For Writers

An entertaining lecture by Kurt Vonnegut on the shape of stories.        Kurt Vonnegut is one of more than 100 authors whose writing advice I share in "Your Creative Writing Masterclass," my newest book. Published by NIcholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other outlets.Read Full Story

When you think about children’s games, what comes to mind? Nintendo Wii or Game Boy? World of Warcraft or Battleship? But what about backyard games like ‘kick the can’ or ‘ghosts in the graveyard’? Shouldn’t these be included too? For Marlene Byrne, a children’s author and mother of two from Chicago’s Edgebrook neighborhood, the answer is YES, they should. For the first time at Laura Reviews, I’m happy to feature a children’s book author and share our conversation about the creation of...Read Full Story

My dragon naturally speaking speech to text software has just been delivered and I'm really impressed with the results I'm getting so far! And actually to test it out I'm going to speak the document right now using the software. One important thing to note: If you do the tutorials before you start out on your own, you will save yourself a lot of frustration because you will know the exact commands to use. Of course, I'm going to edit this document since it's the first one I'm doing, but later...Read Full Story

In the spirit of including all types of authors and artists who have changed the world of words, I'm excited to launch the inaugural edition of Interviews with Awesome Musicians , featuring award winning singer and songwriter Dayna Malow . With a long career as a musician, Dayna has produced three fantastic albums: "Anywhere But Here, "Tangled Up in You," and recently released "What's the Worst That Could Happen." She regularly performs throughout the Midwest and also has opened for numerous...Read Full Story

The number of Internet users, 1.5 billion, surpasses the combined populations of North America and Europe, and that number is growing. Estimates put the total number of websites currently online at over 162 million. Facebook, the web’s dominate social network, marked it’s 200 millionth registered user a scant eight months after it’s 100 millionth user joined, and a measly five years after it was founded. Twitter, which recently reported a year-to-year increase of over 1300%, has helped to...Read Full Story

A lot of organizations make use of a request-for-proposal  ( RFP )  format to get bids for work or goods which they wish to purchase. Because  RFP  writing can be tough and time-consuming, many businesses either do not take part in the bid process or they do not write bids which do not win. You know, proposal writing is a mix of science and art; it also requires a considerable amount of time: you have to follow guidelines and you should write a compelling and persuasive bid. Fortunately...Read Full Story

Finding the right article spinner software reviews can be a difficult process, you would think it would be easy because there are so many, but it isn’t precisely because of this.  It is difficult because almost all article spinner software is paid and there isn’t any way of figuring out whether it is a good program withouth paying first. Most of these article spinning software companies don’t offer any trials and require the money up front, and when you try to find out something about the...Read Full Story

Today there are more avenues for publishing than any other time a writer has known. A writer today stands in the early throes of what certain romantic idealists, myself included, have termed the “democratization of publishing.” The idea behind the phrase is simple - in a democratized publishing industry, everyone who wishes to publish a book can, and the ultimate deciding factor is given to an agent, an editor, or a publisher. No, that decision rests were it ultimately should - upon the...Read Full Story

Be a sadist. No matter sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them-in order that the reader may see what they are made of. -Vonnegut Photo by BarbaraDin In Vonnegut’s second rule, he urges us to give the reader at least one character to root for. My personal interpretation of that rule revolved around a distaste for Mary Sue characters - characters whom everything comes naturally to. Characters who succeed at everything. Well, as I stated out in that...Read Full Story

I’ve used the phrase “take away” in connection to pieces of writing for quite some time. Yet, I ran into a small issue when I sat down to find the exact definition so I could write this article. I couldn’t find that writing connection, not in definition form, not in context, not in relation to fiction, journalism, or even blogging. This is a shame, as the concept of take away is a rather important when it comes to shaping your writing. To fix this, I’ve gone and made up my own definition...Read Full Story