Writing and Editing Tips

Do you ever feel like you're not making as much progress with your writing as you'd like to be making?

As a developmental editor and book coach, I work with many, many writers who have been stuck at the starting line or in the middle of a draft and who are not reaching the goals they’ve...

If you want to buy a house or a car, it's common practice to create some kind of strategic plan for getting there, right? You save up some money, you do some research, and eventually, you accomplish your goal -- you buy the house, or you buy the car.

So, why is it that when it comes to writing,...

Do you ever wish you could peek inside of another person's writing life?

In today's podcast episode and blog post, I thought it would be fun to share some of the key takeaways I learned from coaching writers this year.

My hope is that you'll be able to reap some of the benefits from these...

In the last post on story structure, we went over the first story milestone – the Hook. As a reminder, the Hook is your first opportunity to catch your reader’s attention and draw them into your story. But once you’ve hooked them, how do you keep their interest...

What should you do if you get stuck while writing a novel?

I've had a lot of writers reach out to me via email or in my private Facebook group asking this exact question. It’s also something that happens to all of us at one time or another -- we all get stuck at some point...

Do you ever get stuck writing and rewriting the first few pages of your story?

If so, you're not alone. I've met a lot of writers who struggle to get past the first three to five pages of their story -- and because of that, they end up feeling like they're not cut out for this whole "write a...

What's the difference between genre conventions and tropes?

Do all conventions count as tropes? Or not?

If you've ever asked these questions, you're not alone. A lot of the writers I work with feel confused about genre conventions and some of them even worry that by including...

Do you ever have trouble making each of your characters unique?

Have you ever wondered how to write a large cast of characters in a way where each character stands out from the others?

In today's post, I'm going to show you my favorite strategies for crafting memorable characters. Specifically,...