Writer Unboxed

First off: Spread the word far and wide that tomorrow is agent Donald Maass’s first day with us as a contributor. Be sure to swing by and welcome him to the WU fold. And, yes, I know tomorrow is April Fool’s Day, but I swear to you it’s true! We’re thrilled to have him. We’re [...]

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Yesterday, the college-aged son of a friend called me out of the blue. “Mom told me you’re a writer,” he said. “That’s so cool. I’m hoping to be a writer too. Can I talk to you about it a little bit?” Aw. We had a great conversation. It was a first for me to have [...]

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 . . . for a big time squee. WU friend Kristan Hoffman is a quarterfinalist in Amazon’s Breakthrough Novel Contest! WoW! Kristan’s story THE GOOD DAUGHTER is garnering rave reviews. Go check it out, you won’t regret it.  Good luck, Kristan! And, erm, Therese and I apologize. We messed up our interview schedule through Keystone [...]

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I have a muse, and my muse (her name is Maxine) has her own primary directive, which she holds to be inviolate: Ignore me, and I will pay you back in kind. Piss me off, and I will turn my back on you. You may beg and grovel, but from me? Crumbs. Dribbles. Until I’m [...]

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What is your natural writing pace? How long does it take you to write a book? On a private email loop of mostly long-time professional writers, the subject of writing methods came up. Quite a few of us had pressing deadlines and we posted our progress, our challenges and triumphs each day in order to [...]

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Quick note: WU friend Therese Fowler’s second novel, Reunion, is released today. Go on and show her some love. I received my first pass pages for The Last Will of Moira Leahy late last week and started going through them in earnest yesterday. For those of you who don’t know (and I didn’t, until recently), [...]

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Light posting today as I’m expecting a major load of work from my publisher Working Partners. I’m also having a bit of a crisis. Maybe you can help. pollcode.com free polls When describing characters, do you . . . tend not to bother; it works for Stephen King lavish characters with long descriptions go the [...]

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Historical romance novelist Jo Beverley has set a high bar for writers in the romance genre to emulate. Prolific to the point of incredible, she’s the recipient of five RITA awards and is a member of the Romance Writers of America’s Hall of Fame. Known for her scorching love scenes and compelling characters, Beverley’s legion of [...]

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Today WU is happy to have guest blogger JA Konrath with us. I mentioned Joe in my post Tuesday, when I talked up his great blog, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing, and free e-book, The Newbie’s Guide to Publishing Book. He’s here with us today to chat about self-promotion and his new book. Welcome, Joe! [...]

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Have you heard of Authonomy? It’s a website created by HarperCollins in the United Kingdom. Authors can post 10,000 words or more of works in progress or completed books. I decided to try it, and am in the early stages of addiction. There are books of every genre, both fiction and non-fiction. You can search [...]

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As a community of writers, we get to know and care for one another, and occasionally share the ups and downs of our personal lives. Regular contributor Juliet Marillier has posted this info on her website: I’m sorry to have to announce some not-so-good health news which I received last week. I’ve been diagnosed with [...]

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I’d like to introduce you to my cover! A writer friend of mine declared that I had been visited by the cover-art fairy–the good one who spreads joy throughout the land–and I couldn’t agree more. Those vivid colors, the model’s beautiful pose, the cool glow around the text. Love. Everything. I’ve known about it for [...]

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