Finally! Visualization for Authors and from Guru Nina Amir, Too!

Sure I have a free review blog! But #SharingwithWriters visitors and subscribers are all writers! I have been a fan of visualization since Rhonda Byrnes published her "Secrets," and have probably encouraged you to try it one time or another. But this book from Nina Amir gives you all Rhonda's secrets (it may be time for a refresher!) with a focus on the needs we writers have! I highly recommend it. I can't think of a single writing career it couldn't help!

Creative Visualization for Writers: 

 Interactive Guide for Bringing Your Book Ideas and Your Writing Career to Life 

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Writer's Digest Books (October 18, 2016)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1440347182
• ISBN-13: 978-1440347184
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 0.6 x 10.8 inches 
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds 

Explore Your Motivations. Replenish Your Creativity. Define Your Vision for Success.

To become more creative, confident, and productive, writers need to focus their attention, visualize their desires, set clearly defined goals, and take action toward their dreams. Nina Amir’s Creative Visualization for Writers is the perfect guide for this journey of self-discovery.

Nina shows writers how to evaluate their beliefs and shed self-defeating behaviors; determine their destination by visualizing their ideas and goals; develop an Author Attitude to help them write, achieve, earn, and produce more; discover new ways to foster their creativity and productivity; and affirm that they have what it takes to succeed.

Featuring more than 100 exercises and prompts to spark new writing ideas and provide a creative boost, as well as coloring pages to encourage relaxation, Creative Visualization for Writers helps authors transform their dreams into reality and find joy in the creative process.

"Finally, a book that puts a truly positive spin on the writing process! There's so much to love here--inspirations, exercises, and high-octane creative fuel. Highly recommended!" --Jonathan Maberry, New York Times best-selling author of Patient Zero

"Writers often find it hard to go from idea to published book to writing career. Nina Amir's Creative Visualization for Writers provides the tools necessary to fulfill your dream of becoming a successful author." --Rick Frishman, best-selling author, publisher, and speaker (www.rickfrishman.com)

"This excellent book shows you how to stimulate your imagination and unlock your ability to write more creatively than ever before." --Brian Tracy, author of Get Smart!

"Creative Visualization for Writers is brilliant--a guidebook, journal, writing coach, coloring book, and touchpoint to your inner life, all in one place! I love the blend of introspection and activity, along with the short, actionable chapters and exercises. Nina Amir's holistic approach can help you be creative, productive, and successful as a writer--and enjoy a rompin' good time in the process. This book will help you choose the right projects--the ones that truly light your fire and help you live your purpose now--and complete them." --Lisa Tener, author and book coach (www.lisatener.com)

"In Creative Visualization for Writers, Nina Amir shares all you need to know to implement the latest research on how your brain tap into its very own writing genius." --Carolyn Howard-Johnson, multi-award-winning poet and author of the HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers

"I love the concept of this book. The writing process is never straightforward. Right-brain exercises, from visualizing to coloring, can add joy to rote tasks like outlining and marketing. At the same time, goal-setting and list-making activities can spark creative thinking. So let your creativity and productivity flow together!" --Jody Rein, literary agent and co-author of How to Write a Book Proposal Fifth Edition

METADATA ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nina Amir
Inspiration to Creation Coach
With Nina, you Achieve More Inspired Results!
408-353-1943
www.ninaamir.com
nina@ninaamir.com

Bestselling author of eight books including:

• How to Blog a Book, How to Write, Publish and Promote Your Work One Post at a Time
• The Author Training Manual: A Comprehensive Guide to Writing Books that Sell
• Creative Visualization for Writers: An Interactive Guide for Bringing Your Book Ideas and Writing Career to Life

Contact her if you are interested in:

• Author Coaching
• Blog or Blog-to-Book Coaching
• High Performance Coaching

http://www.nonfictionwritersuniversity.com

-----
 Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The multi award-winning second edition of The Frugal Editor; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor .

How Family History Can Be Used in Fiction

Much of my fiction and poetry is based on family history, geneaology, and family stories so I was pleased to see my friend Heidi Thomas publish using similar inspiration. Then it hit me: I don't think this blog has ever covered that subject. This is a how-to article from Heidi, but it's also a bit of a case study. Enjoy.

 

How Family History Can be Used in Fiction

By Heidi M. Thomas

Years ago, when I took a children’s writing class, the instructor told us that biographies of everyday women who did extraordinary things were popular.

I immediately thought of my grandmother who at age 17 and 18 was riding bucking steers in rodeos during the 1920s. That was a pretty extraordinary thing!

