Writer Unboxed

I’m at the SCBWI Summer Conference right now so don’t have time to create a new comic this time, but here’s one from the Inkygirl archives:

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Ten years ago, a movie called PAY IT FORWARD hit the theaters. The plot was based on the notion of repaying a favor not with payback, but with new good deeds done to three new people, and so forth and so on until the world was revolutionized by peace, love, and happiness. I got to [...]

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Please welcome Sharon Bially to Writer Unboxed. Sharon was one of our FINALISTS during our search for an unpublished contributor for the blog, which means you’ll see here her a few times annually from now on. After she announced her love of dark chocolate on her application (which earned her bonus points with us), she [...]

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As you read this, many of us at Writer Unboxed will be at the RWA conference in Orlando, where many of us will meet for the first time. In the meantime, I hope some of you can make use of this tool. A commercial fiction writer has to produce good material in a reliable, regular [...]

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Today I’m going to post the essay I wrote for the 2010 Guide to Literary Agents. Partly because you have never seen it and probably don’t know all of this (I was asked to talk about highs and lows of the publishing journey, and we usually focus on the highs here at WU). Also because [...]

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Newsy tidbits for writers from around the ‘nets. Am I the only one who hasn’t yet heard of the viral website I Write Like . . . ? If you are like me, one of the last to know, I Write Like analyzes a sample of your writing and determines which famous writer you most [...]

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Please welcome guest poster Laura R. Espinosa to WU. Laura was one of our finalists for our WU unpublished contributor, and she made the cut because she has a fresh, funny voice and a unique perspective: she’s a co-author with one of her close friends. She’s also an artist and animator.  “My ultimate goal is [...]

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Kath here. Please welcome comedian and writer Karen Bergreen to Writer Unboxed. Karen’s debut novel Following Polly is a screamingly funny murder mystery. No lie, I nearly had to read this in the bathroom, it was pee-your-pants funny. Enjoy her guest post with us today and make sure you’re not drinking anything when you read [...]

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You can sabotage your writing career if you frequently engage in these two behaviors: Pitching yourself to strangers in a vague or long-winded way Asking questions of such a broad nature that you nearly disrespect the person called upon to answer Let’s tackle the pitching scenario first. Important: While I will specifically reference editors and [...]

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Oh, we wordherders love to procrastinate. We also love to metaphorically masturbate. We are enamored with conducting “storytelling research” — aka justifying watching hours of TV to see how “the pros” write great dialogue. We lovingly re-read our work-in-progress’ first three chapters again and again, as we’ve done for weeks (or years). We drone on [...]

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Valued contributor Sophie Masson wraps up her writer’s sabbatical in France this month. Enjoy! Summer in Paris, and it’s really hot at last, after weeks of unseasonably grey and cold weather. Our windows are open on the heavy still air but the curtains are drawn against the sun. You can hear music wafting all up [...]

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Today’s guest post is by bestselling YA author Susan Beth Pfeffer. Susan is the author of 76 children’s and young adult novels. Her most recent book, This World We Live In, is the final book of a trilogy, also comprising the New York Times bestseller  Life As We Knew It, and The Dead And The Gone. Enjoy! I [...]

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