From crafting your own obituary to penning an ode to an onion, each page of this playful journal invites inspiration and provides plenty of space to write. Brimming with entertaining exercises from the literary minds of the San Francisco Writers' Grotto, this is the ultimate gift for scribes of every stripe.

    But what if the stories you love to write aren’t the kind that are selling like ice water in July? How do you create a career in writing that you both love and hits the financial success you need to justify the hours spent at the keyboard? For Love or Money talks about writing for love (and how to sell that) as well as writing for money (and how to love it). It contains serious strategies about making money with your books, living the freedom of indie publishing, and stretching yourself creatively in your career. For authors willing to take a hard look at themselves and the market, this book will lay out the necessary steps to create your dream writing career. For Love or Money is meant to be used in tandem with The Indie Author Survival Guide (Second Edition), the first book in the Crafting a Self-Publishing Career series. Together, these two books will set you on a path of turning your love for storytelling into a career. **JOIN THE FOR LOVE OR MONEY FACEBOOK GROUP** Connect with your fellow self-published authors and share information about writing and publishing. Susan hosts monthly consultation giveaways and shares updates on the constantly evolving publishing landscape. JOIN HERE: http://smarturl.it/LoveOrMoneyGroup **Table of Contents** Author's Note Crafting Your Dream Writer Life 1.1 Choosing Your Mountain 1.2 Park Your Biases At The Curb 1.3 Embrace Your Freedom 1.4 My Journey 1.5 Decide For Yourself 1.6 Bite-Sized Summary Writing For Love 2.1 Writing Challenges Me 2.2 Forget About Readers 2.3 Joyful Writing 2.4 Take Your Craft Up A Level 2.5 It Will Always Be Hard 2.6 Bite-Sized Summary Turning Love Into Money 3.1 Don't Give Up Too Soon 3.2 All The Marketing Tricks 3.3 Making What You Love More Commercial 3.4 My Biggest Failure/Learning Experience 3.5 Why Isn't My Book Selling 3.6 Build Your Backlist 3.7 Bite-Sized Summary Writing For Money 4.1 Writing What Sells 4.2 What's In Your Wheelhouse 4.3 Don't Try This At Home 4.4 Bite-Sized Summary Balancing Writing And Life 5.1 Staying Sane in a Crazy (Indie Publishing) World Managing Your Career Appendix: Your Self-Publishing Toolkit

    It's like a CT Scan that takes a photo of the global story and tells the editor or writer what is working, what is not, and what must be done to make what works better and fix what's not. The Story Grid breaks down the component parts of stories to identify the problems. And finding the problems in a story is almost as difficult as the writing of the story itself (maybe even more difficult.) The Story Grid is a tool with many applications: 1. It will tell a writer if a Story "works" or "doesn't work." 2. It pinpoints story problems but does not emotionally abuse the writer, revealing exactly where a Story (not the person creating the Story...the Story) has failed. 3. It will tell the writer the specific work necessary to fix that Story's problems. 4. It is a tool to re-envision and resuscitate a seemingly irredeemable pile of paper stuck in an attic drawer. 5. It is a tool that can inspire an original creation. Shawn Coyne is a twenty-five year book-publishing veteran. He's acquired, edited, published or represented works from James Bamford, John Brenkus, James Lee Burke, Barbara Bush, Dick Butkus, Harlan Coben, Nellie Connally, Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, Ben Crenshaw, Catherine Crier, Brett Favre, David Feherty, John Feinstein, Tyler Florence, Jim Gant, Col. David H. Hackworth, Jamie Harrison, Mo Hayder, William Hjortsberg, Stephen Graham Jones, Jon Krakauer, David Leadbetter, Alan Lomax, David Mamet, Troon McAllister, Robert McKee, Matthew Modine, Bill Murray, Joe Namath, John J. Nance, Jack Olsen, Scott Patterson, Steven Pressfield, Matthew Quirk, Anita Raghavan, Ian Rankin, Ruth Rendell, Jerry Rice, Giora Romm, Tim Rosaforte, William Safire, Dava Sobel, Michael Thomas, Nick Tosches, Ann Scott Tyson, Minette Walters, Betty White, Randy Wayne White, Steven White, and Don Winslow among many others. During his years as an editor at the Big Five publishing houses, as an independent publisher, as a literary agent both at a major Hollywood talent agency and as head of Genre Management Inc., and as a bestselling co-writer and ghostwriter, Coyne created a methodology called The Story Grid to teach the editing craft.

