I want to tell you two stories: a good story and a bad story about writing communities I’ve been in. But I’ll start with the bad story, so we can end on a high note, and you can first learn what I think you should avoid.

Then I’ll give you something hopeful. Sound good? It’s time to get to the heart of why good—and not destructive—writing communities are so important.

If you’re thinking about getting an MFA in Creative Writing, I understand the temptation. I struggled with this decision for years. Ultimately, I didn’t decide to get one.

It worked out, because I found an agent and saw my novels published without one. Today, I’m going to share with you why I didn’t end up going to get my MFA.  

Hi, welcome to another installment of ‘Opening the Writer’s Desk,’ where we take a deep dive into the writing tips from today’s most widely-read authors.

In today’s post, I’m going to share four writing tips from J.K. Rowling—you may have heard of her.

Because someone out there hasn’t, I’m just going to say it: Harry Potter. That’s her. Here’s what JK Rowling says she does to produce her best work.  

What is voice? How do you find your voice? In the world of writing and writing education, there’s a lot of talk about voice, and it can be a tricky thing to nail down. Today, I’m going to share with you my best tips for finding your voice.

You know by now that you need a literary agent to sell your book to most publishers, at least the big ones. If you’ve checked out some of my other posts, you may even know the steps to get one.

But how do you know when you’re ready for a literary agent? Today, I’m going to share with you four must-dos before you’re ready for a literary agent. Let’s go.

If you’re an entrepreneur, you’ve probably wondered if publishing a book could boost your business. I’ve been in a number of business groups since I launched my own business a few years ago, and I’ve learned a lot from these groups and from my fellow entrepreneurs.

But there’s one trap I’ve noticed a number of entrepreneurs falling into that I think keeps them from understanding how powerful a book could be for them. Today I’m going to talk about that trap, and how writing a book can be a great marketing move. Let’s go! 

Welcome to an issue of ‘first draft pharmacy’ where we discuss and hopefully solve some of your biggest writing issues. Today, we’re going to talk about something that’s often tricky for writers working on a first draft of a book: a wonky plot.

One of the most frequent questions I get from writers is: how am I (Mary) able to write so fast? Especially after they hear that I usually knock out my first draft in about 3 months…everyone wants to know how. 

So here it is: my answer. 

There’s one common habit shared by almost all writers who struggle with their writing pace—and I’m going to tell you what that is and how to fix it so that you can write more quickly if you want to. Let’s go.

Whenever I ask writers in my program what they’re struggling with, someone always says: help, my dialogue is terrible.

Dialogue can be really, really hard to nail. So why isn’t your dialogue working—why does it read just…wrong—and what can you do to fix it? Today, I’m going to give you five tools to diagnose and fix your dialogue.