The Story of a Writing Tips Book (& a Title Announcement!)

If you haven’t heard me screaming it from the rooftops lately, I have some news. But I’m a writer, so let me set the scene.

In the summer of 2012, I wanted to rethink the blog I had been dabbling with on my website, and after some experimentation on social media, my “Wednesday Writing Tips” began with a discussion of the differences between “farther” and “further” as well as a shout-out to the James River Writers Conference that was about to happen that year.

If anyone has ever told you that blogging is a waste of time for a writer, I’m here to prove you wrong.

In 2015, after three years of weekly blogging and a few posts that made it to the top of Google’s search results, I was finally convinced to gather my top 100 tips in an ebook and to self-publish. As a bit of a marketing experiment, I did it, and Alright? Not All Right: 100 Writing Tips for the Curious or Confused was born. A few months after its August launch, I had an offer of a buy-out from a top-tier dictionary website, but the terms weren’t quite right. Only then did I realize that I had something here.

If anyone has ever told you that self-publishing is “lesser” or cannot further your career, don’t believe them. When you take the time to do it right, it can have its rewards.

Amid work (and pitches to agents) on my fiction, I began a conversation about my blog and my concept for a larger sourcebook with the ever-brilliant and savvy Lisa Hagan of Lisa Hagan Literary. Sure, “began a conversation” is another way to say “queried” and “crafted a proposal for,” but you get the idea.

In August of this year, not only did I sign Lisa Hagan as my non-fiction literary agent, but a week and a half after that, she helped me sell my book to Career Press.

This writing business is hard. Hard. It feels like it beats you up sometimes, and being beaten up by blinking cursors and Times New Roman just isn’t any fun.

But if anyone has ever laughed at you for your dream of publishing, the best way to answer is simply to prove them wrong.

Now, I’m scribbling ferociously to finish my manuscript, loving every second of writing about possessive apostrophes and “less” versus “fewer,” and I’m thrilled to announce a title.

Get a Grip on Your Grammar:

250 Writing and Editing Reminders for the Curious or Confused

The Twitter Generation needs a writing sourcebook that’s more their style, and in mid-2017, they’ll have it.

Now, if you’re curious and start poking around my blog, you’ll probably notice a few changes. Most obviously, over 100 of my past writing tips are no longer there. They’ve been tucked away for safe keeping, and they’ll reappear in a new and expanded form in the book. In a book. My book. Excuse me, but I really like saying that.

Thanks for all of the support over the years. I cannot say how much I appreciate it!

More updates are surely to come. Happy writing, everyone!