Before I self-published my first book, I really didn’t think too hard about what the process would be like. Amazon makes it sound so easy. Just upload your book to our website and voila! You’re a published author. And yes, on one hand, it is that easy. On the other hand, if you want your book to sell and get the attention of readers, it’s not that easy. Not at all. So if you’ve ever wondered what exactly goes into self-publishing a book, here’s a look at the process. Edits There are a lot of rounds of editing that need to go into a book before it’s released to the world. I hire a developmental editor (who looks at the …

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During my childhood and teenage years, I scribbled down as many short stories and novellas as I could, until one day, my senior year of high school, I decided it was time to tackle writing a novel. My first novel. What a daunting challenge. Before I did so, I checked out as many books as I could about how to write a novel, how to be a good writer, and anything related to the two topics. I read some books with great advice, some books with okay advice, and some books with bad advice. Today, I’m sharing the ones that have stuck with me all these years, but I encourage anyone who wants to deepen their writing skills to check …

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Burnout happens to most writers at some point in their career. Some are lucky enough not to experience it. But I’ve been writing since I was in high school, and it’s happened to me a few times over the years. So what to do when it happens to you? Here’s my advice for any writer dealing with a loss of the creative spark. Consume New Content One of the easiest ways to get myself inspired to write again is by reading new books or watching new TV shows and movies with great romances. Nothing makes me itch to put my fingers to a keyboard again then becoming swept up in an intoxicating love story. Take a Break This might seem …

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For some writers, one of the hardest parts of writing a novel is coming up with names for their characters. I am not one of those writers. I love naming characters, from main to side. If you do happen to struggle with this, I hope my tips can help. Create a Note in Your Phone I have a page in my notes app on my phone titled “Character Names” and whenever I hear or see a cool name, I write it down. Then, when I’m working on a character profile or drafting, I open the app and scan through to see if any of them are a good fit. Buy a Baby Names Book Will it feel weird purchasing a …

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Ten years ago, I was going through a hard time with my writing. Some days, I found myself cranking out close to 1k words. Other days, I just barely managed to write 200. I was really inconsistent and couldn’t figure out how to make writing part of my daily routine. Then I saw a YouTube video where an author talked about how starting a writing journal had changed her life. Recording how much she wrote every day inspired her and motivated her to get those words down. So, I ordered a journal for myself and did the same thing. At first, my word count varied wildly just like it had always done. But then I told myself I needed to …

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In the old days, before I discovered the joys of outlining and creating character profiles, a great idea for a book would hit me and I would just jump on in. By “jump on in”, I mean that I would open up a new Word document and start writing, flying by the seat of my pants. For a long time, this worked…until I realized all of my first drafts were big, ugly messes and the thought of cleaning them up for draft two was so overwhelming that I just didn’t even bother to try. Now, I have a plan in place when I start a new novel and I’m going to share it with you today. Step One: Jot Down …

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Before I start writing a new book, I fill out a character profile for my hero and my heroine. If you Google “character profile template”, you’ll get a lot of results and so, over the years, I refined and honed what to include in my template and now I have the perfect one for me. Obviously, every writer is different and wants and needs different things from their character profiles, but here’s what mine looks like if you’re curious. In the past, I would just type my character profiles out in long paragraphs, almost like a biography. But the way I’ve set it up above, I can quickly skim to any section I need while I’m writing to look something …

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I know there are some writers who struggle to come up with plot ideas for their books. They think of one, write it, and then agonize over what to work on next. I don’t have that problem. I’m always coming up with new ideas. In fact, I come up with so many that a few years ago, I realized I needed to organize my ideas. If you’re like me and overwhelmed with everything you want to write, here’s how I get everything in order. Start a New Excel Document I’ve been using Excel for years, but if you like another program, feel free to use it. I call mine my document Novel Ideas. Create The Categories Column number one is …

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