Writing and Publishing News

This is a good time to write, with freezing temperatures and inclement weather conditions keeping us inside. If you dream of seeing your short story or article printed in your favorite magazine or online site, perhaps now is the time to make it happen.
Turn off the TV, stop surfing the net looking for—whatever you’re [...]

I got the question again at the SDSU Writers’ Conference over the weekend: “What’s the best publishing option?” Authors are never happy to hear what they must be told, “It depends on the book and it depends on you.”
There’s nothing about the task of producing or marketing a book that is easy or straightforward. [...]

The SDSU Writers’ Conference ended yesterday. Attendees are home now, pouring over their notes, trying to remember key points, hoping to shake that sense of overwhelm. They had the opportunity to attend as many as 11 one-hour workshops during the two-day event. There were over 80 workshops to choose from with subjects ranging from “The [...]

The San Diego State University Writers’ Conference is over. The attendees and faculty have headed home to Arizona, Michigan, Seattle, Florida and many other destinations. Most of us are richer for having participated. Those who pitched manuscripts to agents and editors, carried home hope and, in most cases, assignments for creating a more commercial product. [...]

I did 3 workshops yesterday and attended 3 big networking events. Today, I’m presenting 2 more workshops and I have 2 consultations scheduled with individuals. There’s a lot of networking that goes on at events like this, or there should be. I keep hearing from attendees that it’s intimidating. Some say their heads are swimming [...]

Excitement is in the air. Hundreds of writers and hopeful authors are buzzing around the Double Tree Hotel in Mission Valley, California eager to improve their writing and their chances for publication. We drove out of the rain south toward sunny San Diego County yesterday. I mingled with the writers who had arrived by evening [...]

Three nice things happened yesterday with regard to my book, The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book. Maggie Ball at the Compulsive Reader over in Australia, wrote a lovely review. Read it here:
http://www.compulsivereader.com/html/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1847
Dana Lynn Smith of Texana Publishing runs The Publisher’s Bookstore online. She wrote to tell me that [...]

First let me apologize to those of you who are accustomed to reading the daily blog first thing in the morning. I’m about 4 hours later posting it. Life does, sometimes, get in the way. Let me also report that I’ll be in San Diego for the next 4 days presenting 5 seminars on article-writing [...]

Most writers and authors know something about research—we all have to do it in the course of writing a nonfiction article, book, novel and even, sometimes a poem. But how many of you use—I mean really use—the great reference books you buy to help you write better or navigate the publishing industry?
You order the book [...]

Yesterday was deemed the worst, most depressing day of the year. Evidently, it happens every year—this worst day. I’ve never noticed it before. Sure, I have bad days—we all do, but I didn’t know that there was one particular day set aside as the worst of the worst.
This is good news, don’t you think? [...]