IndieAuthors.Social NewsWriting Retreats: What Showing Up Builds
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https://writerunboxed.com/2026/03/25/writing-retreats-what-showing-up-builds/
New Perspectives at 14,000 Feet (and Falling Fast)
The photo above is real.
Yep, that’s me, having just leapt from a perfectly good airplane 14,000 feet over Whitewright, Texas on January 15 th , 2026. My thought at that moment: “Well, I’m out.”
That’s it.
No prayer for a working parachute.
No refrain of ‘I’m going to die.’
No screamed profanity. Or screaming at all.
After 52 years of being stuck in constant narration mode, the only thing my brain had to say about plunging toward the ground at 120mph was a simple acknowledgment that I had left the plane.
Neurodivergence is weird.
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/03/23/new-perspectives-at-14000-feet-and-falling-fast/
Lessons from hiring the wrong editor – and how to find the right match. Honest advice after the Indie Author Lab
A developmental editor is usually the first professional to see your book. Ideally they’ll help you nurture its strengths, tone up its weaknesses, get you writing your best work. But finding that person can be a minefield. This week I was one of the resident experts at the Alliance of Independent Authors Indie Author… Continue reading Lessons from hiring the wrong editor – and how to find the right match. Honest advice after the Indie Author Lab…
https://nailyournovel.wordpress.com/2026/03/15/lessons-from-hiring-the-wrong-editor-and-how-to-find-the-right-match-honest-advice-after-the-indie-author-lab/
#Howtowriteabook #adviceforwriters #adviceonselfpublishing #authorlife #books
Lessons from hiring the wrong editor – and how to find the right match. Honest advice after the Indie Author Lab
A developmental editor is usually the first professional to see your book. Ideally they’ll help you nurture its strengths, tone up its weaknesses, get you writing your best work. But finding that p…
My Brain is Not My Friend Right Now: the Challenges of Working with a Quirky Brain
I was in tears. Again.
I was tired of tears. I was pretty sure my husband was, too.
The problem is, tears are pretty standard for me, as an autistic woman (not for every autistic woman, but definitely for me). Masking; walking in a world that is usually overstimulating in multiple ways, just by virtue of being the world ; trying to communicate “normally” and read between lines I can hardly see sometimes…it all makes for a perpetual feeling of being lost/left out/left behind/left alone to handle what I’m handling.
That’s only a tiny piece of being a writer with a “quirky” brain.
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/03/11/my-brain-is-not-my-friend-right-now-the-challenges-of-working-with-a-quirky-brain/
#REALWORLD #Writinglife #adviceforwriters #neurodivergentwriter #neurodiversity
Reading as an Agent
Two very recent WU posts ( HERE and HERE ) got me thinking about how I read. In one mode, I read manuscripts with an agent’s eyes. In another mode, I read novels (published or pre-) as a craft analyst and teacher. In still a different mode, I read as a fiction writer.
Once in a while, I read for enjoyment. It’s difficult to do. The other modes don’t like to shut up. And not all novels are so absorbing that my inner analyst forgets to analyze.
As agent, you might imagine that I am looking for work that matches the market’s needs. As craft analyst and teacher, you might think that I am looking for illustrative examples. As fiction writer, you might expect that that I read in awe, envy, or judgment.
In those presumptions, you would be wrong.
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/03/04/reading-as-an-agent/
#CRAFT #adviceforwriters #characters #DonaldMaass #inspiration
Not Simon & Schuster: Deconstructing an Impersonation Scam
For writers chasing a traditional publishing contract, an email from Big 5 publisher Simon & Schuster inviting submission might seem like a dream come true.
J…
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/02/27/not-simon-schuster-deconstructing-an-impersonation-scam/
#ArtificialIntelligence #REALWORLD #traditionalpublishing #adviceforwriters #scams
Let’s Be Clear, Period
Lynne Truss, the respected author of Eats, Shoots & Leaves , once said: “There are people who embrace the Oxford comma, and people who don’t, and I’ll just say this: never get between these people when drink has been taken.”
I hope you’re all sober because we’re going to get into this.
Let me start with a meme that has become popular on social media.
We invited two strippers, JFK and Stalin.
Does this sentence refer to four people in total or are JFK and Stalin about to get naked?
It’s difficult to be sure when it’s written like that.
But if you read:
We invited two strippers, JFK, and Stalin.
Here, you could be pretty sure there are four people. Pretty sure. But you could still have some doubts.
If you got rid of the bad writing and read:…
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/02/18/lets-be-clear-period/
In the Beginning
It’s February, we’re on day 5,392 of snow/bitter cold/ice/biting wind (let’s not even get into politics), and all I want to do is lose myself in reading a great book. And yet I have picked up and put down three different books without getting sucked into any of them. Is it my current frame of mind, or is it the books?
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/02/11/in-the-beginning-3/
#CRAFT #REALWORLD #adviceforwriters #KathleenMcCleary #novelopenings
The Sentence and the Story: A New Year’s Fable
The Sentence
The sentence sat, unmoving.
The sentence was dissatisfied.
The sentence knew that it had untapped potential, but wasn’t using it.
The sentence longed to be metaphorical but it was feeling stuck, like a bluebottle in a room with walls of flypaper.
https://writerunboxed.com/2026/01/07/the-sentence-and-the-story-a-new-years-fable-2/
Joy to the World—and Sorrow
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https://writerunboxed.com/2025/12/10/joy-to-the-world-and-sorrow/
