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Category: About Writing

Daily Digest: Authors, Beware of “Warm” Outreach Scams

Daily Digest: Authors, Beware of “Warm” Outreach Scams

They called the widow to get the ‘inside scoop’ before emailing the publisher. They thought they were being personal—the source code proved they were predatory. ~  At first, it feels like an answer to a dream. Everyone wants recognition for their achievements: request for interviews, literary agent representation or even (gasp!) a movie deal. It’s a dream come true. Your heart skips a beat. You’re excited, giddy. Then, you dig into the bones of the email and your heart deflates….

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Daily Digest: Creatively Adrift? Finding Your Spark Back to Writing

Daily Digest: Creatively Adrift? Finding Your Spark Back to Writing

When you feel creatively adrift. There comes a time when the flame that once fueled our stories begins to fade. The writing desire exists, but the creative energy feels distant, muffled. I call this the seasonal shift. Whether you are in the spring, summer, fall or winter of your writing life, the creative energy that propels your writing can diminish – even to the point of blockage. My thoughts of “I want to write” were coupled with “Why isn’t my…

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Using Nested Quotation Marks: Love your Dialogue

Using Nested Quotation Marks: Love your Dialogue

Nested Quotation Marks – What are they?  This “lesson” originated from my attempt to explain nested quotes or proper punctuation use to one of my clients. This isn’t easy, sometimes. In fact, I confused myself. Until I thought of what quotes do. They hold, or hug, our words. When we speak, the Big Hug, double quotes are used, encasing all of our words, including any nested quotes. However, when repeating quotes from other sources, there is a rule to distinguish…

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