Published on June 4, 2014
specialty markets for writing, writing career advice
Each year about this time, a new set of graduates with fresh, new academic degrees embarks on post-academic life. Especially among those who majored in a humanities field, or who earned advanced degrees in creative writing or literature, the road to graduation was likely paved with plenty of course papers and presentations. I’m not sure how many new graduates (or, for that matter, those with degrees earned in years past) realize that this work needn’t simply gather dust – literal or virtual. Sometimes, it can be transformed for publication and payment.
Published on March 5, 2014
writing career advice
Sometimes we writers get hitched to the wagon and steed on a blazing trail headed to nowhere fast. That blazing trail for our purposes may be the pipe dream magazine of a bitter editor. It might be a newspaper making due at just the middle ground with no path to better real estate. It may be the dead end online portal for pulp entertainment and sports write ups that don’t really get you the Pulitzer you dream of. Whatever it is, eventually you have to have a heart to heart with yourself about your ambitions as a writer. When is it time to move on to greater adventures? That, my friends, is the million dollar question…
Published on January 29, 2014
writing career advice
When my book, The Secret S*x Life of a Single Mom, was just a manuscript, a few people (including two literary agents) told me they thought it would make an awesome movie. I took it with a grain of salt, assuming every author thinks the same of his/her work. Nonetheless, when my publisher, Seal Press, bought it, I held onto 100% of the movie rights “just in case”…
Published on January 23, 2014
writing career advice
No matter what type of writing you do, you can find a writer’s conference that will help you learn more about your craft. While the price tag on some of the conferences may seem daunting, keep in mind that the impact of a writer’s conference can continue far beyond the few days the conference lasts…
Published on January 15, 2014
writing career advice
Possibly the most exciting thing to have happened to me in my long life is knowing that my historical novel, The Pomegranate Pendant, was to be made into a movie. Despite having written 13 books, I never expected one of them to be shown on the silver screen…
Published on December 27, 2013
author, Print on demand, self-publishing, writing career advice
I have always been offended by over-the-top marketing verbiage. Saying something is a “good deal” is one thing but trying to tell me a product or service is going to “make my dreams come true” is insulting to an individual’s intelligence. I always wonder how people can fall for so much of the garbage being shoved our way by marketing executives these days…
Published on November 13, 2013
writing career advice
When I walked away from my corporate career to become a writer, I not only walked away from a steady income, but I walked into a field I knew nothing about…
Published on October 9, 2013
writing career advice
I can see the headline now: Struggling freelance writer catapulted into a deadly game of fraud and foreign assassins…
Published on September 25, 2013
writing career advice
When I started writing, I read somewhere that if you wanted to be a successful writer you had to stick to one genre and develop your craft. But, I loved to write everything: poems, essays and short stories. I searched the classifieds in Poets and Writers Magazine, and found places to send my work. My poems were published first – in literary magazines that didn’t pay a dime. Poetry anthologies were next; no money came with those publications, either. At least now I had credits to list in cover letters when I submitted essays and short stories…
Published on August 28, 2013
writing career advice
People ask me all the time how I became a travel writer. My answer is: travel…
