Writer Unboxed

Kath here. Today’s guest is C. Hope Clark. She is editor of FundsforWriters, selected by Writer’s Digest for its 101 Best Websites for Writers for the past eleven years. She’s been industrious in platform building and social media outreach, and her newsletters reach 43,000 readers weekly. But the soul of her writing is in the mystery [...]

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Today’s guest is YA author Meredith Zeitlin, whose debut novel, Freshman Year and Other Unnatural Disasters, was just released on March 1st. What’s the book about? Meredith’s book trailer is too good not to share, and does a better job answering that question than we could, so please give it a look: FRESHMAN YEAR AND [...]

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The importance of editing to good writing is clear, but how to become a good self-editor is not. Few colleges offer ‘editing’ courses. Writer’s groups are everywhere, but I’ve never encountered a self-editor’s group. There are a number of helpful books on self-editing, but they typically break down the editing process into task-oriented strategies that [...]

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Lately, I’ve been a little obsessed with the idea of the endless number of stories there are in the world, right this very second. Every window in every house has a story. Every car driving beside me on the highway, every person I glimpse walking in the parkway or standing in line at the grocery [...]

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When you’re an author for children and teens, school visits are an inescapable part of your year. Sometimes they come singly, most often in clumps at various key times: here in Australia, Children’s Book Week in August sees a little army of writers banging the drum for books and writing in classrooms and libraries all [...]

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For me, it’s character development. Interesting characters, those that are different, unusual, flawed: those are the ones I remember. I love reading about people who shine, who stand out from the literary pack. By shine, I don’t mean perfection. Flaws make or break the character. I remember reading one manuscript when I was judging a [...]

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So I’ve finally released an eBook that’s gaining some modest traction. It’s called the little book of SITCOM, and since you’ve been looking over my shoulder for the past year or so as I’ve tried to start a fire in this little self-publishing model of mine, I thought I’d share both the story of how [...]

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I truly believe that this is a great time to be a writer. There’s so much concern, it seems to me, about the state of publishing–bookstores closing or stocking fewer and fewer books, publishing houses not accepting new submissions, or not supporting the authors they’ve already signed, or offering far lower advances than they once [...]

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At some point in your career, you may write something that offends. That’s the nature of the job. But don’t feel that you must choose the safe course for fear of running aground. The beauty of fiction is that we can explore dark themes to our heart’s content — without anyone ever getting hurt for [...]

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Update: Congratulations to Mari Passananti, winner of Christina’s book! Therese here. Today’s guest is the original Writer Mama, Christina Katz, author of three books for writers, including The Writer’s Workout: 366 Tips, Tasks & Techniques, out in print as of this past Tuesday. The Writer’s Workout joins Get Known Before the Book Deal and Writer Mama [...]

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Therese here. Today’s guest is here to offer a crash course in reaching out to others for help with your writing. Writing coach Rochelle Y. Melander is the author of ten books, including her latest, Write-A-Thon: Write Your Book in 26 Days (And Live to Tell About It)–something many of you may be able to [...]

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Therese here. Today’s guest is Krissy Brady, who’s here to introduce us to a book that, to me, sounds like the secret every writer needs to know–Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance by Jonathan Fields. Recently, Krissy talked up the book on the WU Facebook forum, and it made me want to [...]

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