But my grandma wasn’t famous. She didn’t continue her rodeo career and she didn’t win world championships in bronc riding at Madison Square Garden or in Europe, like several Montana women.

I kept mulling over the possibilities of writing a book about her, and even tried to write some factual vignettes. But sticking to the facts was like being confined to a corral—I couldn’t go anywhere with them. Using my grandparents’ names and writing about their lives seemed too intrusive, too close to home.

The story went nowhere until I gave myself permission to write my grandmother’s story as fiction. Changing her name and asking “What if?” to fill in the blanks freed me. Grandma died when I was 12, so I didn’t know a lot of the details about her rodeo life. By speculating how she felt about the opposition to women competing with men, I could flesh out a character and a story that was engaging.

 

This idea that had been rattling around in my head for years turned into a novel trilogy: Cowgirl Dreams, Follow the Dream, and the newly released Dare to Dream.

The first two novels follow my grandparents’ lives fairly closely, while I took more fictional liberties with the third. My dad filled in many details and gave me anecdotes, especially about their months-long trail drive in the 1930s to find grass for their starving horses.

The next book in my series will address another bit of family history—my mother emigrated from Germany after WWII. Again, the subject is too close and painful to write just the facts, so this has become a novel as well. It will become the story that “should have been.”

Family history can provide a trove of information and inspiration for novel-writing. Don’t be afraid to use it!

 

Dare to Dream Synopsis: Montana cowgirl Nettie Brady Moser has overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles on the journey toward her dream of being a professional rodeo rider. In the 1920s she struggled against her family’s expectations and social prejudice against rodeo cowgirls. During the Great Depression, marrying Jake Moser and then raising their son took priority over rodeos. And then she was devastated by the death of her friend and mentor in a rodeo accident.

In the spring of 1941, Nettie, now age 36, is regaining her heart and spirit, and she is determined to ride again at an event in Cheyenne, Wyoming. To her dismay, the male-dominated Rodeo Association of America enforces its rule barring women from riding rough stock and denies her the chance to ride. Her fury at the discrimination can’t change things for women—yet.

Based on the life of the author’s grandmother, who rode rough stock in Montana in the 1920s, this sweeping rodeo saga parallels the evolution of women’s rodeo from the golden years of the 1920s, producing many world champion riders, and shows its decline, beginning in the 1930s and ending with World War II in 1941.

 

Bio: Heidi M. Thomas grew up on a working ranch in eastern Montana. She had parents who taught her a love of books and a grandmother who rode bucking stock in rodeos. Describing herself as “born with ink in her veins,” Heidi followed her dream of writing with a journalism degree from the University of Montana and later turned to her first love, fiction, to write her grandmother’s story.

Heidi’s first novel, Cowgirl Dreams, won an EPIC Award and the USA Book News Best Book Finalist award. Follow the Dream, a WILLA Award winner, is the second book in the Cowgirl Dreams series about strong, independent Montana women. Dare to Dream completes the trilogy.

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR/BLOG POST GUEST

Heidi is a member of Women Writing the West and Professional Writers of Prescott, is also a manuscript editor, and teaches memoir and fiction writing classes in north-central Arizona.

 

----- Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor .

Robert Medak Gived Five Stars to Second Edition How-To for Writers

I occasionally post book reviews for books that help writers with their careers. Obviously, I think this one is especially essential.

The Frugal Book Promoter

Subtitle: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Author's Web site: www.howtodoitfrugally.com
Genre: Nonfiction: How-to/reference/writers/career
Buy it at Amazon, www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo

 Reviewed by Robert Medak

The Frugal Book Promoter is a book every author needs in their library for consultation when promoting their book without spending every dime in their piggy bank.

This copy of The Frugal Book Promoter is a revised and expanded work by Carolyn that tells it like it is as only she can.

This reviewer read and reviewed the original copy of The Frugal Book Promoter, but his copy holds even more information than the original with links to more information, people you might want to contact for help with book covers and marketing your book, which authors need to take on in today’s publishing environment.

It is a sad fact, that publishers are not what they used to be as far as publicity and marketing for your book. More responsibility rests on the shoulders of authors for getting out and making your book sell. The more you can do on your own will save you money, which most authors do not have for hiring a publicist or marketer. It is now up to the author to learn how to do this.

Yes, authors are no longer just authors. They are authors, salespersons, marketers, publicists, and anything else to get their book into the hands of readers.

In The Frugal Book Promoter, authors will find frugal ways to market and promote their books.

Authors need to add The Frugal Book Promoter to their required reference books in writer’s library.

This reviewer highly recommends The Frugal Book Promoter as a must read for anyone thinking of writing a book and getting it into the hands of readers.

