People are born with raw talent every single day. They’re blessed at birth to share their gifts with the world. But even the most genius of individuals must continually develop their craft. At the age of fifteen, Leonardo Da Vinci became an apprentice of painter and sculpture Andrea del Verrocchio of Florence so he could […]
Archive | The Author’s Journey
Embracing & Generating Publicity
This isn’t something that comes naturally to every author. In fact, many authors shy away from publicity and only do what is necessary to get their works in the public eye. On the other hand, many authors enjoy the publicity journey. They step into it confidently and are willing to support those of us who […]
Cultivating Inspirational Happenstance
Continuing my author’s journey of nourishing seeds of inspiration, I’ll share the second person who cultivated my interest in suspense and the protective services industry: My neighbor. When I was nine, we moved to a new home. My neighbor was a busy working professional, his wife was unfortunately bedridden, and their children lived out of […]
Setting Writing Goals
Every author has a differing and uniquely personal approach to writing. But authors share one process in common—setting and achieving word count goals. Your writing goals are everything. It’s how you get the ideas out of your head and on to the page. But it’s not just about word count. Writing goals include pages completed, […]
Start With Your “Why?”
Go back. Way back. Back to the day you decided you were going to write a novel. Why did you make that promise to yourself? Did you think, “How hard can this be?” Did you want to become famous? Did you covet J. K. Rowling’s lifestyle? Did you want bragging rights? BUZZ! Wrong answer. Though admittedly, […]
Stepping Into the Negative Space
From posting your child’s graduation picture on Facebook, to sharing a business win on LinkedIn, there will be backlash. Whatever the reason, social media invites negativity. Thoughtless commentary and hurtful, snarky remarks go hand in hand with stepping into the social media space. Now, imagine this from the author’s perspective. Readers are very interested in “seeing” you, hearing […]