By Katrin Schumann

Last year, I was thinking a lot about this question as it relates to writing: When is it okay to give in and give up?

Why? Because in the months before publishers began showing interest in my novel, The Forgotten Hours, I had seriously been considering changing careers and giving up writing altogether. This was a huge deal for me since I basically can’t do anything else (at least not well, and with enthusiasm).

Check out our February 2019 edition of "Writing Life Essentials," a monthly hand-curated list of opportunities for writers. We do the research, so you have more time for what matters: the writing. Or, the eating the candies that will go on sale the day after Valentine’s Day. That matters, too.

Building a supportive network takes time and courage. Novelist Katrin Schumann argues that it’s worth starting to cultivate community early on, even if your instinct or your preference is to work alone. This post first appeared on JaneFriedman.com.

I’ve always found people who make movies to be awe-inspiring—in order to evoke a world and a story on screen, they need to work together with dozens of other professionals, from front-end people like actors and directors, to back-end people like sound editors

Katrin Schumann explores what it's really like for authors in the months before launching a new book into the marketplace.

A book launch is a prolonged, and frankly rather strange, experience. You've already been working for what seems like ages (and sometimes is ages) on a manuscript. Eons pass as you prepare that manuscript for the reality of a commercial marketplace: editing, cover design, interior design, more editing, acknowledgements, nightmares about who you've forgotten to acknowledge, and diving into promotional activities. Your book--it's themes, characters, the whole point of it--seems far away now. It's become a product, one ...

Authors bristle at having to fit their books into neat boxes according to genre—yet the industry and readers continue to demand that we do so. Katrin Schumann explores why, and how best to find your genre.

Personally, I've found it quite challenging to figure out the genre of my novels. It seems overly simplistic to categorize my own work according to genres, and differentiating between them can be hard