Columns

The Hack-Dad Chronicles: All Work and No Play

January 18th, 2018

Didn’t notice I was gone, did you? That’s okay, I didn’t miss any of you, either. I kid, of course. Kind of. For those of you who weren’t aware of it, I took a six-month hiatus from good old LitReactor. I mean, shit, after seven years and 120 some odd columns, I figured I needed a little time to myself. And by time to myself, I mean time to write about stuff other than books being written by other people. I had to wrap up a few of my own books and do a little bit of ghostwriting on top of that.

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Hack The MFA

January 17th, 2018

Maybe you applied to a university’s creative writing MFA program and didn’t get in. Maybe you have a life that would never allow for you to take classes. Maybe you already have an MFA and need something new to kickstart your writing. Maybe you can’t afford an MFA. Actually, scratch that one. NOBODY can afford an MFA, even though lots of people DO afford it.

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8 Submission Strategies That Get Results

January 16th, 2018

January means New Year's resolutions—many of which we will ultimately fail to keep. But If one of your resolutions this year is to get more of your work published, friends, I'm here to help you make it happen.

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Don't Be Intimidated by Literary Journal Guidelines

January 15th, 2018

Image by dimitri_c One of the biggest steps for a writer is that moment when they decide to start submitting their work to literary journals. It's a moment in which the writer exposes their own vulnerabilities and opens themself up to rejection (and rejection will come, I promise you that). But there's also a subconscious minefield that writers need to navigate when submitting to journals.

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8 New Writing Challenges for 2018

January 15th, 2018

Image via Alison Scott Last year I hosted a writing group where participants challenged themselves to write one story per week for the entire year. This year we’re doing things a little differently. Taking a ‘choose your own adventure’ approach where there are a series of challenges for writers to opt into at the start of and throughout the year.

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10 Easy Ways to Improve Your First Chapter Right Now

January 12th, 2018

Header photo via Unsplash If you’re hoping that people will read your 300-page masterpiece, you’d better make sure the first ten pages are as close to perfect as you can get them. This article focuses on fixing ten common problems that plague the opening chapters of unpublished novels. Before you send that manuscript off to prospective agents and publishers, consider addressing the following issues to tighten up your first chapter.

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Looking Back: The 2017 One Story Per Week Writing Challenge

January 12th, 2018

Last year I wrote about the 2017 One Story Per Week Writing Challenge and hosted an online writing group and support network for participants. One year on and 2017 was a hell of a ride. Some participants managed to write 52 stories in 2017, whereas others (present company included) didn’t quite hit that gold standard. Still, we all learned so much about ourselves and our writing.

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So You Want To Write About The Cold

January 11th, 2018

Take It Easy On The Visuals It’s easy to fall back on visuals when you write. Colors, actions, how tall something is. When you work with cold, it’s a great time to try and create balance with some of the other senses. Especially because cold itself can’t be seen. Check it out:

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5 Tips on When and Where to Promote Your Book

January 10th, 2018

There is an entire cottage industry built around helping writers sell their work. ‘Your book is your hook.' ‘Marketing is everything.’ ‘You don’t get what you don’t ask for, so get people to buy your book.'

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In Defense of YA Twitter

January 10th, 2018

Listen, I’ve been a fan of social media since I signed up for my first Xanga (if you know it, you know it) site back in middle school. I’ve been singing the praises of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, et. al for years, and refuse to so much as take one day off because, well, I kinda look down on people who take a hiatus for anything but intense personal or professional reason.

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