Welcome!
Then you'll be glad to know that Jami's blog about
the craft, business, and life of writing has over 1000 posts.
Yay! for so much information!
Yikes! for not knowing where to start...
Whether you find the extent of information in Jami's blog overwhelming, need a "virtual mentor" to answer questions or point you in the right direction, or just want to discover some of Jami's favorite posts,
this page is for you!
*Psst* Want these links in a downloadable PDF to save?
Want to Dive Right into Improving Your Writing Skills?
Check Out Jami's
Master Lists of Writing Skills
One of the trickiest aspects of improving our writing is that we don't know what all we don't know. So Jami set out to create Master Lists of Story Development, Line Editing, and Copy Editing skills.
These posts give us a list of skills to study so we can level up, no matter whether we're a new writer or an experienced one searching for insights we haven't come across before. Each post contains a huge list of skills with links to relevant posts with more information.
(Not sure which list you need? Get advice here.)
Or Check Out the Blog Highlights
Click on a topic you'd like to explore, or just scroll down to see all the highlights...
Highlighted Posts within Storytelling Topics
Brainstorming, Planning, or Plotting the Elements of Our Story
The Planning Your Story category of Jami's blog is filled with story planning tips and advice to give your story a strong start. Sample topics: improving our storytelling skills, making our stories more meaningful, techniques for those who write by the seat of their pants, deciding on story ideas, etc.
Below, check out the category's featured posts, as well as some of its latest posts.
For more posts on this topic, click the button at the bottom of this section to explore the whole category.
Featured Post
Escape Generic Storytelling by Asking “Why?”
The most important question we can ask to get in touch with every aspect of our story is “why”—even helping us escape generic or cliché storytelling.
Featured Post
What Does “Plot Reveals Character” Mean?
We might have heard that the purpose of the plot is to reveal character. What does that mean and how can understanding it help our storytelling?
Featured Post
Storytelling: Taking Readers on a Journey
When faced with the many decisions of writing our story, the best choice is whatever tells the story we want to tell, but what does that mean? Let’s take a look at what storytelling really is and how we can improve our skills.
Featured Post
Character Arc Development: Is There a Best Approach?
There are almost an infinite number of ways we can develop our story. As long as we end up with a finished book, our process works. And just like the variety found in the overall writing processes we might use, we have many options for how to come up with our protagonist’s arc as well.
Featured Post
Plotting Tip: One Simple Step to Ensure Our Story Works
Either plot events affect the character and the story, or they don’t. If we understand the difference, we can learn what to look out for and know how to fix any problems.
Other Favorites in Storytelling Topics
Jami's blog has tons of posts about storytelling, so she couldn't limit herself to just the Featured Posts in the above tabs. Here are a few more favorite posts on the topics of storytelling, story planning, and story structure that she couldn't resist highlighting.
Other Helpful Tags in Storytelling Topics
Or want to refine these results? The Search page offers many filtering options.
Don't Miss Jami's Storytelling Resources!
Highlighted Posts within Writing Craft Topics
Drafting, Revising, and Self-Editing Our Story & Its Elements
The Learn About Writing category of Jami's blog is filled with tip-heavy posts about writing skills and concepts that improve our stories. Sample topics: avoiding information dumps, using point of view, adding subtext, using themes, building scenes, etc.
Below, check out the category's featured posts, as well as some of its latest posts.
For more posts on this topic, click the button at the bottom of this section to explore the whole category.
Featured Post
How Can We Learn and Improve Our Writing Skills?
Want to improve your writing? Here are the strengths and weaknesses of 5 common ways to learn and improve our writing craft.
Featured Post
How to Create Scene Endings that Hook Readers
We’ve been talking about the difference types of transitions we might create between scenes and plot events. Today, we’re focusing on the types of sentences that will strengthen our scene endings (and thus our scenes).
Featured Post
How to Weave Story Elements and Avoid Info Dumps
Our stories consist of many elements—from backstory to dialogue—that each contribute to our story. Yet we can overdo those elements with an information dump. How can we include the different elements while making sure we don’t cross over into Info Dump Land? Let’s talk options…
Featured Post
How to Get Our Thoughts onto the Page
Probably no one can claim to be an expert at making sure the cool character in our head makes it onto the page. We can only guess at how readers will interpret what we tell them. Advice can help us share our brain with our readers as much as possible, but the process will never—ever—be completely clean.
Featured Post
How to Strengthen Emotions in Our Writing
Want to avoid flat, unemotional writing? We have to match our characters’ emotional reactions to the stimulus, whether big or small.
Other Favorites in Writing Craft Topics
Jami's blog has hundreds of posts about writing craft, so she couldn't limit herself to just the Featured Posts in the above tabs. Here are a few more favorite posts on the topics of characterization, determining story details, revising, and grammar and copy editing skills that she couldn't resist highlighting.
- One Simple Trick to Avoid an Opening Page Infodump
- Should Our Protagonist Be in the First Scene?
- Can Common Writing Advice Be Wrong?
- Story Conflict: Villains vs. Antagonists
- Is Our Story’s Point of View Really What We Think It Is?
- Breaking Down the Steps of Revision to Improve Our Storytelling
- Story Revisions: Keeping Track of Changes
- Re-Envisioning: How to Fix Big Problems with Small Changes
- Strengthen Your Writing with Rhetorical Devices
- Active vs. Passive Voice: Was and Not Was
- Storytelling Verb Tenses: Past, Present, and “Literary” Past Tense
- Character Internalization: To Italicize or Not to Italicize?
