Micro Fiction Contest: Water-Colours!
Published: Sat, 06/26/21
Hullo, writers, The days are growing longer and our available time (and/or capacity) to write is growing shorter. I say this because I've done more…
WriteByNight
Weekly mailing of education and inspiration
WriteByNight Misses You!
Published: Fri, 06/25/21
Hello, ol' writer pal! It's been a long, long (long!) time since you opened a WriteByNight message, which I take to mean one of three things: 1)…
Your Favorite Forms of Writer Self-Sabotage
Published: Sat, 06/05/21
Hi WriteByNighters, Frantically writing a story Sunday to hit a contest deadline, I made a typo. No big deal, right? Fi, move on. Here's what happened…
Sunday or Monday: Which Internal Critic Haunts You?
Published: Sat, 05/22/21
Happy weekend, writers! I don't know about you, but my internal critic is a Monday-morning quarterback. He doesn't hassle me while I write. He lets me…
Where Death & Literature Meet
Published: Sat, 05/01/21
Hi WriteByNighters, A few days ago a writer friend shared with me the epitaph she wants on her headstone. I suppose it put me into a morbid mood,…
Two Exercises in Concision: One Fun, One... Not
Published: Sat, 04/24/21
Hi editors, On Tuesday I turned a 1,937-word story into a 1,000-word story. It was painful. I had to ditch more than a few of my favorite lines and…
How Do You Hook A Reader?
Published: Sat, 04/10/21
Hi WriteByNighters, Have I hooked you yet? Probably not, because that's a dull opening line. An opening line has one purpose: To make the reader move…
Must Your Characters Be Likeable?
Published: Sat, 04/03/21
Hello writers & readers, The concept of likeable vs. unlikeable characters is a hot-button issue in the small pond we all splash around in. Some…
Author Biographies: Yea or Nay?
Published: Sat, 03/20/21
Happy weekend, writers! One thing I won't be spending my Saturday/Sunday on is the new 900-page Philip Roth biography. Not *just* because I have…
5 Reasons Your Publish Your Writing
Published: Sat, 03/13/21
Hello, WriteByNighter, While writing a guest post this week I realized that I blog far more about the writing process than I do about publishing.