There are no rules when it comes to writing. Therefore, writers should never be shy about pushing the limits of their stories and characters. Granted, that doesn’t mean everything you write will be well received, let alone commercially viable, but don’t let that stop y...

You just got signed by a literary agent. CONGRATULATIONS! Your new literary agent just sold your first novel. DOUBLE CONGRATULATIONS! Cue the band, drop the confetti, pop the champagne. It’s time to celebrate! Wait, what?  There’s still work to be done? Um, what the h...

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. There isn’t a person alive who hasn’t heard that adage. Amazingly, it applies perfectly to the literary arena.

Think I’m kidding? When was the last time you perused the New York Times Best Seller list? If you’re a writer with intentions...

Screenwriting is amazing on so many levels. Beyond the money and fame—if you’re lucky enough to achieve super-scribe status, that is—screenwriting allows writers to flex their creative grey matter, quite possibly resulting in a finished product that will be talked abou...

Growing up, gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson was my literary idol—not because of his rampant drug and alcohol use (pronounced abuse), but simply for his wacky, wayyyyyyyyyy outside-the-box approach to the events he covered. Rather than just report the story (ho-hum)...

The beauty of the literary profession is that it’s wide open to all manner of tastes, tones, styles and abilities. For example, you need not be a master storyteller to have a successful writing career. The arena of nonfiction has innumerable subcategories, and publishe...

 Besides the material you’re trying (hoping!) to publish or sell, a query letter is the most important document you will ever write. If that sounds like I’m being overly dramatic, consider the intended purpose of the query letter—to introduce your work (and yourself!)...

Depending on the state of your literary career, an agent or manager could very well be the final ingredient in your recipe of success.

One of the most important but often overlooked aspects of any literary career is what happens immediately after a publishing deal has been inked—namely, how you deal with your new editor and publisher, which oftentimes is the exact same individual.

Unless the entirety o...

To make that unpublished-to-unstoppable transition happen, you need to write. And to write, you really have to live. You have to experience the world around you in all its splendor and glory—and oftentimes its ugly vagaries, as well. What I’m saying is, while you could...