The purpose of this group is to act as a writer's book group. What that means is that we will read a book together and learn different writing craft techniques from it. This month we will be reading The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison and engage in an online discussion about different craft elements of the book. The book will help to guide our discussions on how to write an essay that reaches beyond personal experience and brings the larger world into our personal writing. Other aspects that we will look at are the use of description, narrative voice, structure, and even grammar and punctuatio ..read more

Picture Books are the most beloved story form of children's writing. But how easy is it to write one? In this class, we'll look at how to create a memorable child character, how to craft a simple plot to be read multiple times, explore pacing, and do a little researching into the current picture book market. The class includes instructor feedback on all assignments, and a draft of an 800-word picture book. Students will be encouraged to spend an afternoon at their local library or elementary school reading picture books. The class is designed for those interested in learning how to write a pic ..read more

The Haunted Page is a fun and engaging--scary, spooky, creepy--writing workshop in which we'll explore the best in literary horror, discuss techniques and craft, decide for ourselves what makes a scary story scare us, and we'll write some horror of our own. Class readings will sample ghouls, ghosts, monsters, terrifying people, and terrifying situations to help us hone our ear, and our tastes, in literary horror. Students will write a piece of frightening flash fiction, a short story, or an excerpt of something longer of up to 1000 words, and submit for feedback from fellow students and the in ..read more

Rejection is difficult under the best of circumstances. When an author's book gets rejected, the editor or agent might as well say the author can't write because that's how it's taken. No matter how many times an author is told "your work doesn't fit our catalog" or "it's just not right for us," an author will always assume their book is being rejected because of the writing. Sometimes, that is the case, and most publishers/agents don't have time to give a detailed rejection. So why is your book getting rejected? Is the plot not strong enough? Are the characters in 2D when they're supposed to ..read more

I wrote the first draft of my historical novel in sixteen days. You read that correctly--sixteen days. My experimental novel was written in about three weeks. Both were released in 2018. Though I am intensely proud of this accomplishment, I'm not telling you this to brag. I’m telling you that you can do this, too. Here's how ..read more

Spanish romance writer Corin Tellado wrote over 4,000 books, American writer Lauran Bosworth Paine--over 1,000 books of Western fiction, and English romance writer Kathleen Lindsay--over 900 books. What amazing productivity, diligence, and dedication! Can every writer do this? Probably not. We all have different talents, life circumstances, and writing goals. However, I believe that all writers could and should improve their productivity to accomplish more. Here's how ..read more

The pay-to-publish company advertising on TV will publish the book as they claim, but at a cost; and the finished product? Let’s just call it a disappointment. The companies that charge exorbitant prices and deliver substandard books are known as vanity or predatory publishers. New authors fall victim to their clutches, mainly because they do not know any better ..read more

Pitching and writing for a publication when you are among their target audience makes a writer's job easier. We can mine our own personal and professional experiences, even when we are penning a reported piece, ideas ranging from where we worked, our relationships with family members and friends, our hobbies, romantic lives. Unfortunately, we can't just rely on our age, gender, occupation, or interests to pay the bills ..read more

Individually, Henry Winkler and Lin Oliver both have impressive resumes. Winkler as an actor, director and producer and Oliver as the co-founder of Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), a producer, television writer and author. When they combined their talents to co-author the New York Times Bestselling series, Hank Zipzer, the World's Greatest Underachiever, the results were amazing. Kerrie Flanagan chats with the dynamic duo about collaborative writing, the children's publishing industry, their writing process, and more ..read more

Making kids laugh while they are reading creates an emotional connection to the work and makes it a memorable experience. That connection with the reader is what all writers crave. WOW interviews Jeff Kinney, author of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, John Erickson, author of Hank the Cowdog, Gordon McAlpine, author of The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe, Ursula Vernon, author of Dragonbreath, Lisa Doan, author of The Berenson Schemes, Debbie Dadey, author of the Adventures of the Bailey School Kids Series, and literary agent Kelly Sonnack with the Andrea Brown Agency who share their best tips ..read more