Special Features

Want some inspiration for your writing? Christmas is around the corner. Imagine your world filled with mistletoe, sinful treats like rich coffee, chocolate and mascarpone torte, caramel and nut tart, Christmas tree, gifts, friends and family. Over the years, Christmas has inspired some great tales. The spirit of love, sacrifice, forgiveness and generosity that Christmas … [Read more...] about 5 Christmas Tales to Inspire Your Writing

Social media is an ever-expanding space that is increasingly used by writers. Writers are using it to promote their content and engage with their readers. The Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho has 9.6 million followers on Twitter and 22.8 million fans on Facebook. Neil Gaiman has over 2 million followers on Twitter. Salman Rushdie uses social media to voice his opinions and to grow … [Read more...] about How Writers Can Increase Their Social Influence

  Image Copyright: arsty / 123RF Stock Photo Writers, no matter how good or talented, are still human. It’s understandable if you sometimes feel slighted by a brutal negative book review or even by a well-meaning but still negative one. However, acting out on the perceived slight is an entirely different thing – if you do it the wrong way, you may end up … [Read more...] about How to Deal with Negative Book Reviews in a Dignified Way

Mentoring a writer takes particular skill, and a good writer is not necessarily a good mentor. The situation is further complicated if you are mentoring a young writer. You need to avoid being too aggressive because that could scare them into quitting, but being too lax might result in them not learning anything. If you want to be an effective guide, you need to understand … [Read more...] about What Young Writers Need from a Mentor

If you’re one of the few people left in the world who still think that writers don’t really have any value in the grand scheme of things, you might want to rethink your stance because there are a number of powerful ways in which writers change the world. Some of these include the following: 1. Preserving History Word of mouth is hardly a reliable vehicle for handing down … [Read more...] about 5 Powerful Ways Writers Change the World