Now that you’ve had the pleasure of boiling down your entire novel, memoir or nonfiction book into a single “elevator pitch” and tucked it neatly into your one-page query letter, it’s time to address the next big marketing piece: the dreaded synopsis! As Jane Friedman…
by Laurie Lico Albanese “Go with your passion,” was the phrase of the day at Stacey Gill’s Kick-Start Your Blog workshop held at The Writers Circle in Montclair this past Sunday. “Focus on what you’re passionate about and put all that energy into the blog.” Stacey –…
by Mally Becker “This is the greatest time in history to be a writer,” declared David Henry Sterry. Because of all the publishing options now available, he and Arielle Eckstut, collectively The Book Doctors, assured a full-house of aspiring writers that our works-in-progress could be…
After six years as The Writers Circle, we’ve witnessed the birth of some amazing writing and worked with writers who’ve truly stretched and grown. We’ve cheered a great many on their publications—articles, essays, short stories, and poetry that were beautifully done and well received. Now…
On January 9, The Writers Circle held two simultaneous special events to start of the new year: Resolve to Write – one in Ridgewood, hosted by Co-Director Michelle Cameron, and one in Montclair, hosted by TWC Founder and Director Judith Lindbergh, ably assisted by TWC instructors…
by Mally Becker The idea of promoting my own literary work makes me want to hide under a blanket with a bag of leftover Halloween candy. Or maybe mint Oreos…, but you get the point. Noted literary publicist Claire McKinney understands. At a two-hour Writers…
I met Margot Sage-El, proprietor of Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, when I was brand new to New Jersey, making my rounds in anticipation of the launch of my debut novel, The Thrall’s Tale. After an exhausting day visiting bookstores in the region, I was anxious…
by Jeff Campbell, TWC Instructor One good hook? That’s hard enough to come up with. Fifty good hooks, one after another, for 300 pages? That’s the daunting challenge I faced when writing my forthcoming book Daisy to the Rescue (Zest Books). It’s a collection of…
Thanks to Christina Kapp, who facilitates TWC’s Poets Circle and teaches our Wednesday Young Storymakers class, for sharing her retreat journal with us! Friday It was definitely not a good time to disappear for the weekend. School had just started for my kids and I…
by Cindy Sharra, TWC Intern As New Jersey’s prolonged winter loosened its grasp, the long-awaited summer took its place. Students from around the area parted from their schools and supplies – except from their pencils, that is. But they wouldn’t be used for writing research…
O villain, villain, smiling, damnèd villain! My tables—meet it is I set it down That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain— Hamlet Act 1, scene 5, 106–108 Hamlet had it right. When we write the villains in our stories, we want to…
This Sunday’s Speaker Series event, “Publishing Insiders” was a huge hit, with three articulate young professionals telling it like it really is in a rapidly changing and still completely vital industry. Alex Cameron, Assistant to the Associate Publisher at Tor Books (part of Macmillan), Anna…
