There is no typical day when you freelance because you never know what’s coming your way. I do, however, go to my home office every morning about 8:30 and work on something until about 5:30. It’s different from a traditional day job because I can work from home and don’t have to commute. If I don’t have any deadlines looming, I can work on what I feel like working on, which is great when you’re creative juices are flowing.

I find that’s the hardest thing about writing historical novels–getting the little stuff right. There’s plenty of information about the battles, the wars, the huge political movements. But just try to find out exactly what the inside of the county clerk’s office in Sacramento in 1910 looked like!

Funded by the National Science Foundation, Launch Pad, a week-long workshop in astronomy, is underway in Laramie, Wyoming.

I usually write a detailed outline of maybe 15-20 pages, including character profiles and brief worldbuilding notes. Sometimes I start a wiki — I’ve done that with the Inheritance Trilogy, so I can easily look up concepts or made-up words I’ve forgotten from book 1 to book 3.

Are Facebook, Twitter and IM having any effect on the quality or volume of my work? These questions, coupled with a very long list of goals I wanted to accomplish, plagued me like a broken plot.

Want other people to feel inclined to spread word of your stuff? Then make sure you’re doing it for them.

A week or so ago, I asked a bunch of writers to share some of the best advice they’ve received and how they’ve used it. At the same time I asked them to share some of the worst, the weirdest, or the least helpful advice they’ve encountered over the years.

Cherie Priest was nominated for her novel Boneshaker. How long did it take you to write Boneshaker? When did you first get the idea? Could you tell us about the writing process? All in all, I guess it took about five months – at least for the first draft. The idea didn’t strike me like […]

The Odyssey Writing Workshop, one of the most respected programs for writers of fantasy, science fiction, and horror, is offering three online writing classes this winter.  Each class is focused on a particular element of fiction writing and is designed for writers at a particular skill level, from beginners to professional writers.

Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware

How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.

This old saw applies to writers as much as to musicians. In today’s guest blog post, author and writing teacher Barbara Baig explores the impo…