Time-management and writing

Something struck me the other day about writing. It’s different from most desk-job workflows. Massively so. Let me put it this way. A typical ‘office job’, certainly at the kind of planning-and-control (‘manager’) level that writers have when working, involves a complex daily schedule of appointments. Time is divided up typically into hourly brackets, each … More Time-management and writing

Unblocking the muse: a few writing tricks for NaNoWriMo

It’s National November Writing Month – the month when writers around the world join in a quick-fire effort to complete a story of 50,000 words in just 30 days. I’m marking it this month by re-posting some of the material I’ve published in past years to help writers get to that goal. ++++++++++++++++++++++ It’s mid-November, … More Unblocking the muse: a few writing tricks for NaNoWriMo

Write it now: how to make readers feel what you do when writing

It’s National November Writing Month – the month when writers around the world join in a quick-fire effort to complete a story of 50,000 words in just 30 days. I’m marking it this month by re-posting some of the material I’ve published in past years to help writers get to that goal. ++++++++++++++++++++++ I’ve posted … More Write it now: how to make readers feel what you do when writing

Pantsing or planning – that is the NaNoWriMo question

It’s National November Writing Month – the month when writers around the world join in a quick-fire effort to complete a story of 50,000 words in just 30 days. I’m marking it this month by re-posting some of the material I’ve published in past years to help writers get to that goal. ++++++++++++++++++++++ The big … More Pantsing or planning – that is the NaNoWriMo question

Book bind-ups and how to avoid stepping in them

One of the early terms I learned in the publishing business is ‘bind-up’. It wasn’t the first term I learned. But it came close. It’s not what you might think. I mean, all books are bound, by definition. But ‘bind-up’ has a specific meaning. It refers to collecting several related books under one cover and … More Book bind-ups and how to avoid stepping in them

Explaining the pitfalls of sentence fragments

One of the most ubiquitous grammar traps in English is the sentence fragment. A sentence fragment is a phrase or set of phrases that look like they should be a sentence, but actually aren’t. Usually that’s because they lack either a verb or a subject, making them a ‘dependent clause’, because they depend on another … More Explaining the pitfalls of sentence fragments