To Recall and Relive “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings,” writes William Wordsworth in his preface to Lyrical Ballads essentially the opening sentence in Romantic literature. He goes on to say that…
Writing tips Kurt Vonnegut’s Advice for the Impatient Writer Hint: Don't Wait For Your Loved Ones to Die https://lithub.com/kurt-vonneguts-advice-for-the-impatient-writer/
Writing tips A Matter of the Will A few years ago I had lunch with a friend in Chattanooga. His name is Chris Slaten, and he’s an excellent songwriter, performing under the name Son of Laughter.…
Marketing tips Too complicated “There’s a reason most marketing collateral doesn’t work,” Mike said, putting his feet up on the coffee table. “Their marketing is too complicated. The brain doesn’t know how to process…
Marketing tips, Writing tips You are the only one who can practice your skills You are not in control of the process by which your art is made. But you are the only one who can practice your skills so that you have the…
Uncategorized A frank assessment of the current state of blogging Another excellent article by our friend and marketing guru Mark Schaefer! https://businessesgrow.com/2020/06/04/current-state-of-blogging/
Writing tips What we are writing is the book we wish we had read When we write with the professed hope of helping others, I suspect that many of us are really writing for our former selves. The intention to help others is generous;…
