Category Archives: Priceless Writing Tips for Free
A Reader Writes: “I’m Interested in Writing a Children’s Book. What Do I Do?”
Hi Kevin, my name is Dori Maggart. I am married to Phil Maggart, Mike Maggart’s twin. We have met on a couple of occasions. A few months back I read an article about you and your profession as an author. … Continue reading
Priceless Writing Tips for Free: Capture the Thought in that Moment
Here’s a proven, 100-percent guaranteed method on how to get stuck in quicksand as a writer: Say you will do it later. You have an idea but you’re busy with something else so you tell yourself you’ll get to it … Continue reading
Priceless Writing Tips for Free: Observe Hemingway’s Dictum
Hemingway’s dictum for better writing was simple: Run it through the typewriter one more time. We no longer have typewriters but the advice is still sound. Almost without fail a second draft is better than a first: shorter, smoother and … Continue reading
Eleven Myths About Literary Agents
By Kevin Nelson 1. Getting an agent means you’ve taken the first step toward writing success. All it really means is you have an agent, nothing more. An agent should not ask for and you should never give her money … Continue reading
When You Write, Don’t Fight Your First Thought
Trying to write something and you’re stuck? Whether you’re knee-deep in an e-mail, blog, memo, report, article or longer, here’s how to get unstuck: Follow your first thought. If you trust your first thought, and follow it, it will lead … Continue reading
Illustrate Your Blog
By Kevin Nelson Leaf through any magazine or newspaper, and you will see photographs and illustrations accompanying most of the articles. Scan through most blog posts on virtually any website, and you will see words, words, words-often without any art … Continue reading
How to Write a Better Blog
By Kevin Nelson Writing a blog? Here’s a tip on how to write a better one: Show the value of what you’re doing, not to yourself but to other people. Let me demonstrate by showing how I screwed up a … Continue reading
How to Write a Successful Query
Last week I appeared on Scott Shafer’s radio program, The California Report, on KQED-FM, and it prompted some thoughts, curiously enough, about query letters. What’s a query letter? A query letter is basically a short, succinct sales pitch that writers … Continue reading
Writing with Children in the House
It was a quiet Sunday morning, and in a relaxed and optimistic mood I sat down on our family room couch with a mug of hot black tea, some papers and a pencil, thinking I could grab a few minutes … Continue reading
Stating My Brief
Let the trumpets blare: This is my first blog on my brand new deluxe author’s website. Tra la la! Never having blogged before, I am naturally reading lots of stuff online and getting to know the work of fellow travelers … Continue reading
