• Gearing Up for NaNoWriMo

    For writers, there is one important festivity that takes place right before the holidays. The writing event of the year — NaNoWriMo — starts November 1, and we want to make sure you’re as prepared as possible if you’re planning on participating in the 30-day sprint to a 50,000-word first draft of your next novel. Take the remaining days of October to prepare yourself with our 10 easy steps: 1. Gather your tools. Before you can participate, you have to decide what tools you’ll be using to complete your 50,000 words. First, make sure your computer is fully updated and…

  • Style Sheets 101: Why You Need One

    There are several ways to keep yourself and your writing organized. One is a writer’s notebook and the other is to create and maintain your style sheet. Keeping all your ducks in a row as you write a book is no small feat! Let’s face it, you’re trying to keep track of the tiniest details that live within 50,000 or more words. Plus, you have way more important things to figure out, like your climactic moment and how to actually end your story. What is a style sheet? A style sheet is a document you add your preferences to regarding…

  • 5 Benefits of Mastering Grammar

    This question of writing skillset comes up a lot: “Do I need to be good at writing to write a book?” The answer is “yes” and “no.” In order to write a book that others want to read, writers have to understand the basics of writing and be willing to read a lot of resource books, and teach themselves how to plot out their writing in a way that readers will follow. Grammar is an important part of writing because, without strong grammar and sentence structure, a book is hard to read and comprehend. “Well, I can just hire an editor…

  • 10 Ways to Do Research for Your Book

    When it comes to researching for your book there are many avenues — and rabbit holes — you can take to find the information you want. Researching is a fine art, especially now that the internet can turn up results that may not be completely accurate. Whether you’re writing a fiction novel or a nonfiction memoir, research will be an integral step for every book. Since your credibility as a writer is on the line, you’ll want to be triple sure that any researched information you include is 100% factual and that you have a strong source to back you…