on Writers in the Storm:

I think we can all agree that characters are the heart of a novel. We build worlds around our story’s cast, spend dozens of hours plundering their psyche to understand needs, motivations, and beliefs, and even envision complete backstories. Then, of course, we go on to produce tens of thousands of words about their vulnerabilities and strengths as they rise, fall, and rise again on the path to their goal. We also revise, dedicating yet more hours to ensure readers understand and care about our characters as much as do.

Yes, it’s fair to say we work hard to make sure our characters live and breathe on the page. But here’s the irony…in all that effort, many of us overlook or underutilize another important area of character description: their physical appearance.

It’s true, a character’s features and physicality can be hard to convey. We…

When it comes to writing, forming a habit is vital. And writing a little every day is enough. But there’s no denying we all have days when we don’t feel like writing, when we can’t find our words. These days can leave you feeling guilty, or wishing you could do SOMETHING to progress your writing. Although you should be kind to yourself, and take a break if you need it, here are some small things you can do to incorporate your writing into those days.

Day dream
Writers are day dreamers, wonderers! And often you can fuel your imagination a lot more when thinking of your writing away from the pressure of a computer screen or empty page. Just allow yourself to day dream of your work, and see what comes to you.

Do some research
If your creativity is flagging, so some research instead. There will…

on Anne R. Allen:

As authors, we need reviews. There’s no way of getting around it.

While it doesn’t appear that reviews directly affect things like the Amazon algorithm, reviews are still a crucial tool to sell books.

For example, if you’re trying to choose between a book with 20 reviews and 4 stars, vs a book with 100 reviews and 4.5 stars, you’ll go with the 100-review book every time.

Newer books suffer because of this, because they start out with zero reviews, and getting them up to the needed number to get readers’ attention can be challenging.

Enter the ARC review team (Advance Reader Copy).

With a focused team of readers who love your work and want to help out, you can get some of those first crucial reviews right out of the gate. This should help you to get a great head start on the whole process…