Practical editing software for indie authors
Because professional editors are so expensive (and worth every penny), the purchase of electronic editing software can be a smart investment. Here’s a review of the four best tools for authors offering “first-pass” or “last-pass” editing to clean up mistakes in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. These tools do much more work than the built-in spelling […]
How to write compelling scenes in travel memoir
Yesterday my friends Linda Joy Myers and Brooke Warner of Write Your Memoir in Six Months hosted the best webinar ever on writing memoir. It’s on writing scenes. If you’re writing a travelogue, travel stories, or any stories at all, you need to hear this. I promise you’ll come away with a stronger understanding of […]
How to write a compelling travelogue
Most travelogues, whether in short story or book form, follow the narrative archetype defined by Joseph Campbell as the Hero’s Journey or Quest. The story is about how the hero—that would be you—is inspired to set out into the unknown and, through challenges and temptations (inner and outer), experiences a transformation. A lot of the […]
Do you belong to a tribe?
We authors are often such solo creatures and it’s easy to forget that you’re part of a tribe. No matter how niche, I think you should enjoy hanging out with others in person or on social media. Your tribe loves you. Your tribe tells you what you want to know. Your tribe is your first […]
Use All Five Senses to Enrich Your Writing
Sight is the most obvious of the senses to invoke when depicting a scene in your written work, but your visual descriptions will benefit when you incorporate your other senses to enrich your writing. First drafts of most travelogues are full of rich, visual detail, but often fall short on smells, tastes, sounds, and feelings. […]
Great Free Editing Tools for Indie Authors
In a previous post, I reviewed some robust editing tools worth paying for that also help you become a better writer. This post explores free editing tools that aren’t as fully-featured but have the advantage of being free to use. In addition, each editing tool offers a unique feature set that you might find irresistible. […]
Using Microsoft Word's Sidebar to Navigate Your Book
If you’re writing a book, you know how hard it is to find your place sometimes, scrolling up and down through the document, squinting at text, trying to find a chapter head, a subtitle, or the phrase that your looking for. If you’ve applied Microsoft Word Styles to your chapter headings and subheadings, you can […]
Beyond Microsoft Word: Write Better and Save Money with These Writing & Publishing Tools
A glance inside a construction worker’s toolbox will reveal an assortment of screwdrivers, wrenches, and hammers in varying configurations to suit a particular job. Yet professional writers continue to use Word, Word and more Word. That’s like a construction worker showing up to work with just an adjustable wrench. There are more effective options available, […]
How to Self-Publish Your Book
I just recorded the introduction and a summary of the contents of my PBS Mediashift title, How to Self-Publish Your Book: A practical guide to creating and distributing your ebook and print book. Take a listen. You can buy it in ebook formats and print. Click here for more information. And don’t forget to subscribe […]
The New Yorker Fiction Podcast
Non-fiction writers benefit by using the tools that fiction writers use to craft a story that has a beginning, a middle, and an end (narrative arc), and to leave readers with the sense that they’ve gone on a journey. Non-fiction writers often make the mistake of chronicling every detail instead of storytelling. How do you […]