On Writing

During this wild and crazy pandemic year I planted my first potager garden. Something I’d always planned to do but finally managed to pull off. Like writing my first novel. I learned a lot, and a lot of what I learned applied to writing as well as gardening. You amend...

With the summer now officially over, we all go back into school mode, sharpening our pencils and our plots, renewing our commitment to writing. As artists we never stop learning, and many of us take advantage of the many conferences, workshops, classes, critique...

Sooner or later, you may face the challenge of how to write a book proposal. If you’re writing nonfiction or memoir, it’s obligatory. But even if you are not, you should know what’s included.

Comparable titles are the ammunition you—and agents and editors—all need to sell your work. Here’s an agent’s primer on finding good comps for your project.

Does your work have a strong organizing principle? It’s not what happens in your story, but rather how you choose to frame what happens in your story.

Everywhere I go I hear writers complain about the black hole that is every agent’s in-box—the slush pile—that dark and dangerous place where their queries and manuscripts go in, never to be seen again.

You should be able to tell anyone and everyone what your book is about—and how yours is different—anytime, anywhere in 60 seconds or less.

Writers are often obsessed with the lives of other writers, the richer and more acclaimed, the better. So here in no particular order is a list of ten great documentaries about writers…

Publishing is rife with conventional wisdom but some of it is actually useful. Here are some of the best. The first page sells the book, the last page sells the next book. I repeated this recently at a Zoom event and like an old dog full of old tricks I was surprised...