     “It truly is the best time in history to be a writer. The are no longer any boundaries. You can work with whomever you want to, at your own speed, get paid monthly, write about anything you want, do very little marketing, and still reach readers.” ~ J.A.Konrath Kick Procrastination in the Butt and Create a Daily Writing Ritual In this book, I will show you how to avoid procrastination and create a daily writing ritual. I will reveal to you the same tools I used to write thirteen #1 best selling books in one year, while still maintaining my busy job as the chief commercial officer for a multimillion-dollar company. Yes, these tools even work for people who are extremely busy, have families and have full-time jobs. The reason I know these tools work is because they are based on simple techniques that are backed by hundreds of hours of intensive scientific research as well as my experiences as a writer. Double Your Word Count Using the anti-procrastination and productivity techniques in this book, I believe that you will not only be able to double your word count but also be able to create a consistent, daily writing habit. No more putting off writing your book till tomorrow! It’s time to kick procrastination and laziness in the butt and start fulfilling your potential as a writer.

    Writing the Cozy Mystery is a concise reference guide that will help you develop your characters, establish the setting, plot the story, add suspense, plant clues and solve the crime.This award-winning Second Edition contains more examples; additional writing exercises; expanded sections; and seven new chapters including The Muddle in the Middle, Romance and Murder, Special Considerations for Cozy Writers, Keeping a Series Fresh, Writing the Smart Synopsis, Mystery Movies, and Marketing Tips. You’ll find everything you need to know in an easy-to-read, clear manner to write your own mystery and maintain a long-running series. Gold Award Winner in the Royal Palm Literary AwardsGold Medal Winner in the President's Book AwardsFirst Place Winner in TopShelf Magazine Book AwardsAgatha Awards FinalistIAN Book of the Year Awards Finalist“If you are thinking about writing a cozy mystery, read this book first! Nancy lays out all the necessary steps in an interesting and informative way that is easy to follow. Highly recommended.” Catherine Bruns, USA Today Bestselling Author of the Cookies & Chance Mysteries“Nancy J. Cohen offers clear examples, practical writing exercises, and friendly advice designed to help the beginning cozy author start—and finish!—a saleable book. Even seasoned cozy writers can find helpful hints for building better characters and story.” Diane A.S. Stuckart, NY Times Bestselling Author of the Tarot Cats Mysteries “If you want to write a cozy mystery—or really, any kind of mystery—this is the book for you! Everything you need to know in one handy volume.” Victoria Thompson, Bestselling Author of the Gaslight Mystery Series

    His advice is good, couched in brassy prose that is easy to read. He anticipates every conceivable question and issue, including typical charges, marketing oneself, types of available work, and dealing with deadbeats. There are great common-sense tips, too, in the psychology of handling clients who think they're writers, those with limited budgets, and others demanding creativity. Personal anecdotes make the life of the freelancer real; the author includes samples of cold-calling scripts, thank-you notes, and a story or three about starting a writers' group and partnering with other professionals. Book Description Dream of being a well-paid freelance writer? Long to carve out an enviable lifestyle with plenty of freedom, flexibility AND healthy income? But wait a minute…aren't the words "starving" and "writer" forever joined at the hip? Not anymore. How about a writing direction with plenty of work, strong and growing demand for good writers, hourly rates of $50-100+ ($60-75 average) and where all time is billed? No flat fees with vast, open-ended commitments of time. Translation? Less time working to pay bills and more time pursuing your writing passions. We're talking about freelance commercial writing - writing for business entities, large and small - the subject of The Well-Fed Writer, and quite possibly the answer for all aspiring writers who want to turn their love of writing into their living. The book was a triple-book-club-selection (Book-of-the-Month, Quality Paperback Book and Writer's Digest) and earned several prestigious awards in 2001: 1) Second place in the ForeWord magazine Book of the Year Awards (Career Category) 2) Honorable Mention in the Writer's Digest magazine National Self-Published Book Awards 3) Finalist in the Publisher's Marketing Association Ben Franklin Awards (Best First Book). Why commercial writing? In the past decade, two huge trends have sculpted the corporate American landscape: downsizing and outsourcing. Corporations are doing more with less: fewer people, less resources and smaller budgets. The workload is growing - especially with the exploding Internet - and many organizations rely heavily on freelancers to help them handle it. Why do corporations hire freelancers? For good solid economic and creative reasons. With a freelancer, corporations don't have to pay salary, benefits, and vacation time. But they will pay a freelancer $60-80 (average) for their time. In addition, they pay only what they need when they need it. And with a network of freelancers, they get a broad spectrum of fresh talent (hard to get with in-house staff writers used to writing about the same topics day after day) which they can form-fit to their specific writing needs. What's "commercial writing"? Marketing brochures, ad copy, newsletters, direct mail campaigns, video/CD-ROM scripting, speeches, sales sheets, proposals, web content, and so much more. Veteran commercial freelancer Bob Bly, known as the freelance writing "guru" for his 35+ writing titles, says of commercial freelancing: "I know of no other arena of writing so lucrative yet so easy to get started in." The Well-Fed Writer will take you step-by-detailed-step through, indeed, everything you need to know to quickly get your share of this exciting and highly lucrative arena of freelancing.

