Allison K. Williams's Blog, page 117

I Can’t Believe You Wrote That

By Joelle Fraser

It started out as most pandemic relationships do, with a post. In this case it was mine, on Facebook: a story about a plagiarizing student. That night, a witty response popped up in my inbox. A quick search revealed the sender was a 50ish divorced novelist with a cute kid and reassuring politics.

Soon we were texting like teens, a rapid-fire exchange of lives defined by writing and parenting during a plague. By the next night, the topic drifted to the reasons for our d...

Seduce a Writer in 6 Simple Steps

By Debra Moffitt

It’s easier than you think to romance a writer. A writer wants what any intimate partner wants, with just a few edits. Here’s how it’s done:

1. Send a saucy text.

Invite your writer to an unforgettable night in a text that leaves everything to the imagination. She’ll suspend belief. She’s been doing it all week! But before sending, check for grammatical and spelling errors like you’re wooing Ben Dreyer or Mary Norris.

2. Remove distractions.

Ship the kids to grandma’s...

Keep Your Writing Friends Close But Your Comp Authors Closer

By Ashleigh Renard

Last week “harsh writing advice” was trending on Twitter, spurred on by one bonehead tweet that declared that our writing friends are our competition. Well, if we think the prize in this game is winning the attention of a top agent or editor, maybe the bonehead is right.

But if our perspective expands just a tad, we may remember that all of us in publishing—writers, editors, agents, and booksellers—are tremendously outnumbered by the ACTUAL READERS. Our ability to connect wit...

Every Twenty Minutes for Twenty Seconds

By Robyn Tait

Jagged flashing lines suddenly appeared on the left side of my vision, so I had to stop my long stare at the screen and lie down on the plump leather couch, palms pressed into my eyeballs, willing them to relax. Visualizing a flow from the firm round orbs down the optic nerve, exhaling into my brain, soothing the frayed synapses.

I had been up before dawn first silhouetted the mountains, hours sliding by as I sat immersed in the writing and rewriting of memoir—hotfooting ...

A Review of Colin Rafferty’s Execute the Office

By Susannah Clark 

When The New York Times finally called the 2020 presidential election for Joe Biden, late in the morning of Saturday, November 7, Brooklyn danced. Masks on and champagne in tow, hundreds gathered in Prospect Park, culminating in a giant dance party on the Great Lawn. Wireless speakers blasted “Don’t Stop Believin’,”  “Party in the USA,”  “WAP.” We shimmied at strangers, dipping and dabbing, twisting and twerking. It felt like Coachella. It felt like the Before Times. 

...

Let’s Face It: In Search of the Alluring Author Photo

By Lisa Kusel

I.   A few years before finding a smattering of success as a writer I enrolled in a poetry class being taught by a local legend, Molly Fisk. For one of the assignments Molly asked us to write an egocentric poem; one that could be as farfetched or fantastical as we wished. “Dream big,” she’d said.

I wrote a fanciful poem describing how beautiful I would look on the dust jacket of my first book. I imagined my (not-yet-written) novel being so esteemed that my publisher would hir...

A Review of Jeannine Ouellette’s The Part That Burns

By Jody Keisner

When my oldest daughter was small, she erupted in frantic physical tantrums that afterward left both of us exhausted, huddling on the floor together, crying, unsure of what had just happened. Her anger, it seemed, came from someplace deep inside of her, or maybe from someplace beyond her. So little it took to upset her back then and so disproportionate were her responses, it was as if she was born with anger much bigger than herself and her short time on earth. It was as i...

A Review of Jeanine Ouellette’s The Part That Burns

By Jody Keisner

When my oldest daughter was small, she erupted in frantic physical tantrums that afterward left both of us exhausted, huddling on the floor together, crying, unsure of what had just happened. Her anger, it seemed, came from someplace deep inside of her, or maybe from someplace beyond her. So little it took to upset her back then and so disproportionate were her responses, it was as if she was born with anger much bigger than herself and her short time on earth. It was as i...

Mailing List Love

We’ve all heard it.

You need a mailing list.

Your mailing list is your most powerful way to reach your readers.

Agents and publishers want you to have a mailing list.

And it’s true. A mailing list is your most powerful way to stay connected to your future readers. Being invited into someone’s inbox is far more intimate than connecting on social media. Plus, most people see under 10% of everything posted in their social feeds. But most people read about 95% of their email.

Which leads to a conu...

Putting the Writing Puzzle Together

By Rachael Hanel

Perhaps you’re like many people who have filled long hours at home by putting together jigsaw puzzles. As someone who writes and who also enjoys puzzles, I have noticed how the process of working on puzzles resembles the process of working on a book.

The shiny new thing

Oh, the promise of new box with the pretty picture on the front! You choose a puzzle that speaks to you—perhaps it’s a scene from your favorite travel destination, or cute animals, or you challenge y...