Finding Your “Writing Conscience”

Many times, authors think of critique and writing support in terms of groups–either a writer’s group with regular meetings or, in some cases, an online group, where writers share and critique one another’s work in a virtual setting. Writers’ groups are useful, and important, tools in the writer’s arsenal. Today, however, I’d like to talk about another writer’s tool: one I like to call a “writing conscience.” In the Disney film Pinocchio, Pinocchio describes Jiminy Cricket as “my conscience. He tells me what’s right and wrong.” Although the external conscience feature didn’t always work out as intended, Jiminy Cricket did his best

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Grand Slam! How to Write a Winning Pitch

As promised, today’s post takes a look at how to write an effective pitch for your manuscript. There are many good ways to do this, and many ways to intrigue an editor, agent, or reader, so I do not claim thisway is the only one. It is, however, the one I used–effectively–when pitching my Shinobi mystery series, and the one I teach when working with other writers. Again, to be clear: I do not claim this is the only way to success. It’s simply the one I’m teaching. A winning pitch  – regardless of how it’s written – does one thing:

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