Today, an emerging writer asked me for my professional opinion on an important question she was entertaining.   Did I think that the personal spiritual experiences she was trying to capture in her original memoir/self-help manuscript (which I had just finished critiqui...

In my writing and publishing coaching work over the last few years, I have noticed that there is a growing wave of emerging writers who are choosing to write their fiction in present tense, bucking the tried and true past tense narrative that has so honorably served th...

Not every writer is a natural temptress on the page.    However, the secret to potent prose, is not a mystery, and with intense focus and a lot of hard work, anyone can learn to compose lines that will leave readers lounging in bed for hours.   

During m...

Over the years I have been on many panels at writers' conferences around the country.  Invariably, one courageous writer at each conference asks the question on every attendee’s mind: what is the most important quality that an agent or publisher looks for in a man...

Call me late to the party, but I didn't hear the term 'beta reader" until a few months ago, when one of the writers I was coaching apologized for the rough state of her manuscript, noting that it hadn't yet had any "beta reviews".

As I understand it, beta read...