You should want to sing “the end” from the rooftops, not vomit in the sand between the back of a portaloo and someone’s million-dollar Cape Cod-style McMansion.

· Every contract is worth walking away from. Any job you take is keeping you from another job opportunity.

Good reasons for not writing are terrible excuses. Stop making excuses and start planning and prioritizing, so you can start writing (for real).

The why factor tells reader things about your characters. Readers learn who people, and they connect more deeply with the story, such as in “The Gift of the Magi” when writers show instead of tell.

When you write about things that have happened to you (such as in memoir), you revisit the emotions that you had when those events transpired.

In memoir, we write the truth of our memories, but our memories are often subjective, malleable, and downright deceptive. Here’s how to find the truth amidst our minds.

Mindfulness makes us more empathetic. Even if we don’t agree, we can see others, particularly our antagonists, more clearly and thus treat them with compassion in our stories and in our lives.

There are some significant pros and cons to waiting for perspective before writing your memoir.

You have to show your story for two reasons

One is that they may not believe you without evidence

Two is that you’re depriving them (and yourself) of developing feelings of empathy for your character because without reading and experiencing what you endured, they can neither feel nor care for you

Here’s what it takes to be a writer:

1. Passion and dedication; you have to take the bad with the amazing

2. Balls of steel; you will not love all of your word babies equally and some will embarrass you the same way your actual children do

3. Dedication; writing has to be a daily practice for you to actually become a writer

Knowing the destination before you begin your journey saves time and a lot of effort. If you’ve ever endeavored to write your truth before, you’ll know there are a lot of sticky spots, areas where you’re not sure how best to say something, if you should say something, or if that part of the story belongs. Knowing the reason you’re writing a memoir will help on all of those forefronts.

Writers need to write every day, but working moms know by EOD, it’s hard to kick extra ass. Here’s how I kept my pen moving when the chips were stacked against me.

Liminal thinking allows you to create change by changing how you think. Apply the tenets of liminal thinking to be a better, more successful writer.

Scammers target freelance writers, editors, & authors. This article describes common scams, how to avoid them, & how to become a real writer, editor, or author.

A woman was caught plagiarizing multiple romance authors. This article reviews avoiding plagiarism & using ghostwriters, so you can have a happily-ever-after.

Amazon has a substantial hold over the traditional & indie publishing industries. This article reviews their impact & how authors can keep control over their careers.

Copyediting programs help editors (and writers) work smarter, not harder. These are the best five programs that I’ve found (and used) for editors who are also Mac users.

For those who love writing, being a writer is a wonderful and rewarding career, but what is a writer? Are all writers authors? How hard is it to be a professional, full-time writer? This article answers those (and other) questions.

Throat-clearing can be useful in early drafts but should be eliminated because it conveys lack of confidence in your storytelling skills.

These are five common mistakes I observe my new writing students make and how to identify and to fix them.

Internal conflict is the force that motivates a character’s actions. Read on to understand how to identify and to use internal conflict to write better stories.

When used properly, multiple narrators are very effective in storytelling; however, it is still important that authors know whose story they’re telling (i.e., have a clear protagonist).

Subplots enhance your writing by adding depth and complexity to your story, which keeps readers invested. All styles of fiction benefit from rich subplots.

There are arguably three kinds of descriptive adjectives: factual, subjective, and opinions. Improve your writing by learning how to use adjectives effectively.

As authors, we like to believe we tell stories; however, our narrators are the storytellers. Read this to understand the difference between author and narrator.

High self-esteem makes you a better writer, able to handle rejection and setbacks inevitable to any writer. Self-care and being kind to yourself go a long way.

Writers who struggle to finish their manuscripts need to learn to recognize self-sabotage and to know how to work around that behavior.

Writers of all levels of experience face obstacles, all of which can suffice as excuses for stopping a work-in-progress all together; however, there’s no need for that as all obstacles can be overcome.