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“Imagination is as good as many voyages – and how much cheaper!” – George William Curtis “Imagination is what you do with your inspiration.” – Violet Haberdasher “The imagination needs moodling – long, inefficient happy idling, dawdling and puttering.” – Brenda Ueland “The artist must bow to the monster of his own imagination.” – Richard WrightContinue reading “5 Great Quotations about Imagination”

Once you’ve decided to use your home for your business, setting up an office space comes next. That shouldn’t be too difficult for most authors, as they already work from home. If you write at your kitchen table or just head to the coffeeshop to pen your novel, though, you’ll have to make some adjustments. First,Continue reading “How to Set Up a Home Office Space”

Don’t let these two words hold up your writing! Stickup is a noun meaning a robbery at gunpoint, as in That convenience store has seen more stickups this year than any other in New York City. Stick up is a verb in which a person raises his or her hands straight up in the air, which is what policeContinue reading “Robbed by Bad Grammar: Stick Up vs. Stickup”

“Writing became such . . . that I couldn’t wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say.” – Sharon O’Brien “Love is easy, and I love writing. You can’t resist love. You get an idea, someone says something, and you’re in love.” – Ray Bradbury “ForContinue reading “5 Great Quotations about the Writing Life”

“Prune what is turgid, elevate what is commonplace, arrange what is disorderly, introduce rhythm where the language is harsh, modify where it is too absolute.” – Marcus Fabius Quintilianus “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” – Thomas Jefferson “Write drunk; edit sober.” – Peter De Vries (oftenContinue reading “Five Great Quotations about Editing”

One of your biggest selling points, especially if a novelist, is that you’re “local.” While that can only take you so far, you’d be foolish not to fully harness it. A lot of businesses and institutions “local” products or those about their region. Among them:• Libraries• Tourism bureaus and historical societies• Gift shops• Book stores• StoresContinue reading “Marketing Tip: Harness Your “Local” Status”

• Rules for spelling possessive nouns • Double or single l when adding a suffix?• Correct method for making ‘process’ plural• Split infinitives: To quickly confuse or not to confuse ______________ My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer aContinue reading “4 Must-Know Spelling Rules for Writers”

Science fiction stories typically revolve around a novum, a scientifically plausible concept that is a “reality” in the tale. The novum might be an mechanical device like robot servants, artificial intelligence, or space stations with artificial gravity; it also can be a hypothetical idea such as “The Earth is a scientific experiment run by aliens toContinue reading “5 Great Sci-Fi Writing Prompts”

“A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket.” – Charles Peguy “Literature is the art of using words. This is not a platitude, but a truth of the first importance, a truth so profound that many writersContinue reading “5 Great Quotations about Word Choice”