Career & Work Archives

Career & Work

How to Query Literary Agents: Examples, Templates & Mistakes to Avoid

Querying a literary agent is the process of pitching your manuscript to agents in hopes of securing representation. In this guide, you’ll learn how to write a query letter, what agents actually want, common mistakes to avoid, query letter examples, and how to track submissions professionally. Whether you’re querying fiction, nonfiction, or children’s books, this guide walks you through the entire process step-by-step.

December 1, 2017

Illustrator Jo Painter on Creativity, Freelancing, and Breaking Into the Game Industry

Jo Painter is a freelance illustrator, concept artist, and animator whose creative journey began with little more than MS Paint, a computer mouse, and a determination to improve. Since then, she has worked with authors and companies around the world while building a portfolio aimed at the video game industry. In this interview, we discuss artistic growth, freelancing, client relationships, animation, technology, creativity, and what aspiring artists can learn from building a career in a competitive field.

August 27, 2017

Stop Perfecting Every Sentence – Just Share Your Story

It's been said every sentence is a persuasive argument that succeeds or fails in convincing the reader to read the next. Agree or disagree?

Frankly, I don't agree (completely) because the reader is complex, having a multi-dimensional purpose for reading. One aspect may be truly that each good sentence does cause the reader to continue on. But at the same time, the reader, once personally invested through time, money, promise, or any other act of will may continue reading not for that purposes alone. I listen to audio books during my commute. I have literally finished books only to be able to say I finished them, not because they provided some revolutionary insight or emotional experience. I simply wanted to finish what I started.

August 23, 2017

Why Writers and Illustrators Struggle With Rejection (and How to Push Through It)

Depression is a very real, very damaging, very painful experience that can be short term or long term and have long lasting consequences. This perspective of author depression in no way is intended to come across flippantly as if to compare on the same level as chronic or acute depression. An author, however, can learn a great deal about how to process the feelings and thoughts encountered during the road to publication by examining depressive symptoms.

August 22, 2017

Why Great Books Are More Than Just Products

Books are often treated like products, but the best books do far more than fill shelf space or generate sales. A meaningful story can challenge beliefs, shape emotions, create connection, inspire change, and stay with readers for years after the final page. That is why writing books is not simply about producing content. Great books provide an experience — one that leaves a lasting impact on the reader.

August 21, 2017

How Writing Slowly Became Impossible to Ignore

Some creative ideas arrive quietly. At first they seem small — easy to ignore, easy to postpone, easy to dismiss as unrealistic. But the longer they stay with us, the more difficult they become to silence. What begins as curiosity slowly turns into obsession. We think about the idea constantly, research it, revisit it, and eventually share it carefully with someone we trust. For many writers and creators, that is how the process begins. Not with certainty, but with a growing sense that something meaningful needs to be made.

August 16, 2017

Why Creators Need a Personal Platform

Modern creators rely too heavily on social media and AI generation. Creators digest more content than they make. Instead, creators need a personal platform to impact the world and explore their own internal mechanics. A good word nourishes the soul while the opposite breaks the strongest spirit. In today's digital economy, creators need a home base online, a digital headquarters. This digital HQ becomes the creator's source for giving and receiving. Their virtual highway to experience the world and their own convictions.