Part 1: Writing Earlier this week, I shared the surprises of my writing life—the ten years from 2008 to 2018 digging out the facts and discovering the names and dates of my family’s story. It was a great wallowing in the weeds. At last I realized it needed to be published. But how? I began … Read more
My writing life is a surprise—a good surprise. I love it. But it hasn’t been easy. In March 2019, I published the book SPIRIT OF GONZALES, the story of a young woman who came to Texas just in time for a revolution. The book started as a surprise. In 2008 my sister handed me three … Read more
Today is I Love to Write Day. How do you celebrate I Love to Write Day? By writing, of course. So many people say, “I love to write but …” What comes after the but varies. “I don’t have enough time.” “I don’t know how to get started.” “I’ve got too much responsibility and too … Read more
November 15 is I Love to Write Day and November is National Life Writing Month. How do you celebrate I Love to Write Day? By writing, of course. It doesn’t matter what you write. It doesn’t matter how much you write. Writing today is intended to be fun—to do something you love. If you’ve wanted … Read more
As with any other group of creative individuals who attempt to live off their art, writers experience many obstacles and challenges in writing for a living. Writing for money is often an entrepreneurial feat: those who attempt to sell their writing must know the business and know how to sell themselves along with their writing … Read more
I love a good mystery, but I don’t want important things about the book I’m about to read to be a mystery. Like every reader, I have specific things I like and things I don’t like. Authors will be disappointed if they think their book is so exceptional that readers will love it even when … Read more
The current hustler mindset has everyone interested in making a good living clocking out late every night. The underlying idea is that, if you don’t go to bed dead-tired from the efforts during the day, you didn’t try enough. From a freelancer’s perspective, I completely understand the mindset. After all, we spend half of our … Read more
Interested in writing for magazines? Want to improve your professional or personal writing skills? Making a New Year’s resolution to work on your writing? If you answer “yes” to any of these questions, join Cedric Fisher and me for a two-part workshop on writing for magazines and other media on January 9 and February 13, … Read more
Cedric Fisher, publisher of San Antonio’s INFLUENCE Magazine, and I are giving a workshop on writing and publishing a book over two sessions (October 10 and November 14, 2017). You should attend if: You have an idea for a book but need help getting started You’ve started a book but don’t know the next step … Read more
I’ve heard a story about a bestselling author who isn’t confident about using commas. When she sends her manuscripts to her editor, she includes a page typed full of commas with a note, “I know these need to go somewhere, but you can figure out where.” From my experience as an editor, a lot of … Read more