The Frugal Book Promoter receives a five out of five star rating from this reviewer who is adding it to other reference books in his library.

~Reviewed by Robert Medak, Freelance Writer/Editor/Reviewer/Marketer

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  Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second ediction of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Those Who Love Language Improve Their Writing

I very occasionally run reviews for books I think will help writers on Sharing with Writers. Hope you'll consider this one. An explanation is contained within. (-:

Euphemania

Subtitle: Our love affair with euphemisms
By Ralph Keyes
Little Brown and Co.
ISBN: 9780316056564
Nonfiction/ (Writing/Language)
Contact Reviewer: hojoreviews@aol.com

Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson originally for MyShelf.com

.

If you don’t love language, it’s a good bet you aren’t a writer. But if you’re a writer, reading more about language (linguistics (?)) may not be high on your list of priorities. It’s so integral to the way you think, you believe you don’t need it.

I believe that Euphemania by Ralph Keyes will change your mind. Written with humor (because euphemisms are just naturally funny?) this book will certainly entertain. If you’ve ever wondered about the intricacies of our euphemisms—the origins as an example—this is the book for you. But who would have guessed that it also might be the perfect book to hone the skills of writers of dialogue and humor? 

Academic writers?  Use it as a quick-study on how to write a book that will sell to a wide market. The secret?  Voice. Humor. Colloquialisms. Yep, and euphemisms.  A book does not have to have the lack of moisture content (dry!) of a text book to be a textbook.  I know about academic expectations. My daughter is a Ph.D. candidate. She explains it to me all the time. Having said that, if you’d like to actually sell something rather than giving everything away to unappreciative academic journals, try rewriting your brilliant theory for the general public!

Anthropologists and linguists will love this book, too. But mostly, it’s just fun learning why we use asterisks for words like sh*t and the euphemisms like the f-word. It’s also tons of fun to identify phrases we’ve stopped thinking of as euphemisms (love handles, anyone?), just because they are so part of our everyday language.

If I were rating this book for an Amazon review, it would give it a true (not a fake) five-star rating. For usefulness. For fun. For the love of language.

------

Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s  The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success covers writing successful query letters and includes helpful hints from twenty of the nation's top agents. Purchased it at Amazon, www.budurl.com/TheFrugalEditor.  Learn more at her Web site http://HowToDoItFrugally.com.

If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Book Promotion: A Book for Writers with "Enduring Value"

The Frugal Book Promoter, second edition
Carolyn Howard-Johnson
HowToDoItFrugally Publishing
Author's Web site: www.carolynhoward-johnson.com
ISBN: 9781463743291,

$17.95

Available: Paperback on Amazon

Kindle on Amazon

 

Reviewed by Jim Cox, Editor of The Midwest Book Review
Originally for the Midwest Book Review and newsletter

Carolyn Howard-Johnson draws upon her many years of experience and expertise as a professional book publicist and marketing specialist to author "The Frugal Book Promoter". The 416-page compendium of commentary, advice, tips, tricks and 'real world' techniques on how to authors can obtain nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with their publishers will prove to be an invaluable, practical, profitable, and thoroughly 'user friendly' instructional reference.

 

 It should be noted that the Midwest Book Review is cited four times. Of special note in this newly expanded and completely updated second edition are the sample letters query letters, media releases, blog entries, trade show invitations, phone pitch scripts, email auto-signatures, and tip sheets.

 

Simply stated, The Frugal Book Promoter is the single most valuable addition any aspiring author or novice small press publishers can add to their personal and professional book marketing reference shelves -- and has a great deal of enduring value for even the more experienced publisher marketing directors and publicists.

 

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Get the Writer in Your Life Off to a Great 2011 with This Book!

179 Ways to Save a Novel
By Peter Selgin
Publisher: Writer’s Digest Books
ISBN: 9781582976075
$16.99




Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of This is the Place and Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered and The Frugal Book Promoter


What Writer Doesn’t Want Just One Great Way to Save A Novel?

Peter Selgin offers you 179 of them!

Novelists are going to love this author. He dedicates his book 179 Ways to Save a Novel to “Walter Cummins. And to my students, especially those who argue with me.” As a teacher myself, I know that students who argue offer the best opportunities for learning for everyone from the rest of the class to the teacher herself.

Selgin also knows that “no artist should ever be afraid to make mistakes.” Another core learning principle.

With an introduction that shouldn’t be overlooked, Selgin launches into a small book, dense with ideas for writers of fiction. Writers everywhere will be inspired to write a great new character or improve on an old one, reexamine the deaths that occur in our stories and on and on. Subjects I’ve never seen covered in a book (and I read a lot of books for writers!).

