You can read all the writing advice in the world, but in the end, it all comes down to how YOU approach the page or the screen. To help illustrate how we’re all just a little bit different, I’m taking a standard list of questions about writing and posing it to dozens of different writers. As you scroll though their answers, I think you’ll see we’re all as individual as fingerprints or snowflakes. And if you’re a writer who’d like to participate in this questionnaire, please email me.
Reading time: About 2 minutes Writer Dan Kopcow describes rewriting and editing as putting together the jigsaw puzzle and seeing what the picture should look like…. Dan Kopcow’s rom-com, Madcap Serenade, published by Black Rose Writing, was the 2025 Independent Press Award winner for best romantic comedy among several other
Reflections on writing with Dan Kopcow… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes M.A.R. Unger strongly believes that every writer — even pros— always have something to learn… M.A.R. Unger (Mary Ann) was a college English instructor who later wrote/edited economic publications. But she found no joy in writing until she retired to Nevada. Then, the characters and
Reflections on writing with M.A.R. Unger… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes If she had her way, Diana Stevan would begin her writing days with a cup of coffee followed by an hour of reading while classical music plays on the stereo…. Diana Stevan is the author of both historical and contemporary fiction. Her novels — ranging
Reflections on writing with Diana Stevan… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes According to Karen Sommerville, inspiration has the habit of showing up after she’s already started typing… Karen Sommerville is a certified fiction book coach and multi-published suspense author writing as Karen Dodd. Her thrillers transport readers to southern Italy, where murder has a habit of
Reflections on writing with Karen Sommerville… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes James Young likes to use a musical analogy for the act of writing: “There doesn’t have to be a “drum fill” after every verse or refrain; sometimes, you are just keeping the rhythm….” James Young spent 14 years as a staffer in the Senate and House,
Reflections on writing with James Young… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes Mahtab Narsimhan says that she’s written in the morning for so long now, it’s become a firm habit and she feels as though something is missing if she doesn’t do it. Mahtab Narsimhan is an internationally published, award-winning author of 25 critically acclaimed books in
Reflections on writing with Mahtab Narsimhan Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes Vansh Malhotra says that “done” is better than perfect because you can always revise a rough draft, wheras you can’t revise a blank page… Vansh Malhotra has been writing poetry, creative nonfiction, and, more recently, a hybrid of lyric and narrative poems. His curiosity about
Reflections on writing with Vansh Malhotra… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes Karen E. Osborne used to think that making things up was way more fun than doing research. But writing her historical novel, True Grace, taught her to appreciate a step she’d previously scorned… Karen E. Osborne is an award-winning author of suspense and social-issue fiction,
Reflections on writing with Karen E. Osborne Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes An unrepentant “binge writer,” Ruth F. Stevens sometimes has to force herself to take breaks when she’s deeply embroiled in a writing project… Ruth F. Stevens is author of the award-winning South Bay Series, My Year of Casual Acquaintances and The Unexpected Guests. She is
Reflections on writing with Ruth F. Stevens… Read More »
Reading time: About 2 minutes The hard part of writing for Gail Ward Olmsted is not the writing! Instead, it’s all the marketing activities — and she started her working life as a marketer… Gail Ward Olmsted was a marketing executive and a college professor before she began writing fiction
Reflections on writing with Gail Ward Olmsted… Read More »
