Want an agent? If you do, try not to shoot yourself in the foot.

This post gives you great advice — things you shouldn’t say in your agent query letter. Glass Cases: Stop Helping Yourself. I liked this one:

““My manuscript has been professionally edited.”
The first question that always comes to mind is “by whom?” Your friend who works at the local newspaper? A college writing professor? Your aunt who reads a lot? There are plenty of freelance editors out there whose opinions are professional and whose judgment I would respect as an agent. However, even if you used professional services, there is no reason to say that in your query. It tells me nothing about the quality of your writing or whether I’d be interested in your book. “

Here’s a tip: forget getting an agent until you have an offer from a publisher.

New writers, and professional writers who should know better, think that all you need is an agent, and fame and money await. That’s rarely the case, and in the early stages of your career, an agent can do you more harm than good.

Do you want to write a book? Perhaps you feel you could, but think that you need some training first. Yes, that may help, but in this article I’ll share a method that you can use immediately, even if you’e a completely new writer.

Over the years, I’ve written many books. I’ve come to know that starting and completing a novel or nonfiction book just means putting one word after another, and not stopping until the end.

Here’s my super-simple and easy method to help you to write a novel.

1. Brainstorm a Title

An inspirational title can act as the compass which guides you from beginning to end.

Start by selecting a genre: mystery, romance, science fiction — your choice. Not only do readers in a genre respond to an evocative title, booksellers have expectations of titles in a genre too — they want to know in which section of the store they should shelve YOUR book.

Let’s imagine that you’re writing a mystery.

Look at your bookshelf for inspiration, or check out the bestseller lists to get into the mood to brainstorm titles.

Mysteries will often include words like: “death”, “bones”, and “murder.”

The only criterion your novel’s title needs is that it should be mysterious.

Set a timer, and brainstorm titles for five minutes.

2. Brainstorm a Fantastic Situation, the Crazier the Better

All done? Excellent. Choose a title — any title from the ones you’ve brainstormed. Remember that you can always change your title later. Your publisher my decide to change it too, so you don’t need to obsess. A title just gets you moving forward.

Now you have your title, it’s time to brainstorm a fantastically crazy situation.

Mysteries usually involve a crime of some sort, often murder. So, who’s your victim? Why was he/ she murdered?

How was he/ she murdered? Where was he/ she murdered?

At this stage, you don’t need a complete plot, you just need enough material to become enthusiastic and inspired.

So there you have it. Brainstorm a title and a situation, and you’re well on the way to writing your book.

Get the help you need to write YOUR novel

Need inspiration and motivation while you’re writing a book? Angela Booth’s writing class, “Write More And Make More Money From Your Writing: Develop A Fast, Fun Productive Writing Process” at will help. This class is based on exclusive lessons she developed for her private coaching students to help them to write more, improve their writing, and to make more money writing. Have Angela at your side while you write your book.

If you’re stuck writing, her ebook “Top 70 Writing Tips To Help You To Write More” shows you how to end procrastination for good and write more.

Writing a novel is a journey, and it’s never a trouble-free one. Indeed, it can seem as if you’re plunging from one disaster into the next. You will get stuck. Usually, you’ll hit page 100 or Chapter Three, and the book’s problems will seem insurmountable. When you get past Chapter Three, you’ll get stuck again, several more times.

If you expect to get stuck, you’ll succeed in completing your novel. In this article, we’ll look at what you can do to leap over the wall, and rebuild your inspiration. The tips I’m giving you have helped me to complete my own novels and sell them. They work.

Here they are.

Give Every Major Character a Secret

Giving every character a secret helps to drive your book forward. The secret can be major (the innocent-seeming heroine is wanted by Interpol) to minor (the heroine is addicted to shopping for expensive shoes).

So when you get stuck, give a character a secret. You’ll need to do some rewriting. However, do not rewrite immediately, make some notes, and leave rewriting until you’ve completed the book.

Introduce a New Character

Just create a new character. This may be enough to get you past your block, and moving forward again.

Kill a Character

By the time you’ve reached page 100, your characters should be alive to you. If they aren’t, killing off a character may help.

Rewrite, in a Different Narrative Mode

Rewriting in a different narrative mode will often get you unstuck. If you’re writing in first person, rewrite a couple of chapters in third person — or write the next chapter in third person.

If you’re a new writer, writing in first person is instinctive. The danger however is that you’ll identify too closely with the “I” character. You’ll make life too easy for your character, and that’s disastrous. Change viewpoint, and make your character suffer.

Changing to another viewpoint will also help you increase suspense.

If you expect to get stuck when you’re writing a novel, you can write your way through the challenges. The above tips will help.

The Write A Book Collection — the ultimate toolbox for writing and selling your books

These days it’s crazy to spend years writing a book, without having any idea as to whether or not you can make money from it. If you want to write, you can – you have a global market, which is hungry for information and entertainment. And YOU can provide it… even if you’re a brand new author.

As you may know, I write and sell many writing guides. I also sell information products in many other areas than writing.