    It has been expanded to include simple ways to promote books using newer technology--always considering promotion and marketing techniques that are easy on the pocketbook and frugal of time. It also includes a multitude of ways for authors and publishers to promote the so-called hard-to-promote genres. The award-winning author of poetry and fiction draws on a lifetime of experience in journalism, public relations, retailing, marketing, and the marketing of her own books to give authors the basics they need for do-it-yourself promotion and fun, effective approaches that haven't been stirred and warmed over, techniques that will help rocket their books to bestselling lists. You'll also learn to write media releases, query letters and a knock 'em dead media kit--all tools that help an author find a publisher and sell their book once it's in print.

    But it’s also not as difficult as you imagined.” Dufresne’s smart, practical, hard-nosed guide is for the person who has always wanted to write a novel but has been daunted by the sometimes chaotic, always challenging writing process. A patient teacher and experienced writer, Dufresne focuses his expertise and good humor on helping aspiring novelists take their first tentative steps. His six-month program variously calls attention to the key elements of good fiction writing and offers exercises that are designed to sharpen writers’ command of novel-length storytelling. After six months of guided writing, the users of this book will finish what might have once seemed impossible—a rich and compelling first draft of a novel. Is Life Like This? may well be the most important addition to the aspiring writer’s library.

    Lyne's techniques, which he developed through twenty years of teaching poetry workshops, flow from an understanding that poetry is an art form open to everyone. We all can-and should-write poetry.In this enchanting and inspiring volume, Lyne will introduce you to the pleasures and surprises of writing poetry, and his methods and insights will help you tap into your own unique voice and perspective to compose poems of your own in as little as a few minutes. Whether you are an experienced writer looking for new techniques and sources of inspiration or a novice poet who has never written a poem in your life, Writing Poetry from the Inside Out will help you to craft the poems you've always longed to write.

    Grammar Girl, is determined to wipe out bad grammar—but she's also determined to make the process as painless as possible. A couple of years ago, she created a weekly podcast to tackle some of the most common mistakes people make while communicating. The podcasts have now been downloaded more than twenty million times, and Mignon has dispensed grammar tips on Oprah and appeared on the pages of The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.Written with the wit, warmth, and accessibility that the podcasts are known for, Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing covers the grammar rules and word-choice guidelines that can confound even the best writers. From "between vs. among" and "although vs. while" to comma splices and misplaced modifiers, Mignon offers memory tricks and clear explanations that will help readers recall and apply those troublesome grammar rules. Chock-full of tips on style, business writing, and effective e-mailing, Grammar Girl's print debut deserves a spot on every communicator's desk.

    Can't find that amazing idea in your pile of sticky notes? Distracted by blog posts, social media, and email? Looking for an easy way to keep track of your research?This booklet (about 30 pages) introduces handy--and often free or inexpensive--computer-based tools to help you eliminate distractions, track your progress, organize your research, capture new ideas anywhere, streamline your writing process, and safeguard your hard work.Lessons in this booklet are based on a week-long class Gwen taught for the Romance Writers of America in June 2013.

    It is a book for everybody who wants to learn how to write or who needs to do some writing to get through the day, as almost everybody does in the age of e-mail and the Internet. Whether you want to write about people or places, science and technology, business, sports, the arts or about yourself in the increasingly popular memoir genre, On Writing Well offers you fundamental priciples as well as the insights of a distinguished writer and teacher. With more than a million copies sold, this volume has stood the test of time and remains a valuable resource for writers and would-be writers.

    This nuts-and-bolts guide - complete with practical exercises at the end of each chapter - gives you all the tips and techniques you need to:Establish a realistic sense of time and placeUse description and setting to drive your storyCraft effective description and setting for different genresSkillfully master showing vs. tellingWith dozens of excerpts from some of today's most popular writers, Write Great Fiction: Description & Setting gives you all the information you need to create a sharp and believable world of people, places, events, and actions.

     Every great novel and movie follows a common narrative pattern known as the Hero’s Journey. In this book, for the first time at such level of detail, independent writers can have a look into the Hollywood’s manual on how to create a classic. Make no mistake about it: This is not just another popular take on the subject. This is it. All the 195 plot milestones found in the greatest stories of all times are outlined here—clearly, exactly, concisely. If you are writing a novel or a script, don’t run with disadvantage: Step into this mythical landscape and follow your favorite heroes along The Ultimate Hero’s Journey, as you discover the master structure of timeless storytelling.

    It includes: how to test your premise, some easy steps to develop your character and define your story question from that character, how to hit your major plot points, and how to write a scene outline. Concise, clear, and action-oriented, this book is all about plotting, simplified.