Essays, author interviews and publishing advice for curious readers and writers.
About four or six weeks ago, I sent the first draft of my newest book, The Reluctant Queen-The Story of Esther—to my four readers. These four people are generous enough to read the word document online and tell me what they think. It's not editing I want...
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You have an impressive resume that documents the work of a seasoned journalist. Can you tell us what has been life-changing in your career? Being sent abroad by the Baltimore Sun in early 1991, to cover the Gulf War from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia opened ho...
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A letter written by a freedman to his former master doesn’t just shine a powerful light on his dignity but makes a mockery of slavery and in a voice that is snarky, intelligent, and fueled by irony. This classic letter is excerpted from William E. Gienapp, ed...
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You’ve written a book that has great potential to positively influence the lives of orphans under the care of grandparents, would you want to share with us what inspired this book?Yes, my mother left me and my siblings with my dad, when we were infants. Alth...
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No matter what you write, what keeps the reader engaged is your voice. The reader wants to think that they are seated across from you, listening to you. They want to hear you clearly and they want to connect with you and it is your voice that makes that conne...
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It takes a lot of time and commitment to get a book written. But that is the easiest part of the process. Getting it published and into the hands of avid readers or fans of the genre poses a lot of challenges, especially for authors with minimal marketing exp...
Read the article →Reviews tell readers whether they should or should not buy a book, and the more positive reviews a book gets, the stronger the appeal it has for readers. Reviews give credibility to an author’s craft, and funny as it sounds, the majority of buyers rely on boo...
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Can you share with us what inspires you to write?Thank you for having me. I am honored.What inspires me to write? Inspiration! The late Dr. Wayne Dyer often discussed the difference between motivation and inspiration. In a nutshell, he explained it this way:...
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Alicia Doyle is an award-winning journalist who discovered boxing at age 28 in the late 1990s when she went on assignment at a boxing gym for at-risk youth called Kid Gloves. She simultaneously worked as a newspaper reporter while training and competing as a...
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