Strong verbs transform your writing from drab, monotonous, unclear, and amateurish to engaging, professional, and emotionally powerful. Which is all to say, if you’re not using strong verbs in your writing, you’re missing one of the most important stylistic techniques. Why listen to Joe? I’ve been a professional writer for more than a decade, writing […]

Honing your craft is one of the most important things you can do as an author. And when it comes to sharpening my writing skills, MasterClass is one of my go-to solutions. Recently I really enjoyed learning about how to write memorable character and more about the creative process with the Judy Blume’s MasterClass. This […]

No matter your role inside business today, you’re probably feeling it. Stress and burnout levels are high and the overall engagement of many employees is alarmingly low. The latest data on employee engagement from Gallup indicate just 32% of full- and part-time U.S. employees are engaged at work, while 18% are actively disengaged. All of […]

One thing writers have told me consistently is that knowing story structure and the major plot points—or points of a story—makes writing great stories easier. But what are the main points of a story? How can you get them into your books? I’ve personally found story structure to be incredibly helpful, not just in writing […]

Young adult novels have never been more popular. Some of my favorites began with the rise of Harry Potter and continued with hits like The Fault in Our Stars, The Hunger Games, and Divergent. If this is one of your favorite markets, you might wonder how to write a YA novel? Learning how to write […]

Summer is the season for road trips. Whether you are on the road yourself or only dreaming of a vacation, today we have some road trip writing prompts to make the time fly. Try one out today! This prompt was originally posted in June, 2012. Today, I’m traveling overseas and thought a few of you […]

You’ve probably heard people decry the use of the passive voice. “Avoid it at all costs!” they say. That’s a little misleading. Let’s look at active vs. passive voice and when to use each. First off, let’s understand what we mean when we’re talking about “voice” in a passive sentence versus an active voice sentence. […]

Have you ever experienced writer’s burnout? Although I call myself a writer, the last few months I haven’t been writing. I’m not sure exactly what happened, but somewhere between ghostwriting projects and blog posts, I just stopped working on my own writing projects. I couldn’t put words on a page, and when I did, the […]

What is tone in writing and why does it matter? Tone is key to all communication. Think of the mother telling her disrespectful child, “Watch your tone, young man.” Or the sarcastic, humorous tone of a comedian performing stand up. Or the awe filled way people speak about their favorite musician, author, or actor. Or […]

Summer is the perfect time and season to practice writing and let it feel more like play than work. Today, I’ve collected a list of summer writing prompts: enough to write one per day of the season!  A few summers ago, I led summer writing camps for kids called Write Camp. It was a blast […]