I want to show you how you can do the same, if you wish. Your dreams of writing a book can be the spark which changes your life.

I’ve collected everything I know about writing and selling your books into my brand new Write A Book Collection: it’s the ultimate toolbox for anyone who wants to write and sell books in 2010 and beyond.

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Want to write a novel? Many writers are gearing up for NaNoWriMo on November 1, but you can start your novel at any time.

Just decide that that’s what you’ll do.

Yes, you can decide, without a single idea of HOW you’re going to do it, that you’ll start your novel today.

Here’s how.

Write a series of titles, suitable for your genre.

For example, if you’re writing historical romance, you could write:

Lady Annabelle and the Deadly Duke

The Enchanted Duchess

A Gentleman’s Temptation

And etc. — I could keep this up all day, and I’m sure you could too.

By the way, those three titles are off the top of my head — they’re not actual titles — at least I hope they aren’t.

Did you see what happened here?

Firstly, I chose a GENRE — a type of novel, historical romance, in this case.

Next, from my reading in the genre, I created some titles which are suitable for the genre.

If I were doing this for real, I’d brainstorm between 20 and 50 titles, before I chose one. (There are many reasons for doing this, I’ll go into them in a later post.)

The BEST title would jump out at me: I’d get an instant dose of inspiration, with an idea for the plot, the main characters, and some scenes.

Hey presto — within half an hour or less, I’d be well on the way to writing my novel.

Write within a genre, if you want to sell your novel

Here’s a tip about the novelist’s craft. Writing within a genre is important. When they want to buy a book, readers know what they want. They have favorite authors, and in some genres, like historical romance, readers will buy every book their favorite author releases.

Publishers release a certain number of genre novels each month. If they’re heavily represented in a genre, they may release five or more each month. They need authors, so genre publishers are always looking for new voices.

So — what are you waiting for? Start brainstorming your novel.

Apropos of NaNoWriMo, the wonderful Scrivener people have released a preview version of Scrivener 2, which will help you if you’re writing your novel this November.

Also apropos of NaNoWriMo, I wrote a series of NaNoWriMo Quick Start posts in my writing blog, starting in September 2006. Check the blog’s archives to find them — they’ll help you in your NaNoWriMo journey.

The Write A Book Collection — the ultimate toolbox for writing and selling your books

These days it’s crazy to spend years writing a book, without having any idea as to whether or not you can make money from it. If you want to write, you can – you have a global market, which is hungry for information and entertainment. And YOU can provide it… even if you’re a brand new author.

As you may know, I write and sell many writing guides. I also sell information products in many other areas than writing.

I want to show you how you can do the same, if you wish. Your dreams of writing a book can be the spark which changes your life.

I’ve collected everything I know about writing and selling your books into my brand new Write A Book Collection: it’s the ultimate toolbox for anyone who wants to write and sell books in 2010 and beyond.

Are you writing a book? It can be a long journey from the first word to the last page. Some procrastination is natural; but too much can lead to you giving up and never completing the project.

I’ve been writing books since the late 1970s. I’d love to think that I had the creation process down pat, but each book is different. You’re always facing the blank page and occasionally, you run out of courage.

Here are four ways to stop procrastinating.

1. Eliminate Desperation: Relax, and Let Your Book Evolve

You can’t create when you’re tense. How desperate are you to complete your book? You may be extremely desperate if you’re under contract. This stress kills your creativity.

Your first step is to learn some relaxation techniques. You can find relaxation CDs and DVDs everywhere, and you can even download MP3s online.

Make daily relaxation your goal. When you stop being desperate, your creativity blooms.

2. Journal With a Purpose: Ask Yourself Questions

It’s very useful to journal about your book. Write down any and all questions you have about your book. Your questions may be related to the book’s content, to its promotion, or to other things which are going on in your life.

I like to journal early in the morning, answering a question I’ve asked myself the evening before. I’m amazed that this simple process works so well. Try it.

3. Create Space for Your Book: Sit Down to Write Every Day

Schedule your writing time every day, even if you only have 20 minutes.

Then, sit down at your desk at the appointed time. You don’t have to write, but you can’t do anything else either during this period. Disable your Internet connection — no checking email or Facebook.

4. Create a Goal You Believe in, With a Deadline

Goals without deadlines are just dreams. Create a deadline which is shorter than you think you can manage, because this will make you stretch as a writer.

Try these four simple tactics. You’ll be amazed that you write your book without procrastination.

The Write A Book Collection — the ultimate toolbox for writing and selling your books

These days it’s crazy to spend years writing a book, without having any idea as to whether or not you can make money from it. If you want to write, you can – you have a global market, which is hungry for information and entertainment. And YOU can provide it… even if you’re a brand new author.

As you may know, I write and sell many writing guides. I also sell information products in many other areas than writing.

I want to show you how you can do the same, if you wish. Your dreams of writing a book can be the spark which changes your life.

I’ve collected everything I know about writing and selling your books into my brand new Write A Book Collection: it’s the ultimate toolbox for anyone who wants to write and sell books in 2010 and beyond.