Kim Sherwood is a novelist and a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh. Her award-winning debut novel Testament was released in 2018, and in 2019, Kim was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. Her latest novel, A Wild & True Relation, was described by Dame Hilary Mantel as “a rarity – a novel as remarkable for the vigour of the storytelling as for its literary ambition. Kim Sherwood is a writer of capacity, potency and sophistication.” Double or Nothing is the first in an acclaimed series of Double O novels expanding the world of James Bond ..read more

For today's prompt, write a homonym poem. A homonym is either (or both) a homograph (word spelled the same with different meanings and possibly different pronunciations) or a homophone (word that is pronounced the same but has different spellings). Here are some examples of homophones and homographs to get you started: 20 Homophones Examples for Writers. 30 Homographs Examples for Writers. Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them. Note on commenting: If you wish to comment on the site, go to Disqus to create a free new acco ..read more

To be a writer, all you really have to do is write. But if you want to grow your audience, connect with readers, and sell more books, the best tool available right now is a newsletter. (Should Writers Use Social Media?) When I started writing my newsletter, in March 2021, I had a pretty straightforward idea: I’d share a poetry prompt each day for April, and anyone who wanted to join us could write along. For years I’d celebrated National Poetry Month by trading prompts with friends and writing a poem a day (or trying my hardest to), and I thought I could share that celebration with a wider gro ..read more

As we met to discuss her winning novel, Claire Fraise said something that resonated with every part of her writing and publishing journey: “I just try to keep a curious mindset and to explore and to keep doing something to move myself in the direction where I want to be going. Even when it can feel challenging.” After falling in love with dystopian YA fiction while reading series like The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner, she asked herself, “Why can’t I try writing one of my own?” For two years, she did nothing but think about her characters and write. Then she self-published that novel, titl ..read more

Alicia D. Williams is the author of Genesis Begins Again, which received Newbery and Kirkus Prize honors, was a William C. Morris Award finalist, and for which she won the Coretta Scott King - John Steptoe Award for New Talent; and picture books Jump at the Sun and The Talk, which was also a Coretta Scott King Honor book. An oral storyteller in the African American tradition, she lives in Charlotte, North Carolina. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram. Alicia D. Williams In this interview, Alicia discusses how a NaNoWriMo challenge in the early months of the pandemic led to her new middle-grad ..read more

Congratulations to the winners of the 11th Annual Self-Published E-book Awards! [WD uses affiliate links.] Grand Prize The Cruel Dark by Bea Northwick, NorthwickBooks.com Contemporary Fiction First Place Secret of the Hindu Kush by Anthony Stone, AnthonyStone-Author.com Honorable Mentions Jaguar Spirit by Zoe Hauser, ZoeHauser.com Pheidippides Didn't Die by Autumn Konopka, AutumnKonopka.com The Playgroup by Jami Worthington The Way It's Supposed to Be by April Garner, AprilGarner.com Fantasy First Place Children of Cain by S. L. Myers Honorable Mentions Find Them by Julia Ash, Jul ..read more

Well, we've only got a week of April remaining, so let's poem the heck out of the rest of this month. For today's prompt, write a maximum poem. Some people may recall that we wrote a minimum poem back on day 6; this takes that concept and brings it back the other way. In fact, one possible way into today's poem would be to see what you did on day 6 and turn it on its head. Or go somewhere completely new. Whatever you do, take it to the max. Remember: These prompts are springboards to creativity. Use them to expand your possibilities, not limit them. Note on commenting: If you wish to comment o ..read more

With the decline of traditional news media and the rapid rise of independent online reporting, journalism—as an industry and an institution—faces a huge crisis of confidence. (5 Different Forms of Journalism.) Technological advances and digitalization have drastically changed the way news content is created, disseminated, and consumed. Anyone with internet access can now reach a worldwide audience in seconds and receive immediate feedback. As a result, we’re seeing a proliferation of online independent and citizen journalists, and many consistently outperform their legacy media counterparts in ..read more

All freelance writers need to utilize some software packages (or apps), most commonly word processors, web browsers, and the Windows desktop PC platform. So, have you ever considered writing about software?  (What Are Software Articles, and Who Writes Them?) I’ve been a tech writer for many years and can confirm that software can be a reasonably lucrative online writing niche. Nor do you need to be a qualified IT professional to break into the software article writing market. It’s a reasonably accessible market you can break into by finding suitable tech websites (or blogs) to contribute ..read more

Photo by Salvatore Tonnara on Unsplash For today's prompt, write about the discovery of a lost world. Post your response (500 words or fewer) in the comments below ..read more