Blog by Toby Welch

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A Writer on Penning a Book Series

April 11th, 2020
Anthony Bidulka has created two series - one follows the cases of Private Detective Russell Quant and the other details the adventures of Disaster Recovery Agent Adam Saint. Bidulka details the intricacies of writing series books, “In terms of writing series versus stand alones, I think there is a difference in terms of initial planning. When I began writing the Russell Quant series, and now ...

Writers and Stress

March 31st, 2020
The whole world is under a massive blanket of stress right now, thanks to Covid-19. But today we are just going to talk about writing stress, an entity unto itself!  Brian Brennan, an award-winning and best-selling author, keeps his writing stress to a minimum, “I manage to avoid stress in my writing life. I try not to take on too much work at any given time, only accept deadlines that I can ...

Writers and Computers

March 11th, 2020
It’s no surprise that computers are one of the main favored tools that writers use; they make writing, rewriting and editing a tad easier than a pen and paper. John Warner is no exception, “Most of all, I appreciate the computer and its ability to:  a.) allow for word processing and the attendant spelling, grammar correcting and general shuffling of text. (My first novel was 240-odd pages c ...

Spreadsheet Your Time

February 29th, 2020
One way to find more writing time is to figure out where your time is already going. Many people are unaware of how they actually spend their minutes and hours. Consider making a spreadsheet for every day for a week and break it down into 15 minute intervals. Spend the next seven days filling out the spreadsheet as to how you spend every 15 minute time slot. I think you’ll be shocked by what ...

Writing & Publishing a Book Series

February 11th, 2020
If you are thinking of penning a book series, consider what Nik Burton, a past editor of Freelance magazine and the managing editor of Coteau Books, has to share how they handle series books, “Coteau takes series of books very seriously. We have published single-author series of novels and more of our young readers titles have belonged to series than have been one-offs in the last few years. ...

Gifts and Cards for Editors

January 12th, 2020
For years I have sent birthday and Christmas cards to my half-dozen favorite editors; I find birthday cards are especially appreciated. By asking an assistant editor or someone else on the staff when the editor’s birthday is, the card will be an extra-special surprise. If you can do a little digging and find out what the editor is interested in, your editor will be really surprised! I once se ...

Top 10 Signs You are a Newbie

January 5th, 2020
There’s nothing wrong with being a writing newbie; all writers were unpublished and inexperienced at one point. But you can avoid having flashing neon signs in your writing that point out that fact by steering clear of doing the following: - You address your query letters, “To whom it may concern.” - You are willing to give your work away. (Exception - when it’s a barter situation or to supp ...

A Writer on Book Reviews

December 29th, 2019
Kimmy Beach, the author of five books, most recently The Last Temptation of Bond, shares her thoughts on book reviews, both giving them and being on the receiving end of a review, “I truly do believe that it’s possible to be supportive in this industry, and to bolster one another rather than snarling one another into a corner. Yes, some books aren’t excellent, but to me, it’s as simple as thi ...

Increase Your Chances of Getting Your Plays Produced

December 22nd, 2019
For all you playwrights out there, doing a little extra might be what you need to ensure you see your words come to life on the stage one day. Make some of these options a part of your Get My Play Produced repertoire: - Read and attend plays. - Join playwriting organizations. - Make connections in your local theatre company or playwright organization. - Attend workshops. - Enter playwrit ...

Penning a Book Series

December 15th, 2019
Aaron A. Lehman is the author of the Dog Island book series. He shares his book series journey, “My first book, Mystery on Dog Island, was the result of a course from Institute of Children’s Literature, a work that took over five years. While writing the end of this book, I realized my story still had some life, so I finished it in a way that I could write Return to Dog Island. I then started ...

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