The Happy Writer

[Happily Unpublished part IV:  Did you check out that title? I bet, if you’re unpublished, you don’t think there is anything that could possibly be good about being unpublished, let alone great.  But, I’m here to prove you wrong and, hopefully, cheer you up in the process! Oh, and you can find parts 1-3 here, [...]

[To find an example of a funnier, more dedicated writer, look no further than my pal, Eileen Cook!  Her books are fabulous and her attitude and drive to write and keep writing are to be emulated whenever possible.  Hope you're all as inspired as I was by her guest post.  - Shannon]   Every writer [...]

[Happily Unpublished Part III - Short and sweet today, because I imagine we're all recovering from the holidays, still.  If you missed the first two installments of Happily Unpublished, you can find them here and here.  Happy New Year all you Happy Writers!]   So what exactly do you get out of it by working [...]

[Happily Unpublished, Part II:  Jennifer Crusie wrote a fabulous article in the Romance Writers Report in 1998, which you can find on her website. I’d already outlined my workshop when I found the article online again and noticed that several of my ideas paralleled ideas she presented in her article...probably because I’d read this article [...]

…and why you should care about being happy now while you’re unpublished [I have decided to share with you the workshop I recently gave called Happily Unpublished.  This post and the next several will be excerpts from the workshop because I really wanted to share all this stuff with all of you who couldn't be [...]

We all know that money can’t buy happiness (though I would be willing to be a beta tester if someone needs more proof of that theory, just sayin’).  We’ve been told this our whole lives.  And there seems to be a lot of evidence out there to back this up.  Wealth doesn’t always negate misery.  [...]

I spent last weekend at the Emerald City Writers’ Conference put on by the Greater Seattle Romance Writers of America. It was after this conference last year that I came up with the idea for The Happy Writer. This year, it was as fabulous as ever, with speakers that made us laugh and cry (I’m [...]

It’s November 1st!  Are you doing NaNoWriMo? I’m still not sure.  I’m writing this October 31st (last night) at 6:43, so I still have 5 hours and 17 minutes to make up my mind. I fist-bumped Elizabeth Boyle this weekend that I’d do NaNo with her, which I think may possibly be as binding as [...]

[Wow! Talk about writing through adversity!  As I read Patti's message below, I wondered if I would have the same drive and will to keep writing. I'd like to hope so!  If nothing else, by taking to heart what Patti has to say, we'll realize that we really have no excuses for not getting down [...]

Why is happiness so damn hard to find?  I’m putting together a workshop I’m giving at the end of October on being “Happily Unpublished,” and it’s really making me think. What the hell is there to be so damn happy about being unpublished?  Your dream hasn’t come true. You struggle, usually without benefit of pats [...]