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You’ve heard all the rules to get yourself to write—work on a schedule, write in a particular place, always write a certain number of works, and so on … all rules based on things that have worked for other writers.

But what works for you? What will get your book written?

Psychotherapist and writing coach Bill O’Hanlon has written a new book that provides NO rules—just principles and methods that you can personalize to your own style and preferences. In Write Is a Verb, you’ll learn that you don’t have to be a natural writer or a good writer to write; you just have to write, and find out what uniquely motivates you to write.

Write Is a Verb is the literary equivalent of Prozac, cattle prods, M&Ms, and whatever else you need to get moving, get writing, and get it done. It also comes with a DVD workshop featuring an hour-long workshop with author Bill O’Hanlon, all worksheets from the book in electronic form, plus four instructional podcasts.

Click here for an exclusive online excerpt from Chapter 1.

This book is a zinger! Police Procedure & Investigation is packed with all-you-need-to-know detail, yet it reads like a best-selling thriller. I know it’s a “Guide for Writers,” but I think anyone interested in the world of law enforcement should get a copy. Read it on the beach, read it on the train, read it on your way to a murder scene.
—Jeffery Deaver, author of The Bone Collector and The Sleeping Doll

Read an Excerpt!

Police Procedure & Investigation won’t hit store shelves for a few more weeks, but you can read an excerpt today! Click here to view or download an excerpt from Chapter 7: Crime Scene Investigation.

Meet the Author

Don’t miss out on your chance to hear author Lee Lofland speak. A nationally acclaimed expert on police procedures and crime scene investigations who consults regularly with best-selling authors and television producers, Lee Lofland will appear at these upcoming events:

August 3-5, 2007
Willamette Writers Conference
Portland, Oregon
www.willamettewriters.com

August 24-25, 2007
Columbus Writers Conference
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.creativevista.com

October 26-28, 2007
South Carolina Writers Workshop
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
www.myscww.org

November 1-4, 2007
Forensics University, 50 Ways To Catch a Killer
featuring D.P. Lyle, Jan Burke, Eileen Dreyer, and Lee Lofland
Presented by Sisters in Crime
St. Louis, Missouri
http://www.sistersincrime.org/ForensicU/

November 9-11, 2007
New England Crime Bake
Featuring the mock trial of Jack Reacher with Lee Child, Lee Lofland, Michele Martinez, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and Julia Spencer-Fleming.
http://crimebake.org/index.htm
Presented by Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime
Dedham, Massachusetts

If you’ve always wanted to write down the story of your life but haven’t known quite how to get started, then you will love the advice from You Don’t Have to Be Famous: How to Write the Story of Your Life by Steve Zousmer. The book is filled with helpful advice about the process of writing your autobiography or memoir, but here’s a sneak peak at Chapter Nine: Strategies for a Good Start to help get you moving.

WHAT MAKES A GOOD START GOOD?

A good start to your story will:

To learn even more, visit the excerpt from chapter nine posted at www.wdeditors.com/wordpress/spring-2007-titles/you-don’t-have-to-be-famous/.

Our very own Cap’n George Choundas, author of The Pirate Primer, was one of the featured speakers at the first annual PyrateCon in New Orleans over the weekend. Cap’n Choundas offered these words and photos to recap his fantastic experience in The Big Easy:

“I had a great time. The presentation I gave was on five or six topics in the book, selected more for their proximity to entertaining anecdotes and riffs (of which there were many) than anything else. Definitely a discussion of ‘arrgh.’ You can’t leave that out, of course. I also threw in three foreign words every pirate should know. The talk I gave–along, of course, with the slot occupied by the founders of Talk Like a Pirate Day themselves–were by far the two best-attended talks during Friday and Saturday of the conference. The Barnes & Noble on-site vendor reported that the Primer had been their best seller, and they sold out by Saturday mid-afternoon. The conference director advised that next year’s event would be twice as big and held in the heart of the French Quarter, so that should be even more heavily attended. He invited me to come to next year’s event as well, after mentioning that he had heard from attendees that my presentation was ‘amazing,’ which was nice to hear. And New Orleans is still the most beautiful place on earth, flood or no flood.

I had an interview chat on Thursday, such that we caught the following excellent coverage, which was picked up by both CNN and MSN, at least.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/21/pirate.convention.ap/index.html

Also gave a radio interview to BilgeMonkey, which will be airing both excerpts from the interview and excerpts/highlights from the presentation itself from time to time.

Finally, attached are a couple of photos from the presentation. (Apologies for the blurriness of the crowd photo!)”

Mewlin fer yer copy of The Pirate Primer, ye vile cur? Hold your tongue and your whinin’ for them that’s at your beck and call, because I ain’t.

But I’ll take pity and toss ye a scrap. Click here to view or download Chapter 8: Insults before the book hits stores next month.

Be sure to catch author (Cap’n) George Choundas at PyrateCon 2007 in New Orleans April 20-22. For more information, visit www.pyratecon.com.

In On Writing Romance, award-winning romance novelist Leigh Michaels breaks down the key components of a good romance novel and shows you how to write your own classic tale. First, it’s important to understand exactly what a romance novel is and how it differs from other genres. According to Michaels:

In a romance novel, the core story is the developing relationship between a man and a woman. The other events in the story line, though important, are secondary to that relationship. If you were to take out the love story, the rest of the book would be reduced in both significance and interest to the reader to the point that it really wouldn’t be much of a story at all.

Based on this definition, Michaels identifies the four crucial elements of any successful romance novel as:

• a hero and a heroine
• a problem that creates tension between them and threatens to keep them apart
• a developing love that is so special it comes about only once in a lifetime
• a resolution in which the problem is solved and the couple is united

Click here to view or download Chapter 3: Essential Elements, and learn even more about each of these components.

WDB is releasing Writer Mama this March, which is the first ever writing how-to book geared toward stay-at-home moms. For a free preview of what’s inside, explore these options!

Chapter 2: Identify Your Audiences
Download as PDF file.
Click here for plain text version.

Chapter 5: Tackle the Clips Catch-22
Download as PDF file.
Click here for the plain text version.

Also:
Read the excerpt published in Writer’s Digest magazine!

Check out a sample chapter from our new book, Noble’s Book of Writing Blunders. Author William Noble encourages you to find your own writing style by telling you what NOT to do. To see an excerpt of the book, click here.