Category Archives: Writing Resources

Writing is hard…

By Susan | Published: May 17, 2013

…so don’t give up. I don’t really have anything else to say today other than that. I’m in the middle of book 3 revisions, renovating my house, preparing lesson plans for the YAGB tour, and revising other books that have not yet sold. It all seems pretty overwhelming and insurmountable. But it isn’t. It never is. [...]

Also posted in Inspiration, publishing, Revising, Writers | Tagged Inspiration, publishing, revisions, Something Strange and Deadly, Writers, writing resources, young adult fiction | 8 Comments

The Best Online Writing Workshops I’ve Taken

By Susan | Published: May 10, 2013

I’m afraid this post will be brief because I’m painting furniture, making school presentations, revising book 3, AND packing to go out of town (again! It’s event season, I’m afraid), but I wanted to quickly lay out some of the most valuable workshops/communities I took/joined during my publication journey. 1. First and foremost, hands down [...]

Also posted in Writers | Tagged Holly Lisle, RWA, Savvy Authors, workshops, Writers, WriterUniv, writing resources | 3 Comments

Approaching Your First Novel

By Susan | Published: May 3, 2013

Sorry for the brief internet absence. I was in Texas for a week (it was AMAZING). Edgefest was a blast and I discovered a few new bands I am now obsessed with (I’ll share next Monday ). Moving on, a reader asked a while ago: Looking back, knowing what you know now, how would you [...]

Also posted in Revising, Something Strange and Deadly, Writers | Tagged first drafts, revisions, Something Strange and Deadly, The Spirit-Hunters, Writers, writing resources | 3 Comments

Juggling Multiple Projects

By Susan | Published: April 12, 2013

One of the questions someone asked me a few weeks ago was what I thought of juggling multiple WIPs (works-in-progress). Yay or nay? I’m ALL FOR juggling multiple projects. Honestly, it’s kind of the only option once you’ve sold a book–you’ll be revising one or more books, drafting others that are under contract, and then hopefully [...]

Also posted in Writers | 18 Comments

Pub(lishing) Crawl: Maintaining Passion for a Story

By Susan | Published: April 1, 2013

So last week, Sarah J. Maas wrote a post about world-building (that I chimed in on). As she mentioned, we talk A LOT during drafting, and our methods of creation are—at least in some ways—very similar. One thing we both agree on is this idea of a magical source of inspiration (i.e. daemon, genius, muse, [...]

Also posted in Writers | Tagged critique partner, first drafts, Muse, Sarah J. Maas, Writers, writing resources | Leave a comment

When Something Changes Mid-Draft

By Susan | Published: March 25, 2013

So, this question came in from Alex last week, and I thought I’d address it in a post today. I’d really like to read about how you handle it when you’re in the middle of a draft and suddenly you realize that you need to change something BIG. Something which changes the story a lot, [...]

Also posted in Revising, Writers | Tagged editing, first drafts, revisions, Writers, writing resources | 7 Comments

The Young Authors Give Back Tour!

By Susan | Published: March 8, 2013

GUYS! Our big news is finally coming out into the world. And by “our”, I mean: Me, Erin Bowman, Sarah J. Maas, and Kat Zhang. WE’RE GOING ON TOUR. TOGETHER. Starting at BEA in New York City, we’ll be heading gradually west for two weeks–and ending up in Chicago. But it’s not just a self-hosted tour [...]

Also posted in Events, Something Strange and Deadly, Stuff I Like, Thanks, Writers | Tagged Erin Bowman, events, giveaway, Inspiration, Kat Zhang, Sarah J. Maas, Thanks, Writers, writing resources, young adult fiction, Young Authors Give Back Tour | 13 Comments

What is #BAMFWordBattle?

By Susan | Published: February 4, 2013

#BAMFWordBattle is something I started on Twitter (along with Sarah J. Maas) to help other writers get more productive. It started with #NaNoWriMoBattle back in November, but we wanted to keep doing it after the insanity that is NaNo… So #BAMFWordBattle was born. Essentially, these epic battles are 30 minute writing sprints done on Twitter. [...]

Also posted in Inspiration, Stuff I Like, Writers | Tagged #BAMFWordBattle, Writers, writing resources | 7 Comments

How to Get Traditionally Published, Part 3

By Susan | Published: January 28, 2013

ALL RIGHT. This is the last post on this–I swear. If you haven’t yet seen them, the first part to this series is here, and the second part is here. My usual disclaimer applies here–this is the journey to traditional publication as I know it. I’m basing this on my personal experience and the experience of [...]

Also posted in publishing, Writers | Tagged Books, editing, publishing, revisions, Something Strange and Deadly, Writers, writing resources | 7 Comments

How to Get Traditionally Published, Part 2

By Susan | Published: January 25, 2013

So, in case you missed last Friday’s post, I am trying to lay out the very SIMPLE BASICS to getting published… I emphasize “simple” and “basics” here because every author’s journey is different and because, although things seem clear-cut on the surface, they are actually kinda complicated underneath. Overall, though, the moral of last Friday’s [...]