Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif. (Photo by Cindy Fazzi, March 31, 2018)
Feeling envious of the academic writer? What’s not to like about a tenure? Don’t even mention the summer breaks and the cozy office in a beautiful campus with ivy-covered brick buildings and sprawling lawns. Now that it’s out of your system, it’s time to pick up some tips from academics on how to boost your writing productivity. (more…)
Posted by cindyfazzi on April 4, 2018
https://cindyfazzi.wordpress.com/2018/04/04/six-writing-productivity-tips-from-academics/
Anton Chekov was an acclaimed Russian playwright and short-story author. He was also famous for the writing concept of “Chekov’s Gun.” (more…)
Posted by cindyfazzi on March 14, 2018
https://cindyfazzi.wordpress.com/2018/03/14/did-you-know-chekovs-gun-must-go-off/
In the wake of the #MeToo movement against sexual assault and harassment, a new book prize is seeking thrillers in which “no woman is beaten, stalked, sexually exploited, raped, or murdered.” Submit your manuscript to the Staunch Book Prize, the writing contest for our times. (more…)
Posted by cindyfazzi on February 7, 2018
https://cindyfazzi.wordpress.com/2018/02/07/newly-launched-staunch-book-prize-reflects-metoo-movement/
Photo courtesy of Visual Hunt.
The first thing a reader of a novel wants to know is the main character, according to best-selling suspense author Hank Phillippi Ryan. If you’re writing a novel, she said your opening page must have these four important things. (more…)
Posted by cindyfazzi on January 24, 2018
https://cindyfazzi.wordpress.com/2018/01/24/best-selling-author-shares-4-things-your-novels-first-page-must-have/
We need “up lit” books as an antidote to so much negativity in politics.
Snowflake is last year’s cliché, while Brexit is so 2016. It’s time for a fresh batch of new words, or at least newly repurposed words. (more…)
Posted by cindyfazzi on January 17, 2018
https://cindyfazzi.wordpress.com/2018/01/17/forget-about-snowflake-its-time-for-up-lit-and-other-new-words/
One tiny comma can sometimes make all the difference when it comes to the meaning of a sentence or a contract for that matter. Strunk and White advocated for the Oxford comma in their classic book, “The Elements of Style,” while the AP Stylebook doesn’t require series comma. If you’re an Oxford-comma proponent like me, a recent federal court ruling will reinforce your position. (more…)
Posted by cindyfazzi on December 20, 2017
https://cindyfazzi.wordpress.com/2017/12/20/in-praise-of-the-lowly-comma/
Dashiell Hammett’s seminal detective novel, “The Maltese Falcon,” opens with the mysterious Miss Wonderly hiring private eye Sam Spade and his partner, Miles Archer, to follow a man who eloped with her sister. It’s a classic red herring. Readers of mysteries, crime fiction, and suspense novels love red herrings, but where did the term originate? (more…)
Posted by cindyfazzi on December 13, 2017
https://cindyfazzi.wordpress.com/2017/12/13/did-you-know-how-red-herring-originated/
Need a gift idea this holiday season for the writer in your life? The spiffy journals and coffee mugs with literary quotes are nice, but skip them this year. If your writer is anything like me, he or she needs certain things many people don’t think about. (more…)
Posted by cindyfazzi on December 6, 2017
https://cindyfazzi.wordpress.com/2017/12/06/the-giving-season-7-gifts-the-writer-in-your-life-actually-needs/
Photo via Visual hunt.
Do you have an unpublished manuscript? Join the Twitter party known as #PitMad to pitch your work to literary agents and publishers. On Dec. 7, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST, you may tweet a maximum of three different pitches for every manuscript. (more…)
Posted by cindyfazzi on November 20, 2017
https://cindyfazzi.wordpress.com/2017/11/20/pitmad-pitch-your-manuscript-to-literary-agents-publishers/
Good writing is hard and getting published is even harder. No one knows this better than best-selling author Lisa Scottoline who compared a struggling writer’s life to a weak candlelight. (more…)
Posted by cindyfazzi on October 25, 2017
https://cindyfazzi.wordpress.com/2017/10/25/lisa-scottoline-inspires-at-writers-digest-conference-protect-your-candle/
Cindy Fazzi 