From the category archives:

Writing Tips

Google and Knol

August 5, 2008

I’ve had several people email me this week about Google’s new venture – Knol – so I wanted to highlight a good article on it with this link. It comes from Daily Blog Tips and I encourage you to read the article.

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How To Defeat Your Inner Deadbeat

July 31, 2008

Read this article and find out how!

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Garrison Keillor on Writing

May 7, 2008

Watch this and learn! See Keillor talk about what Erma Bombeck accomplished and what being a good writer really entails. Then go and read all of Erma’s books.
I particularly like this quote from Keillor’s speech, “What does it take to be a writer of humor? It takes a difficult childhood. If you had a happy [...]

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Query letters, Narrative form, Writer’s Digest

March 24, 2008

I love Nathan Bransford’s blog on query letters and “Nate Dogg”.
Roy C. Clarke’s superb take on narrative form.
And the history of Writer’s Digest and why you should be reading it.

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STOP THE TELESEMINAR MADNESS

December 5, 2007

I have a challenge for you if you really want to write a book. Stop paying for or spending your time (which is money too by the way) listening to a bunch of publishing teleseminars. STOP STOP STOP.
For three months add all those newsletters, ezines, YOUR NEXT BIG Chance in Publishing Teleseminar offerings to your [...]

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Bob Bly’s Beating the Control Copy

September 18, 2007

I’m a giant and devoted fan of Bob Bly and anything he writes about “writing.” This is a particularly great article in DM News this month on copywriting and how to best meet the challenges in writing great copy where Bob relates a ton of other expert copywriter tips.
Honestly this article alone should be printed [...]

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Freelance Writers In Austin – Shamelessly Persistent!

September 12, 2007

I had the great pleasure today to present to a really savvy group of freelance writers and editors and PR folks in Austin. One of the things this reminded me of was how hard freelance writers work to keep generating work! I still write and I know it’s tough to keep your spirits high sometimes.
So [...]

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Wikipedia – Use it

July 18, 2007

If you don’t have a bio on Wikipedia – add one. But really follow all their rules about not being overly promotional etc. because they will toss it out.
In terms of what they think is too “advertising” and not it’s a bit of a toss up. For instance they have a comment on this one [...]

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Writer’s Insomnia

July 11, 2007
simpsons.jpg

As a writer, I deal with a bit of insomnia and I’m sure that most of you who are creatives deal with this as well.
My mom’s cure for insomnia was always a warm glass of milk and Windexing the windows, but in the modern day of the Internet revolution, the cure for me is to [...]

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Steve Rubel – On why we all need to be decent writers

June 11, 2007

Steve Rubel is a personal favorite of mine and has a great post on his blog about why we all need to understand how to write and do it well.
Here is a link to the post.
I’ve interviewed him over the years and just always come away with the understanding that he is dedicated to [...]

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About Me

March 8, 2007

I coached a writing group last week of seven folks spread out in range of writing styles and ambition. During the class, several folks asked me about how I went about becoming a writer and how I’ve managed to stay a writer all these years.
I realized it’s too hard to summarize, so this week I [...]

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To Write or Not To Write

March 5, 2007

I read this great post today by Liz Strauss on the problem that both bloggers and writers struggle with in regard to when they are really “writers.” Liz listed 7 traits that all writers have in common and many of them resonated with me as well.
So I thought it might be a good idea to [...]

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