Okay, this list of the best holiday and other gifts for writers does not include books! Instead, it’s a round up of ideas for the writer in your life - whether you’re married to an unpublished poet or celebrating her 52nd week on the New York Times bestseller list!
First, a quip from William Zinsser:
“There’s not [...]

As a writer, it’s all too easy to concentrate on the mechanics of submitting work to editors and to forget that the writing itself is of primary importance. We should all be constantly seeking to improve. If we do that, editorial approval will become that much easier.
To that end, here are five things you can [...]

In Writer’s Market 2009, there’s a great “Query Letter Clinic” (an article) that describes how to write a query letter for a magazine. I’ve summarized the main points below, and included a sample of a good nonfiction magazine query.
But first, fellow scribes:
“Write while the heat is in you. The writer who postpones the recording of [...]

Stephen King’s book On Writing was really difficult for him to write - and the first half was difficult for me to read. Nevertheless, I’ve pulled seven writing quips and tips from his book - and I know there’s more!
First, a quip from the King of Horror:
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two [...]

In this guest post, author and psychologist Dr. Paulette Kouffman Sherman, Ph.D., describes how to stay in the zone and succeed as a writer. 
First, a quip from Arthur Hailey on how to be a successful writer:
“I set myself 600 words a day as a minimum output, regardless of the weather, my state of mind or [...]

A logical, satisfying ending is always required in a short story, but how do you ensure that yours is fresh and new? One of the ways is to avoid the obvious. Here are some common endings seen by editors: use them at your peril.
People have been writing stories for a very long time. If you’ve [...]

While there’s no “winning formula” to writing excellent query letters, it is good to see how published freelance writers pitch their ideas. So, here’s a query letter I sent to MSN Health, which they accepted a couple days later.
“The most effective query letters get into the specifics from the very first line,” write the experts [...]

One of my friends - who is also a writer - asked what sacrifices I’ve made as a full-time freelance writer. My immediate reaction was, “Sacrifices? What sacrifices? I love writing - I’ve made no sacrifices! Are you insane??!!”
But I was wrong. There are sacrifices to a freelance writing career.
For instance, check out this poem [...]

If I could attend a writing conference (or a conference for entrepreneurs) every month, I’d be one happy woman! Here’s what I learned in my three days at the Surrey International Writer’s Conference in October, 2008.
First, a quip from best-selling author Mary Jo Putney: “Writers are introverted and insecure.”
I’m a little insulted by that. I [...]

Vancouver technologist and writer Darren Barefoot, who just posted his 5,000th article on his blog, spoke at the Surrey International Writers’ Conference in British Columbia about the fundamentals of blogging. Here’s what I learned!
First, a quip about writing:
“You don’t write because you want to say something; you write because you’ve got to say something” - [...]