Word Count, In A Word? Worthless.

As most of you know from previous posts, comments I’ve made, and for the mind-readers out there, that I believe the faithful old writer’s term “word count” is about as useful to the quality of a book as is the words “pigeon shit”. Now pardon my New York Central Park language, but what in the [...]

 

Myriad Reasons To Read This Post (And One For Me To Feel Like A Chowderhead)

On April 27, 2013, in Grammar Police, Learning Challenges, Mea Culpa, Writing Tips, by rsguthrie

Nah, there’s really only one, but if you’re a writer, it’s a big one (and a reason that wakes many in a cold sweat): you don’t want to look as if you don’t know your own profession. Quick pop quiz: Which of the sentences below is correct? There are a myriad of reasons to be [...]

 

Writer / Editor Russell Rowland

On February 20, 2013, in Great Reads, Guest Posts, Interviews, Proofreading, RUSSELL ROWLAND, Writing Tips, by rsguthrie

Today I am interviewing my own EDITOR for this blog post! (What was he thinking agreeing to this golden opportunity for ME? Wait a minute—what was I thinking? He could triple my rates!) In all seriousness, Russell Rowland is a successful, extremely talented writer as well as having one of the best eyes for “seeing” [...]

 

Don’t Get Fooled Again (By The Ridiculousness Of “Word Count”)

On July 30, 2012, in Indie Authors, Opinion, Writing Tips, by rsguthrie

Did you ever, even once in your life, dismiss a song you loved because its length didn’t meet some standard you’d been convinced by the culture is appropriate for a particular style of music? I grow weary (and even a bit perturbed) at hearing writers talk about their books in terms of size (i.e. word [...]

 

How To Write The Best Book You Can Possibly Write, With No Guarantees

On July 25, 2012, in Encouragement for Indies, Indie Authors, Reviewers, Writing Tips, by rsguthrie

You’ve taken the classes, attended the workshops, read every Writer’s Digest book they’ve put on the market. You’ve written, and written, and then when you thought the calluses couldn’t get any harder on the ends of your fingers, you wrote some more. You’ve suffered the rejection slips. Oh, how those rejection slips sting. To hell [...]

 

How To Handle A Rare Reviewer (Or: How Many Stars DOES Your Book Deserve?)

Today, Dear Readers, is Saturday the 14th. You know what that means, right? Yesterday was Friday the 13th! I never said anything about it in my blog yesterday (or in my bog which is what I typed first, having only finished a sip of my first morning coffee—I suppose to say something like that in [...]

 

Are You A Word Snob? Don’t Be; It’ll Ruin Your Writing (And Make You A Douche)

On July 3, 2012, in Humor, Indie Authors, Opinion, Rant, Soap Box, Writing Tips, by rsguthrie

I used to sign up for the “Word of the Day” type emails (of which I would read a couple each month and trash the rest). I also used to work the vocabulary test in Reader’s Digest to find out what kind of wordsmith I was. Truth is, I am a writer, so words DO [...]

 

Power-Wash Your Writing

On June 28, 2012, in eBook Pricing, Indie Authors, Opinion, The Market, Writing Tips, by rsguthrie

The other day we had the wood on our fences and our deck power-washed. If you had asked me a couple of days before that what the boards on the fence and deck were worth I would have said “nothing”. They were an awful shade of gray—not light gray, or bright gray, but that dingy, [...]

 

Are You Still Trying to Sell A Million EBooks?

On June 18, 2012, in Indie Authors, Miscellaneous, Opinion, The Market, Writing Tips, by rsguthrie

I know a few people who play the lottery. Many of my friends are engineers, and mathematicians long ago calculated that your odds of taking out a ten million dollar life insurance policy and then flying from one coast to the other every hour of every day would be a better investment than purchasing one [...]

 

I Don’t Know, But I’ve Been Told…

On April 29, 2012, in FREE STUFF, Indie Authors, Opinion, Writing Tips, by rsguthrie

Here’s a Sunday Suggestion for you: pay attention to the cadence of your story when you write. I’ve said it before: there’s not as large a gap between literature and music as one might think. Oh I know, whenever I say that a couple of neanderthals crawl out of their caves, grunt, laugh, and wonder [...]

 

Social Widgets powered by AB-WebLog.com.

Featuring Recent Posts WordPress Widget development by YD