In May of 2012, I announced a blog project for the coming month: I would post a How To craft post every day for the month, Sundays excepted. My month of blogging resulted in 27 posts about writing log lines, avoiding typo blindness, breaking the that habit, curing overpopulation, introducing characters, writing thematic statements, and so on.
Eventually, I put together all of those posts in a How To collection, which can be found under the FOR WRITERS tab. I continued to write How To posts in a more sporadic fashion, when the need or an idea arose.
Last week, I wrote my 50th How To post for this collection. All are available and tagged in one spot, so help yourself!
Writing a blog post every day was a fun, albeit crazy-making, challenge. I’ve thought about,and talked about, doing it again, but I usually talk myself out of it. I do enjoy writing about craft, and will continue to do so, but I think I’ll break from the How To approach for a while, and try a couple of others.
So, in addition to announcing my How To collection has reached the ripe old number of 50, I’m going to continue to write two types of instructional–and hopefully helpful–blog posts: the List and the Why.
I have already posted a few of each type:
12 Ways to Improve Your Writing
10 Things to Check Before You Hit Send
12 Terrible Ways to Open a Novel
and for the Whys:
Why Your Mystery is Like a Lost Puppy
Thanks for reading! Please note that there’s no Donate button on this site. I’m happy to share info and advice for free. If you like what you see, please send to a friend, re-blog, follow me on Twitter or like my FB Editor page.
And as my Southern relatives would say, be sure to stop by and visit again – Ramona
Ramona DeFelice Long 
Good morning, Ramona. I have enjoyed your insights into writing. At 67, getting ready to transition to Lewes full time within the year, and starting a medical practice, my time to write has been limited. I did submit a piece to the RBWG contest for 2014, and no matter the result, I had the most fun possible just thinking of something other than medical in content. Just wanted to say thanks for your diligence and belief in this most fine art of communication. I applaud you. Gary
Gary Raffel, DO, FACP Adult Internal Medicine BOARD RECERTIFIED ABIM/ABMS http://www.clmcllcdo.com gerdo12@gmail.com Email only/no text accepted.
Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2014 10:51:24 +0000 To: gerdo12@gmail.com
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Gary, thank you for the comment. I’m so pleased you submitted to the Beach Reads anthology, and even more pleased that you had a good time writing the story. I have begun reading selections, and I think the anthology will be terrific–again.
Best of luck with your move to Lewes!
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Thanks for making a compendium of all your good advice. Posting every day is really hard – the A-Z blog challenge taught me that.
The real Southern close would be: all y’all come back now, y’hear?
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Noelle, I was glad I did the blog-a-day, but it is a real commitment. And you are right about that closing!
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Thank you for writing the how-to posts. They’re clear, concise, and interesting, and I’ve learned a lot from them. I also learned from your editorial comments on my manuscripts earlier this year.
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Your stories were terrific, Kathy. It was a joy to work with you and the group!
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I bookmarked this post to come back to when I had time to follow and read all the links, which I just did. A wealth of useful information. Thank you.
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So when’s it become a book? I want PAPER to keep beside me.
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I have debated about this, Genie, but I am not sure if there is interest. Good to know at least one person might purchase it!
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Absolutely!
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