Category: Writing
-
What to Do When Your Draft Isn’t Working
A Writer’s Guide to Not Spiraling Every writer has a few moments in the drafting or revising process where they stop, stare at the manuscript, and think, Oh no. This is a disaster. You know the moments I’m talking about: your plot veers off in twelve directions, your characters are suddenly acting like they have…
-
Querying Mistakes I Made (So You Don’t Have To)
We’ve all been there, right? The endless querying trenches, staring at your inbox like it might suddenly start producing miracles. In my last post, I talked about the things that helped me finally land my dream agent (after, ahem, a very long road). But if I’m being honest, that road was also paved with a…
-
How to Be More Creative
Tips to help you banish doubt and be more creative. “I could never do that.” “I’m just not creative.” I’ve heard my fair share of dismissive remarks from people (friends, students, etc.) about creativity. They often sound like a variation on the same theme: I’m simple not made that way. This idea that some lucky…
-
How to Find a Literary Agent
Five places to help you find your perfect literary agent! So you wrote a book. Amazing! Kudos friend, because that is not an easy thing to do! But what’s next? For many writers, myself included, traditional publishing is the goal. You want to see you beautiful book baby in your hands, in bookstores, and enjoyed…
-
Five Things Your First Page Needs
Use these five tips to nail your novel open and grab your reader on the first page! At a time in which you have about 13 seconds to capture a reader’s attention, writing a captivating first page matters! And if you plan to query agents to try and find a champion for your book, this…
-
How to Brainstorm
How to Brainstorm to find you next novel idea. “Where do your ideas come from?” “How do you know what to write about?” People ask authors these kinds of questions all this time, and I don’t know if there’s a good answer. A great idea isn’t something that authors are blessed with and nobody else…
-
Stop Comparing Your Writing Journey!
It’s time to stop comparing your writing journey to others’ and find the joy in writing again! How many writers do you follow on social media? I’m curious, because I follow quite a few. Mostly for inspiration but also because I want to connect with other people who do what I do. And it’s a…
-
“The Fifth Taste” Published in Muse Magazine
My nonfiction article “The Fifth Taste” was published in Muse Magazine! I love food. And research. And research about food. And making food taste good. And writing. And I got to combine all of those loves into one fun article for Muse magazine! Muse magazine is science and discovery magazine for ages 9-14 and is…
-
5 Common Mistakes of New Writers
Avoid these common mistakes made by new writers! I’ve been writing for a long time. A LONG time. Years. Over a decade. And while I still have plenty of writing goals I want to hit, I can say with full certainty, that I have learned a LOT along the way. And like most lessons learned…
-
“The Three Brujas” Published in Touchdown Magazine
My story, “The Three Brujas” is published in Touchdown magazine! I read the book Born to Run years ago, and to this day it is one of my favorite running books. The book explores distance running by looking at several different cultures where running is part of the lifestyle. And no culture has a bigger…
cathrynfree.com 