By Katrin Schumann

The best advice comes from people who have been in the trenches. Battled the highs and lows, enjoyed successes and perhaps been disappointed--or delighted--by the unexpected.

I recently asked some of my writer colleagues, friends, clients and former students--all now published--for advice they wish they'd known before launching into the process. Here are the top twenty tips:

Recent Novel Incubator graduate Julie Carrick Dalton interviews Lane "The Logline Whisperer" Shefter Bishop--director, producer, and Muse & the Marketplace presenter--about how to reduce a whole novel to one pitch-perfect sentence.

By Katrin Schumann

Instead of feeling grateful I was annoyed. My husband and I were wandering among the 18^th century gravestones, talking books. 

He was excited. “And then you can have the guy, it’s set in modern times, maybe he’s an international spy or a drug lord or something big, and he’s thinking back on what happened with his mother and that’s how you tell the Ibiza story?”

So you've written a novel; now what? In this series, debut author-to-be Crystal King describes the traditional publication process from start to finish: the lead-up, what to expect along the way, and how building her social media platform has made a difference. In this installment of "On the Path to Publication" Crystal talks about the the launch of her debut novel, FEAST OF SORROW.

By Katrin Schumann

Do you ever really struggle to find just the right book to fit your mood? When I’m deeply embroiled in my own writing, I get particularly fussy about my reading material. I want to be inspired and energized—I really don’t want to think: How the hell did THIS get published?

So when I find a book that grabs me and won’t let go, I’m filled with pure delight and gratitude