The Renegade Writer Blog

Our next session of e-courses is starting in late April/early May, and I wanted to share these kudos for Elaine Grant’s course Magazine Writing Basics:
I loved the Magazine Writing Basics course. I learned a lot even though I took a Writing & Editing course through a university a couple years ago and a few of [...]

Okay, my name is Alison Stein Wellner, and I’ll admit that I’m the BlackBerry addicted writer that Diana traveled to India with last week. I love the infernal device, not just because it helps me to stay in touch with home wherever I am in the world –a huge benefit since I’m on the road [...]

In early November I decided to target custom publishers to let them know about the wonderfulness that is me. Of course, my first instinct was to shoot all the publishers an e-mail letting them know who I am and offering to send clips as attachments. But I was actually missing the old days, when I [...]

10. My American accent offered no clues to my nationality. Four times I was asked if I was British. Once, Canadian. Another time two guys in an elevator inquired “Australian or American?” The rest of the time, after some polite conversation, I was always asked where in the world I was from. Point 10A: I [...]

When you think of a professional writer, you probably envision someone who starts at the crack of dawn and guzzles coffee as he writes. So you force yourself to get up at 5 am because that’s what a “real writer” would do, and brew a pot of coffee even though you prefer hot cocoa or [...]

We had such great success with our new Renegade Writer courses that we’re offering them again! Check out the new dates…we have courses starting on April 28 and May 5. And keep an eye on that page…we’ll be adding courses on travel writing, idea generation, and more exciting topics.
Here’s what students have had to say [...]

I recently read an article on how to beat the competition — in any kind of business. In short, the author says that you should do the work that others can’t or won’t do.
That concept has really worked for me. Several months ago, on the advice of my life coach, I started billing myself as [...]

On a writer’s board I belong to, journalists are buzzing about the latest scandal to hit the memoir-writing industry, the story of Margaret Seltzer a/k/a Margaret B. Jones, who wrote a book about her foster childhood in south central LA running drugs for a gang. Minor little detail: Margaret was raised by her biological family [...]

Novelist and magazine writer Allison Winn-Scotch posted some terrific advice today at Ask Allison for newbie freelancers. And may I say, it’s great advice for those of us who’ve been around the block and back again. I laughed when I read, “I honestly couldn’t give two figs if a pitch or an article gets rejected. [...]

Whenever my husband Eric has to get a shot, he pinches the skin on his hand so hard that the injection feels like nothing in comparison. Sure, the pinch hurts, but it makes Eric feel better that he’s the one controlling the pain.
We can do the same with rejections. If rejections from Family Circle and [...]