Use Feedback to Level Up Your Writing

man pushing boulder uphill

Design your writing journey to reward incremental progress “I write very quickly; I rewrite very slowly. It takes me nearly as long to rewrite a book as it does to get the first draft.”-John Irving, author of Cider House Rules When I completed the first draft of my middle grade fantasy I knew it needed … Read more

Why You Need a Growth Mindset for Writing

crumpled up paper in a wastebasket, rejected writing

And how to find the motivation to keep going after rejection We’ve all heard J.K. Rowling’s rags-to-riches story or Stephen King’s account of hanging all his rejection letters on a nail in his wall until the nail would no longer support the weight of the letters (then he hung them on a spike). But did … Read more

Are You Making This Common Writing Mistake?

line of drums from marching band

Beware of ‘dud action’ in narrative beats During the SCBWI Summer Spectacular I eagerly watched Deborah Halverson’s digital workshop titled “Submissions Studio: Writing Queries, Strategizing Submissions, and Ten Ways to Translate ‘No’ to ‘Yes.’” After all, Deborah Halverson was an editor at Harcourt Brace before she became an award-winning author in her own right. She … Read more

How to Craft a Character That Leaps Off the Page

book coming to life

“If your character isn’t interesting, your then your story will never be interesting.” – Tiffany Liao, editor at Henry Holt Books for Young Readers In January, I began the three-month-long Curtis Brown Edit & Pitch Your Novel course. We watched a series of videos, read the course material, and shared our progress with our cohort. … Read more

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