Why Stories Can Save Lives
Why stories can save lives . When I was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 41 my friend called me up, “make something good come of it,” she told me. I knew then I would write about it and that became my 5th book Love and Above. My way, like so many other storytellers who have lived through the centuries, is to share stories by writing or telling them. We tell them in social gatherings, on a stage, in a book or in a diary. But we must tell them because storytellers have a c
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CHAPTER SUBMISSION: The Countdown to Publishing Your Book
CHAPTER SUBMISSION: The Countdown to Publishing Your Book
Essential Steps to finding an agent or publisher
By Sarah Bullen
‘I wasn't going to give up until every single publisher turned me down, but I often feared that would happen. JK Rowling
As a literary agent with 17 years working with authors I read a lot of manuscripts, and I get a lot of query letters. It always amazes me the huge effort and investment it takes to simply write a full length book. When I get a MS i
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Wild rapture and dance in Botswana
It is closing in on three in the morning and sleep is the furthest thing from my mind.
I am in Botswana again. This is the third trip I have taken up here in the two years in which we’ve been on these parallel treatment and healing journeys. Life is slowly returning to a level of relative normality. The well-wishers have tailed off, MRIs are less terrifying and have all come back clear.
Llewelyn is now very firmly on the path to becoming a koma doctor – a doctor of rite
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Should you plan or just write?
There is only one answer to this question (in my view). YES of course you should plan a book!
I believe in writing with intent if you want to get published.
If you are writing non-fiction you are going to be 100% clear about what is going to go into your book. You are going to have a clear list of your chapters and what material you will cover in each. Your planning will become your book proposal and it will guide your entire book.
But is a novel different? No.
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From 'Hey Baby' to 'The Other Side'
It’s been 20 years since my first book was published, and I wanted to reflect on the long journey of being an author, as well as working...
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How to write poems that get published
By Miriam Sagan for Writers Digest No poet likes to hear the expression "slush pile"_ it implies that our creations have gone into a heap...
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Proof of Heaven?
When I woke up from the coma in late 2012, the topic of near death was on everybody’s lips. This was due to an American neuroscientist...
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What’s the theme of your story?
Your book needs a theme. A theme is closely aligned to your plot and often the words are used interchangably. I see them as different howeve
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What are publishers looking for in 2025-2026?
Once again we look forward to the publishing market for the upcoming publishing cycle. It is so useful for an author to be aware of...
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Some Things You Need to Know as an Author
What does it actually t ake to write a book? Below is a list of 10 things (five short and five longer ones). Join me in 2025 and finally...
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How to write a great back cover book blurb
Think of your back cover blurb like a movie trailer. There is a good reason movie trailers are not made by the writer. It’s so hard as...
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What if my book sucks?
Here's the question we all ask. What if my book sucks?
It doesn’t matter how many books you have written (like me); lalunching a book is a
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