They want to publish your story? Six keys to prevent future cringe.
So you’ve had a short story accepted for publication! Congratulations. Paid or unpaid, it doesn’t matter, I bet you’re tickled pink! Someone else believes in your work and soon real readers are going to see your story in print. Hallelujah! I know what it’s like to be...
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The #1 advice every writer needs
This is a hard truth. But you need to hear it. So does every other writer you know. I need to hear it. I am getting the results I deserve. I am not unlucky. It’s not that I haven’t “gotten my break.” Things are not harder for me than they are for someone else. If I’m...
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“Never pay anyone to publish your book.” Good advice?
“Never pay to publish your book.” This is the dumbest advice I’ve ever heard. It comes from a place of inexperience, underfunding, and fear. It's the exact opposite of what successful business people say in virtually any industry. I don’t care what industry you’re in,...
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Should I use internal dialogue in a short story or novel?
My friend and fellow author Eliza June Sapphire and I were recently having a chat about internal dialogue, or what another friend calls free and direct thoughts. We might also call them an internal aside. In theater, an aside is when a character says something not to...
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Prioritize readers and the profits will follow
One of the most common mistakes I see new authors making is focusing on capitalizing on their work too early. Until you have an audience that can sustain a fulltime income that you can live on, your top goal is to connect with new readers. To win the game, so to...
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One Step at a Time
The only thing that we can ever do is take the next step. I once worked with an author who said, “God told me I’m going to sell 100,000 books by the end of the year.” His book wasn’t even released by the end of the year. The timeline of the prophecy shifted to “in the...
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How to eliminate profanity from your writing
So you don’t want to use profanity in your writing? I understand, and that may be an admirable goal. But it also means you have a really big problem. In real life, people use profanity. You are putting a rule around your writing that will almost always diverge your...
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Look Where You Want to Go
I have an on-again, off-again relationship with motorcycles. When I first got my license, the toughest part of the riding exam for me was the tight turn in the maneuverability portion of the test. At a slow speed, you have to turn the bike 180 degrees inside of a box...
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Stopping: The Most Important First Step
One of the most important questions I ask applicants to our Arche Year Cohorts at the School of Kingdom Writers is “This program takes ten hours per week. What are you going to give up?” Their answer to this question is probably the best indicator of their success in...
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Twitter had a product viability issue. Elon Musk is solving it.
Statistically, left turns are 55 times more dangerous than right turns. Did you know that? You’re far, far more likely to be injured turning left than turning right. Imagine that there was a car company that made a really sweet car, but in light of the...
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