I also appreciate the design of this book. Writer’s Digest assigned Claudean Wheeler to the task and what she does with this book feels right. It’s creative and caring.

Writer’s Digest and Selgin (and Wheeler, too!) should be proud of this one. I hope it lands on the suggested reading list of any teacher who makes it her business to guide students to better-crafted fiction. It’s certainly going on mine!

Here are another couple of books that will help writers by the reviewer: The Frugal Editor and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips.

----- Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about it:

Author Michelle Dunn Shares Secrets for Getting Quoted Big Time

Michelle Dunn is a an author I fell in love with a long time ago because she is such a great marketer. You should know that my definition of great marketers is those who are so warm and sharing that their products sell on their own. Today Michelle is sharing--once again--as a guest blogger on Sharing with Writers.

How I landed a story on CNN & get quoted in the Wall Street Journal

by Michelle Dunn

It has taken me years and it is still slow sometimes but then suddenly
something like this CNN interview comes along and it seems
worthwhile.I have been being asked how I landed these stories and I
want to share with you what I did to get interviewed for stories like
this one and others in the Wall Street Journal or other publications:

I made a list of what I wanted to accomplish, getting to be a regular
contributor to the Wall Street Journal and getting on Television are
two examples. Then I made a ?sublist? for each of those goals, what
I would do to accomplish each one.

My sublist for getting on Television was to do more public speaking
and teaching, learn more about being on Television and how to do well
at it, such as learning how not to talk with my hands, always smiling,
listening, being clear and concise, learning what clothes and makeup
were best on TV to appear professional. Then I started out by pitching
myself to cable television shows locally and in my surrounding states,
NH, MA, CT. I landed many spots and was always asked back. Once I
taped these shows I would get a DVD copy of the shows and I had them
all put onto one DVD that I could then send out to the national
television networks showing I had experience.

My sublist for getting national print publicity, such as the WSJ, CNN,
or Forbes was to provide helpful content that focused on their
stories. To do this I had to get a subscription to the WSJ so I could
read it and know the journalists, what they wrote about, what was up
and coming, just to familiarize myself with their publication. I did
this for every publication I was going to try to get quoted in.

I would write letters to the editors about stories that pertained to
what I know and my books, I started including them on my medial list
to receive my press releases. I also joined HARO which is run by Peter
Shankman, Help a Reporter Out, it is free and you get an email each
day with listings from journalists on what stories they are working on
and what information they need. You can pitch them and if they are
interested, they email you or call you.

I hope this helps you to gain more publicity! If you want more tips
or information on how I have gained worldwide media attention you can
also check out my newest book ?Mosquito Marketing for Authors? it will
tell you how I self published an award winning book that is a
consistent best seller in its category as well as how you can get
worldwide media attention for yourself and your books or business.

Sincerely,
Michelle Dunn
Author of the award winning book "Starting a Collection Agency, how to make
money collecting money" and many other titles in her "Collecting Money
Series".
Now Available! "Mosquito Marketing for Authors"
http://www.amazon.com/Mosquito-Marketing-Authors-self-published-consistent/dp/1453605304/

Join her on LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/creditmd



-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Robert J. Medak Reviews Classic The Frugal Book Promoter

The Frugal Book Promoter: How to do What Your Publisher Won’t
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Star Publish
ISBN: 193299310X
Pages 283
Genre: Nonfiction: Writers/Marketing/

Reviewed by Robert J. Medak

In today’s publishing environment, the author is often responsible for promoting their book. There are ways to do this, this book lists many of them, and you may come up with some of your own after reading The Frugal Book Promoter.

It would be nice if your publisher did the promoting for you, but most authors do not have names like King, Bradbury, or Rice to name a few that might have their publishers doing more for them than the average writer. The Frugal Promoter to the rescue, in this book you will find out about press kits, and more. There is also information about how to do media releases, and ways to get publicity for you, and your book.

This reviewer believes that this book can be good for promoting anything, just replace the word “book”, with a service, product, or anything you are trying to let the public know about.

It is up to the author to have the willingness to get out and do the work. Anyone can do it, if he or she is of the mindset to get out and promote your book. Many publishers are not going to do it for you, and may ask you for a promotion plan. Without one, you may not get far in the publishing game unless you decide to self-publish. If you choose a nontraditional way to publish your book, you will have to do the promotion for it to sell. Either way, it is up to the author to promote these days. If you are lucky, you may get some help from a publisher, but do not rely on getting it.

