• Looking to make weekly meal prepping your new jam? Hoping to incorporate a writing session into your routine? Here are 5 tips for developing a new habit.

    How to Form New Habits

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    Looking to incorporate a new habit into an already full lifestyle? Well, you’re not alone! Millions of us every year look for ways to incorporate a new habit into our daily or weekly routines. Many of us also fall out of the swing of things with our new routine before they convert to regular habits. Whether you’re looking to make weekly meal prepping your new jam or you’re hoping to incorporate a next-level writing session into your day-to-day, here are 5 tips to get you started! 1. Set your intention.  By now most of us know precisely what this means,…

  • As we head into the beautiful season that is fall, we thought we'd revisit this post: 5 Ways to Paint Fall into Your Writing.

    5 Ways to Paint Fall into Your Writing

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    Writing about fall. There’s a reason one of the first pieces of advice any professional offers to a new writer forging ahead on the publishing journey is, “Show, don’t tell.” Readers don’t want to be told, they want to be shown. So, how does one show information? If we use seasons or weather as an example, which can be used for metaphorical purposes within the telling of a story, we can begin to crack the code on showing, and not telling, information to the reader. Since most of The States are experiencing autumn right now, it’s a great example to use.…

  • Dipping your toes into the writing world? Starting with a novel or nonfiction book can be overwhelming. Start small—here's how to write a short story!

    Start Small: How to Write a Short Story

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    If you’re just dipping your toes into the writing world, starting with a full-length novel or nonfiction book may feel overwhelming. Short stories allow you to get a feel for composing a story with a beginning, middle, and end. It also helps you tackle character development and a thorough plot structure without having to devote hundreds of hours to an 80,000-word manuscript. Short stories can also help pay attention to the complexities that come with the necessity of succinct word choice and help you hone your writing style and tone. The Basics of a Short Story Here are 5 simple…

  • 10 Steps to Plotting Scenes Using Index Cards

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    Whether you’re a plotter or a panster, writing fiction or nonfiction, you can benefit from using index cards to plot your book ahead of time. The old-school outlining format we used for research papers in high school isn’t for everyone and can often make it more difficult to rearrange material later on. So, grab a stack of index cards, your favorite pen, a large cup of coffee and spread out somewhere comfortable. We’re going to draft every scene of your book using index cards. On one side of each index card, write names of characters who will be in the…