Lisa Betz
Death and a Crocodile February 24, 2023
Be a Professional Writer: Your Character Counts Too
3 tips for being a professional writer that editors want to work with in this post from Jan Fields. Take these suggestions to heart and go far in your career!
Looking Through Your Characters’ Eyes
Your challenge is to get your characters to reflect your style of writing, the genre, and the setting plus emerge as unique and interesting personalities.
Collecting Real Life Quirks for Character Creation
Real people can be the perfect inspiration for character creation. Which quirks can you use and which ones should you lose? Let’s find out!
Bringing a Cast of Characters to Life
Your cast of characters fills certain roles in the plot to bring forth an engaging story. Time to talk about your protagonist, antagonist, sidekicks, and more!
12 Writing Tips for Building Convincing Characters
Use any of these 12 writing tips and develop convincing characters readers will care about. No more two-dimensional characters in your stories!
Linda Sue Svoboda
A Gift for Alia February 3, 2023
Sneaky Writing Tip: Character-Building Characters
Characters populate our stories but what does it mean to write a character-building story? How do you help build character without preaching at your audience?
Choosing Your Writing Word of the Year-Institute for Writers
One way of thinking about what you most want out of the year is by choosing a writing word of the year. What’s a word that encapsulates your goals this year?
5 Tips for Planning Your Writing Goals
Any day can be a restart—not just January 1st. You can revisit your writing goals daily, monthly, or quarterly. Let’s look at 5 tips for SMART writing goals.
3 Steps to Becoming a Positive Writer
Negativity can deplete your creativity and energy. Today, let’s look at practical ways to be a more positive writer—even in the face of rejection.
Becoming a Healthy Writer
The physical act of writing can be hard on our bodies. One goal for the new year is to become a healthy writer, physically, and emotionally. Join us on the journey.
Manage Your Writing Life by Managing Your Writing Time
With so many demands on your time, it’s essential that you use your writing time wisely. Time management can help you to be more productive, organized, and efficient.
New Year, New Writing You
Welcome to a new writing year! It’s time to grow in your writing and Jan Fields reveals how to do that through new attitudes, new goals, and new habits.
New Writing Plans for the New Year
When you plan and break things into steps, you know what needs to be done next. Let’s look for positively motivating steps when making our new year’s writing plans.
The Ghosts of Writing Past, Present, and To Come
Imagining a personal Scrooge-like journey can help us make choices for a brighter future in the new writing year. So, what are the Ghosts trying to tell you?
3 Writing Tricks to Get Out of a Rut
One problem many writers fall into is writing ruts. We do the same thing the same way. Here are 3 writing tricks to consider as you expand your writing options.
3 Reasons Why Your Story Needs Sensory Detail
Today we dive into sensory detail. What kind of details should you include? What details can you leave out? Time to get the most out of the senses.
5 Tips for Writing During the Holidays – IFW Contest
This time of year is filled with joy and busyness. Here are ideas to keep you writing during the holidays—or during other particularly busy times in your life.
Your Writing Year in Review
As you review your writing year, the only way to know where you are and where you’re going is to focus on what you did accomplish, not what you didn’t.
