How To Spot Bad Advice and What To Do About It

by Guudmorning on Flickr.com I run the Twitter account for WOW! and my day job, and I'm also on there for my personal account. Some of you may use it to market yourselves or follow your favorite authors or join in on discussions, using hashtags such as #writetip, #writerslife, or #writingcommunity. Twitter can be full of funny tweets, lead you to intersting and informative articles, and allow...

Read More »

7 comments bad writing advice, good writing advice, listening to critique, twitter

Technical Difficulties: What to Do When Things Don’t Work Out

My apologies that this didn’t go live this morning. The problem? I failed to read the date correctly. I thought today was the 28th and not the 29th. The good news? This segues very nicely into my topic. What to do when something doesn’t work out as planned. Recently, Angela, Ann and I attended a webinar. Or we attempted to attend the webinar. We each paid for it and logged in. The lucky...

Read More »

2 comments errors, making mistakes

Write Your Dreams into Existence

Morning time with my journal and my dog. After a rough winter last year and a string of rejections (for both writing contests and to agents) that seemed to be going nowhere, I thought long and hard about the best way to shift my mindset. A few months ago, I heard a podcast episode about how to narrow the focus on your goals in order to best achieve them. I was intrigued. Now, to be perfectly...

Read More »

5 comments goal setting, journaling for writers, Renee Roberson, Start Today Journal, writing down your dreams

The Power of No

Getting a rejection from an agent or a publisher is disheartening, for sure. A writer spends months or years on a project, gives birth to it, submits it... and it's rejected. And rejected. And rejected. Definitely a bummer. However, sometimes "no" is a good thing. A powerful thing... in a good way. Running into a wall might make a writer fall down and give up. But, facing an obstacle might...

Read More »

13 comments finding the right publisher, Kris Jenner. Bonnie Raitt, rejection, Sioux Roslawski

Note to a Younger Me...

8/26/2015 Dear Younger Self, I'm not sure how I've arrived here - it's 2019 and after the bus comes next Tuesday, there will be only ONE baby at home. There are ZERO babies in diapers. Yes, you heard that correctly - no diapers to change (or wash) and most days there's only ONE baby in my arms. You're in the thick of motherhood if this letter reached you as planned. I remember those days fondly,...

Read More »

1 comment advice, motherhood, motherhood advice, note to self, parenting, parenting advice, pep talk, younger self

Interview with Ellie Golder, Runner Up in the WOW! Q3 Creative Nonfiction Contest

Ellie Golder likes to consider herself a philosopher and linguaphile, and works as a Communications Manager and Yoga instructor in Basel, Switzerland, where she moved from her hometown London. Writing has been her reflex for dissecting internal and external worlds since acquiring the skill. Years ago she considered a career as a writer and her work was published online and in print, for example...

Read More »

Leave a Comment 2019 Q3 Creative Nonfiction Contest, Contestant interview, Ellie Golder, Renee Roberson

Avoid Clichés Like the Plague

 By Bobbie Christmas As soon as we take writing seriously, we learn to avoid clichés. In my decades of editing book-length manuscripts for publishers and individuals, though, I see a vast difference. While the manuscripts that traditional publishers have purchased have few clichés, the books that unpublished but hopeful writers send me often are loaded with clichés. Maybe unpublished folks...

Read More »

Leave a Comment Bobbie Christmas, Book Doctor, book editing, writing clichés

Friday Speak Out!: Integrating Native Americans in Historical Fiction

by Pam Webber Victoria Last Walker Ferguson Stories involving Native Americans are compelling to read. After all, they are the original Americans. The rest of us are simply descendants of diverse settlers. Native American tribes are also diverse. Not only in where they live but how they live and what they believe. Writing about their unique cultures is often dependent on historical interpretations....

Read More »

6 comments Friday Speak Out, historical fiction, historical fiction writing, Native-American, Pam Webber, Victoria Last Walker Ferguson, writer tips

Children's Author Shannon Stocker: A fighter. A survivor. A PUBLISHED Picture Book Author.

We are so happy to welcome children's author Shannon Stocker to the Muffin today. This is an interview you will not want to miss. Not only did Shannon receive a traditional publishing contract for her picture book, Can U Save the Day?, but she also has secured an agent, survived a life-threatening illness, and is working on a memoir. So, let's just get right to it... WOW: Hi, Shannon,...

Read More »

2 comments children's author, debut book, literary agent, picture book, picture book author

3 Ways to Refresh Your Creativity

Break out the pumpkin everything, fall is almost upon us. When September rolls around, I feel like I'm hitting the refresh button and starting new again. In fact, September feels like the start of the year to me (way more than January does). So as we stare down the barrel of a new fall season, it's time to hit refresh. But how can we hit refresh on our creativity? Here's how a few ideas: 1)...

Read More »

3 comments Nicole Pyles, writing habits

Interview with Lynn Powers: Winter 2019 Flash Fiction Contest Runner Up

Lynn works in New York City as a Location Manager for Film & Television production, most recently on The Good Fight (CBS), The Good Wife (CBS), Paterno (HBO) and Fringe (Fox). She holds a Creative Writing degree from Ohio Wesleyan University, where she wrote for the school newspaper and was a DJ at the radio station. Her first job was as a reporter for the Gaithersburg Gazette. It was there...

Read More »

1 comment interview, Lynn Powers, Nicole Pyles, Winter 2019 Flash Fiction Contest

Writing in the Beginning (The First Born Child)

Youngest Junior Hall was hanging about for a few days recently and as is often the case with this third child, I was reminded of how different I was as a mother, between my firstborn and the lastborn. And then my mind wandered to writing—because technically, I was supposed to be working—and bam! I could see obvious parallels between writing and parenting. Writing in the Beginning (The First Born...

Read More »

7 comments Cathy C. Hall, writing advice, writing philosophy

Interview with Jessica Pace: Q3 2019 Creative Nonfiction Third Place Winner

Jessica’s Bio Although Jessica was born in Japan, she was raised all over the United States. Adopted into a military family, she saw different places and experienced life in California, Texas, Alaska, and Montana. When she was in grade school, Jessica thought she would become a neurologist, because she was fascinated by the human brain. Many years later, she graduated from Western Washington University...

Read More »

3 comments 2019 Q3 Creative Nonfiction Contest, Anne Greenawalt, Jessica Pace, Third Place Winner

Three Types of Character Arcs: Positive, Flat and Negative

“Be sure you have a well-developed character arc.” This is one of those pieces of advice that I’ve heard so often that I no longer really thought about it. Yeah, character arc. Ordinary world, inciting incident, and so forth. But then I saw a post by K.M. Weiland in which she discussed flat and negative arcs. When I saw this, I realized that normally I only think about a positive character...

Read More »

5 comments Character Arc, Flat Character arc, negative character arc, Positive Character Arc, Sue Bradford Edwards, Weiland

Creating Flawed Characters: Learning from Rebecca Roanhorse

One of the best things about being an author is that I can call reading study. "Honey, can you finish dinner. I’m learning all about creating flawed characters.”  This was definitely the case when I was reading Trail of Lightning and Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse. In part, Roanhorse accomplished this by giving some of her characters supernatural abilities, called clan powers, that...

Read More »

4 comments Character Flaws, characterization, Rebecca Roanhorse, Storm of Locusts, Trail of Lightning, writing science fiction