by Penny Freeman | Apr 22, 2013 | Editor's Notes, Writing
It is a truth universally acknowledged that an author in want of a publishing contract must have a book with a killer beginning. Sometimes your first chapter is the only chance you’ll get to persuade a reader (or agent or editor) to choose your book—or put it aside,...
by Penny Freeman | Apr 19, 2013 | Featured Friday, Writing
Seven things I can’t write without This week sees my return to the Xchyler blog, my return and yet I have complete writers block. I stare at the laptop, watch a little TV, ring my mum. In the end, I have to put fingers to keys and write something. Firstly, I start to...
by Penny Freeman | Apr 15, 2013 | Editor's Notes, Writing
After spending a few days researching ideas for my blog post, I found an article that covered everything I’d already written, but said it better. Rather than reinventing the wheel, I’ve simply included a link to the article by Tom Young, an author of military...
by Penny Freeman | Apr 12, 2013 | Featured Friday, Writing
I am a writer. For those that put fingers on keys and ink on paper this statement carries an absurd amount of baggage. For some reason, when those that write for fun or profit get together, there is this question hanging in the air, “Does what I do count?” In few...
by Penny Freeman | Apr 5, 2013 | Featured Friday, Writing
That Difficult Second Book and Managing Expectations It’s a thing to admire about the creative arts. First, there’s the tough slog getting the first piece of work out into the world. If you’re one of the people actually reading this, I suspect you’ll have an idea of...
by Penny Freeman | Mar 25, 2013 | Editor's Notes, Writing
In last week’s blog post, Editor Elizabeth Gilliland introduced some basic dos and don’ts of writing conversation. This week, we’re going to crank it up a notch. A surely as every writer has their favorite way of tagging dialog (their own voice), every editor has a...
