Contests can pay off, even if you don’t win. Each February, the deadline shows up for the Writer’s League of Texas Manuscript Contest. It can be a difficult contest to win: it expects authors to present their books in just 2,750 words. That includes a synopsis. The goodness of your full book has to be […]

Authors need validation from the outside. It can be as simple as getting a friend or a loved one to read and praise the early writing, or as complex as following a 2,700-word instruction manual for submitting a 7,500-word entry in a contest. Many steps lie between those extremes. Above them all are the ultimate […]