By: Deborah Brewer A short video plays on social media: A pigtailed girl watches with wide-eyed panic as the ice cream from her cone topples to the ground. A pack of mini-poodles swoops in to claim the mess. The girl bursts into tears. Comments follow: “Mood” “A whole mood” “Totally […]

Writing a Novella, Part 9 By Donna Schlachter As we’ve discussed before, novellas have fewer words than novels, which means that each and every one must count. This includes—or perhaps is even more critical—when it comes to selecting names and occupations for your characters. Character’s Names For example—and please forgive […]

By: Deborah Brewer – As a writer stares at a blank page or a mangled plot, it may feel like there is a dearth of good ideas. Yet there are ideas everywhere, a veritable cornucopia of inspiration, waiting to be noticed and incorporated into our tales if only we could […]

By: Kari Redmond – What is NaNoWriMo? National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, will soon be upon us. For the entire month of November, writers around the world rally to write at least 50,000 words during the 30 day span. This equals out to be 1,666 words per day. The […]

By: Trista Herring Baughman – Back in May, I had the privilege of attending Shreve Memorial Library’s Children’s Book Festival. This was only my second big event to attend as a Children’s Author and I was excited. Even more exciting was the headlining author, R.L. Stine! If you’re a true […]

Wow. Another year has gone by in a flash. So many things have happened this year here at PPW: our first anthology, Fresh Starts was published, Sweet Success recognized over 50 newly published authors, we had an incredible virtual conference, and so much more! Are you looking to be more […]

By: Donna Schlachter Sometimes it seems as though we are inundated with writing help, encouragement to write, conferences to attend, deadlines to meet. And all of those are good. They keep us focused, energized, equipped, and reminded of what’s important. But what happens when life gets in the way? No […]

An Incomplete Journey of a NaNoWriMo Newbie – Part 2 By: Benjamin X. Wretlind Journal Entry: NaNoWriMo 2021 Day 1: And So It Begins… The alarm went off at 4 AM with a note: “NaNoWriMo Wake Up.” Right. I said I was going to do that. After coffee, a look […]

By: Trista Herring Baughman Or a Raven. Or a Rook. Even a crow. Any of the corvids will do. These perspicacious creatures are said to be fascinated by shiny things. Your ‘shiny things’ as a writer are ideas. Keep an ear and eye out for peculiar sayings, idiosyncrasies, uncommon names, […]

From the Editor Here in the U.S. we are about ready to celebrate Thanksgiving. This is a time that we come together to celebrate our families and friends. For me, and my family, we get together to out cook and out eat one another. Unlike the families in the comics, […]

An Incomplete Journey of a NaNoWriMo Newbie – Part 1 By: Benjamin X. Wretlind Journal Entry: NaNoWriMo 2021 T-Minus 38 Days: The Decision The National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting creative writing. Its main program is an annual event in which crazy people attempt to […]

By: Kathie Scrimgeour Are you doing NaNo? Do you know what day it is? How are your fingers holding up? Had a shower recently? Where is your family? Are you a Wrimo? Odd questions? Maybe not. Here’s one more: Did you hit 25,000 today? If you haven’t already heard, NaNoWriMo, […]

By: Kim Olgren Stephen King does jigsaw puzzles, plays guitar, and bowls. Emily Dickenson loved baking. Agatha Christie traveled with her husband. E. Cummings painted. Jackie Collins is into soul music and photography. Hobbies. Every writer could use one or two. “Why would I need a hobby? Don’t I have […]

By: Donna Schlachter (previously published in Writing Nuggets of Gold) In a recent conversation with my agent, she mentioned she talks to editors occasionally who are looking for a specific book to fit a particular publishing slot. My response? “If you get any requests, let me know. Maybe I can […]

By: Catherine Dilts NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month – is primarily touted as an exercise to drive aspiring authors to write 50,000 words. Hitting that goal may mean completion of a novel draft for the very first time. At the very least, NaNoWriMo inspires confidence that hitting The End […]

By: Trista Herring Baughman Countdown to the most spectacular time of the year-the Spooky Season crowning moment-has begun.  If I’m honest, it started last year on October 32nd. (Yes, that’s a thing. Didn’t you know? ;)) Take a deep breath. Do you smell that? The cool night air brings with […]

By: Benjamin X. Wretlind For 20 years or so, I studied the atmosphere and forecasted the weather. While I spent a vast majority of my time on the training side of the house, I was nevertheless embedded in all things weather. So when I read a book or watch a […]

By: Margena Holmes When I brought up the idea for this blog to the editor, she was all for it, saying, “Maybe it will motivate others to write their blogs.” And then…nothing. The idea sat in my head but never made it to my fingers and keyboard. For weeks. I […]

By; Donna Schlachter (previously published in Writing Nuggets of Gold) There are two kinds of deadlines. In the writing world, there are two kinds of deadlines: the ones imposed by others; and the ones imposed by you. The deadlines that others set for you in your writing might include a […]

By: Terry Odell I recently read a blog with a firm stance on how to deal with body parts. I don’t entirely agree. I don’t have trouble with figures of speech, and if I’m reading that a character ‘flew down the block to John’s house’ I don’t see her mid-air. […]

By Donna Schlachter It seems there is never enough time to do all the things I want to do. With seven days in a week, twenty-four hours in a day, seems like I should have lots of spare time. I don’t suppose anyone else finds the same problem? No, I […]

There is more to proofing a book than just reading the story. By: Darby Karchut At some point in every writer’s career, you’ll be asked to proof a final version of your work.Sure, you’ll have various editors doing this, but you’ll need to be a part of it, too. After […]

Time Warps. Misplaced Modifiers. By; Terry Odell You don’t have to read science fiction to run into a time warp. At the very first writer’s conference I attended, an agent said she would reject a query with more than 1 sentence beginning with the “ing” construction. Her explanation—it’s too easy […]

By Leeann Betts (excerpt from Nuggets of Writing Gold) I keep promising myself that one of these years, I’m going to enjoy summer. Instead of spending the months of June, July, and August cooped up indoors writing and revising and researching, I’m going to spend the time in a mountain […]

By: John B. Roberts, II Surf camp in Costa Rica is a funny place to realize you need a co-author. I was unsuccessfully trying to learn to stand up on a surfboard when my wife called to say an acquiring editor wanted to see an old book proposal. After passing […]