Sue Bradford Edwards's Blog, page 231
January 8, 2017
Ten Minutes a Day: When You Don’t Have Time to Write
It may seem like a strange thing to hear a full-time writer say but it is truly embarrassing just how often I don’t have time to write. At least I don’t have time to write something new. I’d been 50% of the way through my scene outline for Iron Mountain since early December. But it […]
January 5, 2017
Books with Chapters vs Chapter Books: Why You Need to Know The Difference
Last night we had someone new at critique group. I don’t just mean new to our critique group. I mean new to any professional critique group. I realized this when I noticed that she called anything and everything that has chapters a chapter book. This really drove home why it is so important to know the […]
January 4, 2017
Queries: Try, Swear, and Try Again
The picture above? If I could draw, that would be a self-portrait of me writing a query letter yesterday. I’m trying to get more magazine queries out this year so I want to do two or three a month. So, in the name of not putting it off, I spent some time working on one […]
January 3, 2017
Adaptation: How to Make It Work
Since I wrote my previous post on adaptation, I’ve been noodling over the possibilities. What should I try first? I keep coming back to an Aesop’s fable in part because it is short enough to easily wrap my head around. My idea is that it will be easier to learn on something short, develop my […]
January 2, 2017
Finding an Agent
Although I did send out material to several agents last year, I think it would be stretching it to call it an agent hunt. Hunt implies an active search and a lot of effort. I printed things off. I made a list of names. I looked into about 20 people and ruled out a lot. […]
January 1, 2017
How to Make a Meme
One of the best ways to create interest on social media is through graphics. I’m not going to pretend to tell you what will be wildly popular and what won’t. I’ve been posting daily on Twitter for about a month and one post will have 15 interactions while another has 860 in the same amount […]
December 29, 2016
Top Posts in 2016
When you write a blog, your plan is to post only about things that will interest your readers. You try to come up with content and titles that will pull people in through search engines. You want content that people will tweet or pin. But you have no way of knowing which posts will be […]
December 28, 2016
Historic Fiction: Balancing Fact and Story
Recently, I came across a question that surprised me. Someone had asked a blogger which is more important in historical fiction – the facts or the story. The reality is that you need both. Whether you are writing contemporary fiction, historical fiction, mysteries or fantasy, the story is at the center of it all. Without […]
December 27, 2016
Goals for 2017 and What the Bent Agents Want
One of my goals for 2016 was the earn 50 rejections. I failed miserably. There are three reasons for this. Many people simply do not respond NO. If submission guidelines say something like “if you don’t hear from us in 10 weeks consider that NO,” I considered no response a NO. Others are just S-L-O-W […]
December 26, 2016
Naughty or Nice?
Well, which list were you on this year? Santa’s Naughty List or Santa’s Nice List? I must have done okay because I got an Amazon gift card. Now I just have to decide how to spend it. My husband and I are deep into the Harry Dresden books so that’s one option. I’m also getting […]
