Marilyn's Musings

Time set aside to write. Yes, you have to write and do it regularly if you really want to be an author. A plan for promotion. Believe it or not, even if you’ve just begun a book it’s not too early to get your name out there. Name recognition is important. Not only that, when you get to the stage where you start to query, agents and publishers want to know what your marketing plan is. A support group of some kind—family, friends, and best of all, a writer’s group. Being able to take criticism. When you read your work to your critique group it doesn’t do a bit of good if all you hear is praise. I’d be disappointed if my critique group didn’t have some criticism or suggestions for my writing. Otherwise, it’s a waste of my time to go. Building on the criticism. Maybe you don’t agree with the suggestion, but you need to take a look at what you wrote because there was some problem for that suggestion to be ment...

Time set aside to write. Yes, you have to write and do it regularly if you really want to be an author.  A plan for promotion. Believe it or not, even if you’ve just begun a book it’s not too early to get your name out there. Name recognition is important. Not only that, when you get to the stage where you start to query, agents and publishers want to know what your marketing plan is. A support group of some kind—family, friends, and best of all, a writer’s group. Being able to take criticism. When you read your work to your critique group it doesn’t do a bit of good if all you hear is praise. I’d be disappointed if my critique group didn’t have some criticism or suggestions for my writing. Otherwise, it’s a waste of my time to go. Building on the criticism. Maybe you don’t agree with the suggestion, but you need to take a look at what you wrote because there was some problem for that suggestion to b...