Elena Taylor

Award winning mystery writer, Allen Eskens: The Interview Part I

Your education as a writer started in Journalism then went on to graduate work at the Minnesota State University, the Iowa Summer Writing Festival, and The LoftWriting Center. How have those different experiences helped you forge your voice?                                                                           Before studying creative writing, I already had a degree in journalism and had excelled in legal writing […]

The Interview — Part II

Scroll Down For Part I Understanding your son’s autism informs how you understand being a writer and finding truth and joy in life. How do the vulnerabilities of being a father (to an autistic child) and the vulnerabilities of being a writer (and public figure) compare? Let me begin by saying that I don’t really […]

Spotlight on Motivation! How do you keep writing…

The last few weeks I’ve covered some things to think about before you submit that manuscript you’ve been working on for the last ________ (fill in the blank: month, year, decade). These tips have probably given you ideas to take into your next rewrite or maybe confirmed you really are ready for submitting. But regardless […]

Staying Motivated to Write: Part II

Last week I compared writing to going to the gym. You know you’ll feel good after you get there, but it’s hard to get off the couch. I’m going to stick with that comparison again and talk about scheduling your writing time. Just as people are more likely to stay with an exercise regime if […]

Motivation Part I

One of the hardest things about being a writer can be sitting down in front of the computer day after day, without knowing if anything will ever “come” of all the work you’ve been doing. Regardless of whether you are thinking about the New York Times Best Seller List or just finishing a first draft […]

A Few Things To Know Before You Submit

You work for months, maybe even years, and finally get to type those two, beautiful little words: The End.Now what?Look for an agent? Self-publish? Submit to Independent Presses? There are lots of roads an author can go down, but are you ready for that step?June’s Spotlight will highlight some areas you might just want to […]

The Devil is in the Details

Once you feel your manuscript is “done,” one of the best things you can do is set it aside and ignore it for a few days, weeks, or months. Work on something else, take a vacation, do some laundry. Fill your mind with other things. Then- After your work has sat – go back and […]

Character Development

Character Development Last week I wrote about formatting. Regardless of whether I’m working on a stage script or a manuscript, I always try to write with correct format on the first draft. For me, it saves time later, and I find it easier to read. (For those of you writing stage or screenplays, there are […]

Formatting Manuscripts/Content/Genre

The Literary world is full of gatekeepers.  Publishers have editors. Reaching an editor often requires an agent. Reaching an agent requires an introduction. An introduction usually requires either a good, solid query letter or a positive critique session at a conference. A good, solid query letter or a positive critique session requires … an excellent […]

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