by Bethany Jett, @BetJett One of my favorite online mentors, Brendon Burchard, has a key phrase: "Protect your mornings." Let's apply that beautiful advice to our writing and schedule specific times to actually work on our craft. Know Yourself. Are you a morning person? A night owl? Do you work…

By Johnnie Alexander, @Johnnie_Alexndr In a few weeks, writers throughout the world will embark on a month-long trek called National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo. Participants will write a 50,000-word, no editing allowed, novel during the already hectic month of November. I joined the challenge way back in 2003 when my writing…

by Bethany Jett, @BetJett Whenever someone asks me for advice on getting published, my first response is almost always, "Go to a writers conference." This is for several reasons: to learn the craft, to pitch your work, to network with industry professionals, to get some alone time, to gain clarity…

by Alycia W. Morales     @AlyciaMorales How long should a novel be? Most posts I've researched give the following guidelines (these are averages, so books could go a little shorter or longer, depending on various aspects): Women's Fiction/Literary/Contemporary: 80,000 - 90,000 words: Keep in mind that you could go as high…

by Bethany Jett, @betjett So far in this series on How to Get an Editor to Say Yes, we’ve covered Part One: Self-Editing Tips and Part Two: Avoiding Tattle-Tale Mode. Our goal is to cover some tips that seem to pop up again and again in submissions...errors that make an editor's eyes…

by Alycia W. Morales     @AlyciaMorales As the 4th of July approaches, I find myself thinking about my dreams. After all, people come to this country in hopes of living the American Dream. And those of us who were born here grow up chasing it, right? Yet many never achieve it.…