Very few, if any, authors look forward to writing the dreaded query letter. And honestly, who can blame them? After spending countless hours alone and staring at a computer screen crafting what will eventually become your novel, your baby, you have to condense all of that hard work into just 3-5 paragraphs. You have just ONE PAGE to get […]
To most people Wednesday equals Hump Day. They have made it halfway through their work week and the weekend is just around the corner. They are one step closer to Friday. But, not Agile Writers members. To us, Wednesdays mean that we can leave our working lives for two hours and enter the world of writing. Which for most is […]
Today’s writers contend with distractions inconceivable to writers of the past. It has almost become pat to discuss the diversions inherent in living in our modern, digitally connected world. But these problems of instant gratification and endless attention shifting are even more lethal to the creative than they are to the average citizen. The writing process requires a lot of […]
In a recent chapter of Lawrence Block’s Telling Lies for Fun and Profit he talked about a phenomenon he calls “burning the raft at both ends.” By which he means, consuming one’s own life experiences in the service of one’s writing. According to Block, you can use up your life. You can run out of experiences. You can write through […]
One of the things I teach in my seminar on The Agile Writer Method is that the climax is the seventh and final turning point in the story. There is the classic climax where the hero defeats the villain and solves the main goal of the story. But there other ways to handle a climax. One of them is what I […]
The wind barreled down the concrete breezeway and slapped my bare cheek as I walked through the library doors. I held a tottering stack of books flush against my chest, their corners digging into my ribs through my sweater. Inside the library, I had felt calm, as I usually do. The dank, dusty smell and crowded embrace of so many […]
By James Bono Twas the night before Thursday. Throughout Martins’ store Rishonda was browbeating us to write more. “Ten pages are sent every Sunday by peak agile writers. So how was your week?” Elevator pitches graced those who would dare, in hopes that Saint Gregory soon would be there. Each writer was nestled all snug in his seat while visions […]
Confession time. Half of this word really scares me. Also, it makes me a little angry, a little frustrated, and a little unsure about my ability to succeed as a writer. Here’s why: I’m not so sure that the skills needed to be a successful writer can cohabitate with the skills necessary to be a great entrepreneur, brander, marketer, social […]
I think there are times when attempting to judge our own work is detrimental to the process. True, we must be discerning. I am in no way advocating that we sit down and type out the first 60,000 words that pop into our heads, self-publish it and wait for the accolades and zillions of dollars to come pouring in. On […]
“You don’t have to be a great grammarian or great speller to write a novel. You don’t have to have connections in the writing world. What you need is a passion for your story and a plan to complete. You bring the passion, we’ll bring the plan.” -Greg Smith (2011) Founder Agile Writers Creator of the Agile Writer Method