- Writing Craft Basics: How to Format Dialogue
- How to Improve Our Story with Action Beats
- Dread Writing Sexy Scenes? 5 Tips for Success
- Character Likability and Subtext
Other Helpful Tags in Writing Craft Topics
Or want to refine these results? The Search page offers many filtering options.
Don't Miss Jami's Writing Craft Resources!
Highlighted Posts within Career & Publishing Topics
Improving Our Ability to Be Successful in Our Publishing Career
The Beta Reading and Critiquing and The Publishing Business categories of Jami's blog are filled with tips, advice, and insights about working with others, such as beta readers/critique partners, agents, editors, and publishers. Sample topics: issues of various publishing options, weighing self-publishing vs. traditional publishing, finding beta readers, handling feedback, tips for being a better beta reader, etc.
Below, check out featured posts, as well as some latest posts, from both tags.
For more posts on these topics, click the buttons at the bottom of this section to explore each category, and find more posts like how to find a developmental editor, what to look for in a line editor, or how to deal with editing on a budget.
Featured Post
Help! What If I Can’t Find Beta Readers?
Every writer struggles to get their thoughts on the page and make their ideas make sense to others. The typical advice for how to resolve that issue is to use beta readers, but what if we can’t find beta readers? What can we do?
Featured Post
How to Make Beta Reading Work for Us
As writers, we’re so close to our stories it’s impossible to know how readers will interpret our words. That’s just one reason why we often need beta readers.
Featured Post
Picking Editors: How to Evaluate Potential Editors
When we’re ready for professional editing, we want to make sure our editor is good, especially if we’re opening our wallet. Here are some tips, questions, and processes that will help us evaluate editors for our needs.
Featured Post
Introducing the Beta Reading Worksheet!
When we first start seeking or giving beta reads, we might not know what kind of feedback is possible or appropriate. To help us, here’s a listing of ideas of the many aspects beta readers can use for evaluating a story.
Featured Post
5 1/2 Steps for Making Feedback Work for Us
Feedback can be essential for helping our writing improve. But being confronted with our writing’s weaknesses is hard, so here are ways to tackle criticism.
Other Favorites in Career & Publishing Topics
Jami's blog has hundreds of posts about preparing our author career for success, so she couldn't limit herself to just the Featured Posts in the above tabs. Here are a few more favorite posts on the topics of working with editors, branding, and goal and career planning that she couldn't resist highlighting.
Other Helpful Tags in Career & Publishing Topics
Or want to refine these results? The Search page offers many filtering options.
Don't Miss Jami's Career & Publishing Resources!
Highlighted Posts within Miscellaneous Topics
Writing Processes, Writing Life, and Guest Posts
The Writing Your Story category of Jami's blog is filled with tips and advice about writing processes and improving how we write. Sample topics: fast drafting, brainstorming techniques, getting in touch with our muse, writing difficult scenes, writing resources and tools, making writing a priority, etc.
Below, check out the category's featured posts, as well as some of its latest posts.
For more posts on this topic, click the button at the bottom of this section to explore the whole category, and find more posts like why there isn't one "right" way to write, how our personality affects our writing process, and the pros and cons of experimenting with our writing process.
Featured Post
Breaking the “Rules”: Will It Be Easy or Hard?
Much of writing is subjective, so it can be hard to know how to treat writing advice. Is it a hard-and-fast rule, a guideline, or a personal preference?
Featured Post
What Styles of Drafting Work for You?
A drafting process that works for one might not work for another. However, NaNoWriMo can be a great time to experiment and see what writing process works for us.
Featured Post
Discovering Our Writing Processes
When it comes to writing processes, we’ve probably all seen attitudes implying there’s only one right way. However, just because something works for one person doesn’t mean it will work for everyone, and in the end, there’s only one thing that matters.
Featured Post
Writer’s Block? Use a Random Generator
Have writer’s block? Or need some brainstorming help? Here’s a huge collection of random generators for both plot and character issues.
Featured Post
5 Tips for Getting Unstuck in Our Story
If you struggle with writing or moving on when you’re stuck in a story, maybe one of these five tips will help.
Other Favorites in Writing Process & Miscellaneous Topics
Jami's blog has many posts about figuring out the writing processes that work for us, as well as other interesting topics, so she couldn't limit herself to just the Featured Posts in the above tabs. Here are a few more favorite posts on the topics of understanding ourselves, our brains (how we think, organize, and get motivated), and our writing processes (along with a few posts from guests) that she couldn't resist highlighting.
- What Should Newbie Writers Focus On?
- How Do You Get in Touch with Your Muse?
- Should We Follow the Advice to Write Every Day?
- What Advice Do You Ignore?
- Building a Story: Chapters vs. Scenes
- What Should We Do If We’re Sick of Our Story?
- Brain Science: How Do You Imagine?
- The “Secret” to Success Can’t Be Bought
- Writing Goals: Are They Set Up for Us to Win?
- Organization…for Our Creativity and Our Career
- Stop and Smell the Sense of Accomplishment
- Writing Projects: Are We Ever Really Done?
- How Can We Improve Our Writing? — Guest: Wendy Sparrow
- Productivity Secrets: Bullet Journals and Planning — Guest: L. Penelope
- What Kind of Marketing Plan Will Work for Us? — Guest: Siera London
Other Helpful Tags in Writing Process & Miscellaneous Topics
Or want to refine these results? The Search page offers many filtering options.
