It has to be said that education within the city of Port Naain is sporadic. Most people acquire some, but often we find out the hard way. One soon learns that there are certain people one does not offend, and certain back streets one does not linger in. Sometimes education includes literacy and numeracy, but these are gifts it often bestows on those who have learned the more dangerous lessons first.

Indeed within the city there isn’t really the concept of being a ‘teacher’ as a trade. The children of the wealthy will have a governess who does, as part of her role, teach them to read and write. The children of those less well heeled might aspire to attend a dame school or similar where a lady who has some education will attempt to share it with those whose parents can afford the small fee. But nobody ever trains…

on Blood Red Pencil:

Read the article HERE

on Social Media Just for Writers:

Did you just publish your first book? It’s an exciting time, isn’t it? You’re probably thinking that now it’s time to market your book.

To learn about how to market your book, you’re probably reading blog posts like mine and absorbing as much information as you can.

Writers put so much energy into writing their books that they have little time to think about marketing them until the final edit is done.

That’s when your head tends to come up and when you stop typing. You think to yourself, “It’s time to publish!”

Continue reading at:

Mistakes You Make When You Market Your Book 

As I have said many times, I love my clients. I love working with them and I feel privileged that they choose to share their writing with me. I am often the first person to have read their work and I really appreciate how brave that can be.

So I do feel a little bit protective towards the writing community. And I am a little tired of seeing people taking advantage of these lovely writers.

I have seen lots and lots of people recently selling their services to writers. Not a problem – it’s what I do. But increasingly these people have no experience whatsoever – they just seem very, very good at giving the impression that they do.

Now, I have no problem with entrepreneurs, or people trying to make a living. What I do have a problem with is people who have maybe written one or two books…

by Doug Lewars

“have it your talking may about you Good can’t what to to reader overrated you’re some idea grammar if ignored. when be but be want writing it entirely comes”

The above is a random collection of words – literally random – I used a random number generator in Excel to produce them; however, before being randomized they were once a coherent sentence. The original sentence was ‘Good grammar may be overrated when it comes to writing but it can’t be entirely ignored if you want your reader to have some idea what you’re talking about.’

Writing is a skill, and like all skills it cane be learned and honed. Some people have a natural talent and flare for certain things, others have to try a little harder. Wherever you stand, if you love writing you should write. And if you’d like to improve and grow there are plenty of ways to do so.

1. Write
Let’s start with the simple and most effective answer. Write. You learn as you do, and you improve as you do. As with all skills, you will get better with practice and perseverance.

2. Read Fiction
If you’re writing fiction, you’ll learn a great deal about what you like/don’t like by reading fiction. You’ll get a sense of what works and what doesn’t. And if you’re going to tell stories, it’s important to get used to the way stories are shaped. (This can also be done by…

In an ever evolving effort to make this blog a better resource to Authors, Writers, poets and fellow bloggers,  I have created these pages to index various external sites and in-blog articles that I hope will be useful, just click on the links below to be taken to the relevant pages:

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

EBOOK FORMATTING

EDITING TIPS: 101

EDITORS

GRAMMAR – ENGLISH

HOW TO: 101

HOW TO – MAKE AUDIOBOOKS

HOW TO – BUILD A BOOK TRAILER

INFORMATION-BUSINESS

MARKETING

PUBLISHERS