Have you ever made a new writing goal only to find yourself getting distracted, giving up and failing? The sad fact is, that a staggering 82% of new years resolutions fail.

-Allison Gorner

Opal Writers Magazine 2020

You’ve nailed down your main character and constructed a worthy adversary and now need to flesh out the cast and people in your book. You need more characters.

-Allison Gorner

Opal Writers Magazine 2020

I didn’t finish my first book until I was on maternity leave with my third child. She’s nine now. That book was The Fountain, which became my debut novel. I’m often asked why that was the book I finished, at a time in my life when I had so much going on. The answer for me was that I finally knew wanted I wanted to say to the world with my writing.

By Suzi Vadori, Author (The Fountain)

Opal Writers Magazine 2020

Setting goals for your home office space will help you to be more focused and efficient in your writing time. 

-By Barbori Garnet

Opal Writers Magazine 2020

The characters we create don’t come into being on the first page of the manuscript, they need backstories full of brokenness, just like us. The emotional events in a character’s past will determine the decisions she makes, how she acts, and the lies she tells herself.

-Allison Gorner

Opal Writers Magazine 2020

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://wp.me/p5zZbn-Lk

The concept of “show, don’t tell” is one of the most misunderstood pieces of writing advice and one of the hardest to implement consistently in both fiction and non-fiction. 

-Suzy Vadori, Author

Opal Writers Magazine

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://wp.me/p5zZbn-Lo

In growing your network, promoting and building others to support them allows you to stand out as someone people want in their network.

-Catherine Saykaly-Stevens, The Networking Web

Opal Writers Magazine

This episode is also available as a blog post: https://wp.me/p5zZbn-Fo

By Sheila S Hudson

A humorous look at writing.

Opal Writers Magazine APRIL 2022

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://opalpublishing.ca/2022/04/08/the-shower-muse/

By Allison Gorner

A great title and an eye-catching cover will entice readers to pick up your book (or click on the link), but the back-cover blurb is what will persuade them to read it.

Opal Writers Magazine

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://opalpublishing.ca/2022/04/09/how-to-write-a-back-cover-blurb/

BY JAMES OSBORN, AUTHOR

Successful writers know that no piece of writing, be it a short story, essay, or book-length manuscript, should ever be submitted to an agent or editor until it has been critiqued by at least one other person, ideally a trusted beta reader, and best of all an editor qualified in the genre of your piece. 

Opal Writers Magazine APRIL 2022

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://opalpublishing.ca/2022/04/11/some-thoughts-on-rejection/