Friday, January 25, 2008

Laura Wright: Meet the Author

Laura WrightMy first query and acceptance actually came as a surprise. At the time, I had several novels written and casually started a general discussion with an editor. I will state first that this may strike unease in the hearts of many because it wasn’t a “normal,” venture and this wasn’t just any editor. It was an “ebook editor.”

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Sara Zarr: Publishing My First Book

Sara ZarrI finished my first novel in 1996; I was twenty-six years old and decided that I’d have a novel published by the time I turned thirty. So I followed all the usual steps everyone tells you to follow: querying agents, going to conferences, networking with other writers. I even got a good agent pretty quickly and figured the rest of the pieces would fall into place like clockwork....

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Do You Want to Be a Millionaire or an Artist?

I think I've mentioned this website before, but its worth repeating. Gaping Void has a great list of 30 things to help you become more creative. These aren't the same old "stop and smell the flowers" items either. For example, Number 14. Dying young is overrated. Number 16. The world is changing. Even if you aren't looking to make big creative changes in your life, this is a handy how to list on living life to the fullest. www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/000876.html

(Writing Sparks Newsletter: 1/25/2008)

Saturday, January 19, 2008

Anne Arsenault: Meet the Author

Anne ArsenaultI had never dreamed of being an author, although I had always loved English class in high school. After I became a CNC, Certified Nutritional Consultant, I saw the need for people to become educated in order to get healthy. I started writing a “Healthy Living Tips” column for the work newsletter and I found that people were reading my articles and liking them....

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Friday, January 18, 2008

Wendy Nelson Tokunaga: Publishing My First Book

Wendy Nelson TokunagaMIDORI BY MOONLIGHT is my debut book, but is actually the fifth novel I have tried to get published. When I took a job as a technical writer in Silicon Valley in the early 1990s, I found that many of my co-workers wrote fiction on the side....

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Creating a Personal Mission Statement

If you're anything like me you have 5,000 things you want to do, not enough time to get to everything on your to do list, and a pile of books that you "hope" you'll be able to read one day. Since the beginning of the year is usually a time for looking forward, this might be the time to consider writing your own personal mission statement. When you've defined just what is MOST important to you, you'll be able to focus on the important tasks and let the other ones go by the wayside. The Rochester, Minnesota Chamber of Commerce has a cool .pdf worksheet that lets you plug in some personal details so you can create a personal mission statement that inspires the best within you.

www.rochestermnchamber.com/pdf/lgr_missionStatement.pdf


(Writing Sparks Newsletter, 1/18/2008)