There's no reason you can't be the next wildly successful writer and my new e-book will show you how. I'm pretty excited about this new e-book and I hope you'll share my excitement by getting your copy now for the introductory price. Writing for Publication has been a long time coming in e-book form. I had published a shorter writing book, Write, then Publish. Today , but this new, revised version is the complete course, revised and updated just in time for the new year. This comprehensive course is an easy-to-read, to-the-point handbook for writers of all genres and all levels. As a private writing coach, I use these step-by-step methods in my coaching....and my students get published. From an 87-year-old great grandmother who wrote her first article in longhand on the back of a store ad, to a 14-year-old girl who wanted to enter a school writing contest, my students get published and win awards. I've coached pastors who wanted to be published in religious...

This half-hour long video of Taylor Swift meeting with some young kids discussing reading and writing is filled with sound advice for any writer of any genre. Taylor partnered with Scholastic to provide 25,000 new books for NYC schools. Taylor then donated her time to do this webcast with these great kids. This webcast is worth every minute of it's short 30-minute length and I highly suggest all writers listen to and watch the video .  A few of my favorite quotes from the webcast are: "Journaling is what made me discover that I loved poetry and poetry is so close to song writing in concept." "Writing your feelings down simplifies them." "If you make writing something you look forward to, who knows where it will take you?  Who knows if you'll start to think about story lines and you'll decide that you want to write a book someday?" "There are so many things you can discover about yourself if you write." ...

Do you have a plan for your writing? Did you write it down? One key point I tell my writing students is to have a written plan, much like a business plan, for their writing. A written plan is so important. In my soon-to-be-published revised edition of my writing book, I go into more detail about this. In a nutshell, this graphic explains why you need a written plan: There's power in writing something down. Writing it down makes it real and tangible. You can reread it. You can use it to keep you on track. A written goal is more viable. It grows from an idea to a possibility then a reality. Write often. Write well. Just write. ~Tricia

Today as I sit here and enjoy all my first-world privileges, get frustrated about my first-world problems and live in the lap of luxury in a carpeted house with full temperature controls and bathrooms galore and all kinds of entertainment at my fingertips, plenty of food in the house, things to support my hobbies, wifi as a given and stores all around me where I can buy whatever I want, whenever I want, and a car to drive me there and literally lacking nothing at all.....I wi ll bask in my first-world life because of those who served and the so very many who gave their lives so that I can have such a luxurious, plentiful life.  Yes, I care about those less fortunate in the world and give to missions that take the Gospel of Christ to them (since He is the only way to improvement of their lives), and also take medical services to them, etc. I give to them since I am unable to go myself.  But, when someone minimizes an American hardship by calling it a first-world problem, I thin...

I recently met a woman with a story to tell. She found out I'm a writer and began to tell me her story, in a nutshell, and said she'd like to write a book about her story one day. Her story is interesting and intriguing. I asked, "Why not now?" She said she was going to wait till her children were out of college and didn't need her so much. Then I dropped a bombshell on her. I said, "It's too late to wait, you've already started," and when she looked at me in surprise, I explained that the thinking process of any book, article or blog post is part of the writing process. Yes, it's too late to wait; you've already started if you are so much as thinking about writing a book. Write often. Write well. Just write. ~Tricia

You need an editor, even for the smallest communications going out to the public. Whether you are advertising eye exams or cavity protection, a unique product or a much-needed service, your advertising needs editing. Take this picture for example: Had this company had an editor, it's highly unlikely they would have spent the money on a poster such as this. Do you see the problem? Editors find these problems and fix them before they go to print. Don't be caught without an editor. You may end up offering services you cannot and don't want to fulfill. ~Tricia

I started writing early in life. As a child, I wrote long, elaborate stories while sitting in a hollow tree down by the creek and it was an absolute escape for me. But, it never occurred to me to share that writing with anyone else. I did writing assignments in school with gusto and always got good grades on them, but it still didn't occur to me to write something that anyone else would want to read. My teachers had assigned the writing, so it was their demand I wrote for. I didn't write anything for anyone other than my teachers and myself to read. Then I got to college and a professor at Summit University (then Baptist Bible College of PA), Glenn Crabb, changed my life. I wrote a paper for his class and I not only got an A on the paper, he wrote a note in red at the top. He simply said, "Reading your writing is just like talking to you. You should write." I was not used to receiving compliments. His words astounded me, but it took years before I had the ner...