Writing with Jennifer

  Aspiring novel writers have a love-hate relationship with November, and it's not because of all the facial hair. November is NaNoWriMo, the time of year when we challenge ourselves to write, or at least get a good start on, that novel we've been putting off our whole lives.  This fabulously high-pressure movement started in San Francisco way back in 1999, but it really caught fire just a few years ago. Now you can find groups and contests and all kinds of activities related to the subject. In fact, you can use these diversions to procrastinate even further if you're so inclined.  There are some tips and tricks to getting the most out of the month.  1.Take a Break from Time Killers Think of November as lent for writers. You need to temporarily dump the stuff that wastes your time. No, I'm not talking about your spouse and children... although, if you could get away to a quiet retreat for the month, it definitely wouldn't hurt. But I'm really talking about socia...

 Okay, so I was dumb. I mean, I know that things can easily be stolen online. But I didn't think it was going to happen to me.  And today it did. It didn't cost me much in terms of money, but it cost me something. And I'm pretty upset about the whole thing.  I had posted an article on Constant Content several years ago. I thought it was a damn good article, but no one bought it. So today I decided to take it off Constant Content and try it on Content Gather.  Big mistake.  It turned out that the article was stolen! Content Gather ran its plagiarism check, and there it was posted on some company's blog. I've contacted the owners of that blog to find out where they got my content, but I haven't had a response.  THIS IS THE CRAZY PART: Do you know that part of Content Gather's terms of use state that you aren't supposed to upload content that was written for ANY OTHER SITE OR ANY OTHER PURPOSE?  For me - and lots of other writers - Content Gather is a pla...

Weddings are one of my favorite things to write about. I'm already married and haven't had a wedding in a very long time, but I'm still addicted to bridal fashion and all things wedding planning.  This blog post  written for Southern Brides is an example of how to use experts in your work. It gives the work more legitimacy and offers a plug for the people who were quoted. It's a win-win (and a win for the blog or magazine lucky enough to get your work!).