The authors best bet is to have this book handy for ways to promote your book. This reviewer found the information in this book to be valuable to anyone wishing to promote his or her book.

The Frugal Book Promoter receives a five star rating from this reviewer.

Reviewer Information:
Reviewer Robert J. Medak is a freelance writer and editor. Learn more at http://www.stormywriter.com/
"The time to begin writing an article is when you have finished it to your satisfaction. By that time you begin to clearly and logically perceive what it is that you really want to say."
- Mark Twain's Notebook, 1902-1903


Endorsement Disclaimer:
All reviews written by this Robert J. Medak are personal opinions of the book. The reviews are NOT paid endorsements of the book or the author. They are not advertisements. All reviews are honest, forthright and the opinion of this individual reviewer. This reviewer’s opinions are not for sale. (There is however, a small fee for some reviews, and sometimes this reviewer receives complementary copies from the author.) Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR Part 255 (http://www.ftc.gov/os/2009/10/091005revisedendorsementguides.pdf)

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about it:

November a Writing Month for Nonfiction Writers, Too

Everybody knows about November as a supported writing month for fiction writers but it seems few know about this one for nonfiction writers. If it is too late, maybe you nonfiction writers can put the information on your calendar for next year. And note that Nina keeps the nonfiction blog going all year.

During November nonfiction writers get a chance to hone their skills and complete a nonfiction project during the annual Write Nonfiction in November challenge. Now in it's third year, Write Nonfiction in November (WNFiN) isn't a contest in the traditional sense. It's a personal challenge to nonfiction writers to simply start and finish a book, article, essay, query letter, e-book, booklet, proposal, or any other work or nonfiction in 30 days. And while they do so, a blog provides nonfiction writing, editing, promotion, marketing, and publishing information to help them sell themselves and their writing.

Blog posts, which can be read at www.writenonfictioninnovember.wordpress.com, initially were written by WNFiN founder Nina Amir, an author, journalist, nonfiction editor/coach/consultant, but last year she brought in expert guest bloggers to provide additional information. Again this year she simply will provide a few posts of her own and introductions to posts written by expert guest bloggers--28 in all! Additionally, via blog comments and a new forum WNFiN provides nonfiction writers with a way to comment on and chat about their writing experiences during November. Post also can be read in Amir's blog at www.redroom.com, where Write Nonfiction in November was featured in RedRoom.com's Best Blog series for 12 days in November 2008.

Although WNFiN is a November event, the blog is kept "alive" all year long with one post per month.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.

"Your First Novel" Is for All Novelists from Would-Be to Seasoned

I run a review blog at www.TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com but when a book is about writing, promoting, or editing I may include them on this blog. Especially if it's a book I'd like my wrting friends not to miss!


Your First Novel
By Ann Rittenberg and Laura Whitcomb
Writer's Digest
ISBN: 9781582973883, 2007
Nonfiction/How-To (Writing)
Contact Reviewer: hojoreviews@aol.com
Publisher's Site: www.writersdigestbooks.com




Reviewed by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, award-winning author of This Is the Place and Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered, Tracing, a chapbook of poetry and the How To Do It Frugally Series of book for authors.

When I teach my writing students, I urge them to keep reading, keep writing, keep taking classes. Ann Rittenberg and Laura Whitcomb, the agent and author combination who have cobbled together a definitive first book of reading for novelists, urge writers to do the same thing. Having said that, this may very well be the place for a would-be novelist to start.

It's also a great place for a seasoned writer to refresh, pick up a few new hints, get inspired and get some understanding—some real understanding—of what it is agents do.

The reason this book is so important is that both authors come from a place of experience and both have researched their lesson plans. Not only that, Dennis Lehane's foreword will inspire any writer—any writer!—to dig into their craft and the business of publishing by reading farther.

Whitcomb doesn't just give good advice; she illustrates her points liberally with quotations from the classics and newer writers who have perfected their craft. The visuals she provides for, say, "Accents and Dialect" are as clear as if they had been diagrammed for you by the sternest of English-teaching nuns. Only Whitcomb isn't at all stern. Rather her voice (another subject she discusses) will convince writers of her warmth, that she cares about writing, both her own and that of others.

Rittenberg is equally engaging. The most jaded of novelists will come away from her section of the book (publishing, queries, marketing and more!) with a sense that to know an agent may—after all—be to love one.

This book is one that should be grabbed, read, and kept reference-handy by writers at most any stage in their careers. Okay, I'll exempt Stephen King and Barbara Kingsolver, but you get the idea.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books for writers, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. Her FRUGAL book for retailers is A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal". Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog.