Writing and publishing articles by author Peter Lyle DeHaan, PhD
A writing methodology that works for everyone who is neither 100 percent outliner nor organic writer I heard several people mention Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Method For Designing a Novel. Eventually, I became curious enough to check out his post on the subject. Though the snowflake fractal intrigued me, the 10 Steps he advances left me […]
To start your own blog, there are two aspects: the technical aspect and the content aspect, what is, what to blog about. Let’s look at the content part of blogging first: Find Your Blog Focus If you write whatever you feel like writing (as I did when I started), you will never find an audience. […]
It’s never been easier to publish a book, but that doesn’t mean we should I once read a self-published book, a novella. I read it for several reasons: it was recommended (which turned out to be a bad reason), it would be a quick read, I’d never read a novella, and it was free (I […]
Some writers discover as they write while others plan their journey before they start In writing, as in life, people tend to follow two modes: pantsing and plotting. On one side are the pantsers, those who write by the seat of their pants. I prefer the label of “discovery writers.” They don’t know where their […]
There are two main points for the proper way to format your submission. First, there are common basic criteria that almost all people agree on. Second, most publishers and editors will tell you what else they expect in their submission guidelines. So, follow these basic formatting expectations in all your work, and then tweak it […]
I’ve been a writer for most of my life and a published author for over thirty. My first article appeared decades ago. The title was “All About Pagers.” It appeared in the now-defunct tech magazine, Radio Electronics. Here’s a link to a scanned image of the cover and article. If you open the link, you’ll […]
I write a lot and in many areas: magazine columns, newsletters, multiple blogs, non-fiction books, memoirs, and I recently added short stories. But this doesn’t sap my creativity; I still have more ideas than the time to explore them. Here’s how I fuel my writing: Keep a List of Blog Ideas: I have a running […]
I once read that blogging is a form of self-publishing. The author’s opinion gave me pause. It seemed a simplistic claim. I felt it in some way diminished the noble art of publishing. Anyone can blog, and it seems most everyone does, but not most everyone self-publishes a book, even though the tools are there […]
A common part of many book proposals is a “competitive works” section. I recently researched competitive titles for one of my book proposals. What I saw enlightened me. Traditionally Published Books To research competitive titles, I first looked at books from traditional publishers. They gave me pause. I had to think a bit to determine […]
For years my goal was to write faster, but I made no effort to write better. Though I did improve, my progress was gradual. When I got serious about improving as a writer, I had to force myself to slow down and be more deliberate. Now after many years of focusing on the craft, my […]