Author and former literary agent Nathan Bransford shares his secrets for creating killer plots, fleshing out your first ideas, crafting compelling characters, and staying sane in the process. Read the guide that New York Times bestselling author Ransom Riggs called "The best how-to-write-a-novel book I've read."

How to Get a Break as a Writer deals with an area of writing for a living that remains virtually untouched by most other titles. This is a book about getting breaks, making your own luck and getting hopeful writers to the stage of being taken seriously. It is not a book that tells you how to write your novel, but instead focusses on the range of paid writing opportunities that exist for budding writers. Honest, insightful and challenging, How To Get a Break as a Writer tells it like it is, pulls no punches and delivers a series of chapters setting out the problems faced by aspiring writers. Packed with examples of success and failure, How to Get a Break as a Writer could be your ticket to a new dimension in your writing life.

Out-of-this-world antics in this hysterical middle-grade adventure! Sixth-grader Jacob Wonderbar is a master when it comes to disarming and annihilating substitute teachers. But when he and his best friends, Sarah and Dexter, swap a spaceship for a corn dog, they embark on an outer space adventure. And between breaking the universe with an epic explosion, being kidnapped by a space pirate, and surviving a planet that reeks of burp breath, Jacob and his friends are in way over their heads. Action packed with an added dose of heart, Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow is sure to captivate middlegrade readers all over the universe.

Prime Your Freelance Writing Career for Success! So you want to be a freelance writer. Great! But now you're faced with a laundry list of questions: Should I freelance full time or part time? Should I write for magazines, newspapers, or online markets? How do I dream up the perfect article idea, and how do I pitch it successfully? How do I negotiate contracts, foster relationships with editors, and start getting steady work while avoiding financial panic attacks and unpleasant ulcers? The Essential Guide to Freelance Writing answers all of these questions--and much more. From breaking in to navigating the basics of the business, this book is your road map to a fruitful and rewarding freelance life. You'll learn how to: • Dig into various markets, including consumer magazines, trade journals, newspapers, and online venues. • Make your digital mark and build your writing platform. • Pitch like a pro and craft solid query letters that get responses. • Conduct professional interviews in person, by phone, or by e-mail. • Write and structure various types of articles, from front-of-the-book pieces to profiles and features. • Quit your lackluster day job, and live the life you've always wanted. Filled with insider secrets, candid advice, and Zachary Petit's trademark humor and blunt honesty, The Essential Guide to Freelance Writing won't just show you how to survive your freelancing writing career--it will teach you how to truly thrive.

Describes the nature of writer's block, suggests exercises designed to break it, and tells how to set up a work schedule

Here is a proven book to help scholars master writing as a productive, enjoyable, and successful experience -- Author, Robert Boice, prepared this self-help manual for professors who want to write more productively, painlessly, and successfully. It reflects the author's two decades of experiences and research with professors as writers -- by compressing a lot of experience into a brief, programmatic framework. Like the actual sessions and workshops in which the author works with writers, this book admonishes and reassures. In the innovative book lies the path for sustained, highly productive scholarly writing!

From the mind behind Shadow of an Empire and Colony comes a new YA Fantasy adventure full of friendship, discovery, and finance! Meet Axtara, a young dragon just leaving the nest in pursuit of her lifelong dream: To own and operate her own bank. Her destination? The edge of known civilization: Elnacier. The coastal kingdom is small, but brimming with natural resources and poised for an economic boom if the right conditions can be met. If. Change is never easy, and Axtara is going to have her claws full founding Elnacier's first bank as she runs up against skeptical townsfolk, stubborn ministers, suspicious business owners, and tradition itself. Especially as she's also about to be Elnacier's first dragon ...

These eleven short fictions evoke the microcosmic worlds every human relationship contains. A woman is captivated by the stories her boyfriend tells about his exes. A faltering artist goes on a date with a married couple. Twin brothers work out their rivalry via the girl next door. In every one of these tales, we meet indelibly real and unforgettable people, a cast of rebels and dreamers trying to transform themselves, forge new destinies, or simply make the moment last.

More than 80% of the global population want to write a book, but the majority never do. Fear, anxiety, day jobs, family commitments, procrastination, depression, self-doubt, and the ubiquitous 'writer's block' all get in the way. But what if they didn't have to? Kristina Adams draws on her 20 years in the literary world to help you build a sustainable writing practice that adapts to your lifestyle, whatever that may be. You'll be the most productive you've ever been in no time.

You can't go back. You can't go back. You can't go back. Ten years ago, Wendy Lake fell in love with Simon Guidry, who grew up and went away. Now, not much has changed. She's back at home, back from college, almost back to normal. Until Wendy's best friend gets engaged, sending Simon ricocheting back into her life, and leaving Wendy with the questions she's been struggling to ignore. Do people ever really change? Do two people, who can never make it work, actually make it right? And most importantly, does she even want to?