Lauren Baratz-Logsted | Lauren Baratz-Logsted
Mar.01.2012
When dealing with revision notes, work through them systematically in three stages from micro to macro; by beginning with the smallest changes (cosmetic things) and next working on the mid-sized things (paragraphs or smallish sections that need to be reworked), you will be building confidence in...
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Feb.29.2012
Unless someone is paying you for your opinion, saying that people like Dan Brown or Stephenie Meyer are bad writers, however cogent you think your argument may be, just makes you look all sour grapesy.
The following notice repeats just once a month: If you have been enjoying these fortune-cookie...
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Feb.28.2012
Never apologize for what you write, as in “I know it’s just a...” - there’s nothing just about what you do.
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Feb.27.2012
However great the temptation, don’t dismiss any genre wholesale.
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Feb.26.2012
When someone looks down on the genre you write in, don’t be mad or sad on your own behalf; rather, feel sorry for the small-minded individual who is so intellectually insecure as to need to make themselves feel smarter by characterizing the work of others as somehow less than.
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Feb.25.2012
Happiness in yourself as a writer comes from within.
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Feb.24.2012
Try not to be the writer who isn’t happy to have written a book unless it is accepted by an agent, isn’t happy to have an agent unless it is published, isn’t happy to be published unless the book sells X amount or reaches X ranking on Amazon – if every milestone is never enough for you in and of...
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Feb.23.2012
Try not to have your hand out all the time and when you do need help from another writer, remember that a “please” first and a “thank you” afterward will take you a long way – you would not think people would need to be told this, but you would be surprised.
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Feb.22.2012
Answer your fan mail, all of it, even if it’s a mountain every day, even if it means hiring the kid down the street to answer it for you – which, if you’re receiving a mountain of it, you can afford to do – for fan mail and having people who actually care enough about what you write to write to you...
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Feb.21.2012
If you’re on TV and the interviewer opens the segment by saying how a recent study shows that drinking alcohol can enhance creativity in writers, if you then say something to the effect, “Hey, I’m going to have to try that drinking-alcohol thing when I write,” don’t be surprised if people who view...
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