This is a blog about writing from the words you can’t get out to the bits you polish and publish.
Welcome to the slush pile of my life…
Special pre-order price for Building a Writing Life
Hey! Guess what? I have a new book coming out this October! It’s called Building a Writing Life, after the talk I’ve been doing for the last few years, and it’s all about getting started as a writer and building up a writing habit. It’s the first book in my How to Start Writing Series for Writing Beginners and I know you’re going to love it! While every retailer has their little quirks so many won’t list the book until it’s been released, Amazon and B&N will both let you pre-order the eBook right...
read moreWant a free advanced copy of my latest?
Hey, you! Yeah, you, reading this right now. I need your help. You’re here because you dig what I’ve got to say and I really freaking appreciate that. And I’d like to enter into a little mutually beneficial arrangement where you help me out a bit and I give you advanced copies of my latest writing books and other exclusive goodies in return. I’m starting a street team. And while it’s going to be a work in progress for a while as I get it started up, there’s one part you can do now. I’m looking for...
read moreCatching up! New book, new plays, new tricks!
I did drop off the face of the earth for a bit there, didn’t I? In the past, I would write, edit and format my blog posts all in a single evening. Because I rarely have a chunk of time long enough to do that anymore, I thought I’d break it up this year. Write, edit, and format separately. That way I could, in theory, break each post up and work on it here and there instead of needing a big chunk of time. Except what happened instead is that I have a lot of blog posts written and edited… but haven’t gotten them formatted and...
read moreBrave the Page Review: NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program Writing Guide
There’s a new NaNoWriMo guide coming out on August 27th specifically geared towards young writers. It’s called Brave the Page by Rebecca Stern and National Novel Writing Month Executive Director Grant Faulkner and I was lucky enough to score an advanced copy. Regular readers know that I am a great lover of National Novel Writing Month aka NaNoWriMo and parent to a young writer so this is doubly relevant to my interests! So, what did I think of Brave the Page? Brave the Page Review Honestly? This book makes me mad. Mad because...
read moreThe Fourth Orange and Other Fairy Tales You’ve Never Even Heard Of
Here’s something exciting: The Fourth Orange and Other Fairy Tales You’ve Never Even Heard Of is finally ready to share with the world! This play has been 6 years in the making* and is without a doubt the most complicated thing I have ever attempted to write** but, dang, it was worth it. How I love this weird and wild little piece of theatre! And while I sat on this for a long time trying to decide exactly how I wanted to make it available, I’m pleased to say that you can now pick up the eBook version starting July 8, 2019....
read moreDaily Kanban for Writers: Managing Big Picture projects, tasks and works in progress day to day
This post is a sequel to my original post about Kanban for writers so you may want to start there. But, if not, here’s a quick recap: What is Kanban? Kanban is a project management system that started in manufacturing in which projects are visualized by easily movable cards organized by columns. The idea is to limit the number of projects in progress at a time and focus on moving each project forward through the typical stages of completion (designated by the column titles, usually something like To Do, Doing, Holding, Done) by...
read moreReview: Can 4TheWords, the fantasy game for writers, be used for editing and other off-site writing?
4TheWords review in a hurry: While sometimes buggy (as you’d expect from a work in progress), it’s well worth the occasional quirk for this fun and addictive game that motivates you to write more exactly as advertised! And while the site isn’t specifically built for editing or off-site writing, there’s a couple of easy ways to make either work. Hanging out in town, picking up some side quests from the King. What is 4TheWords? 4TheWords (Get it? Like 4TW aka For The Win) is a fantasy style writing game where you defeat...
read moreTransforming princess to orange dress for The Love of Three Oranges
You want to see something really cool? Jada of creamcheese.cosplay is making some absolutely amazing costumes for The Love of Three Oranges and documenting the whole process over on Instagram (a platform I am on but barely know how to use if you want to follow me and my hopelessness). You can head on over and see everything in progress but I especially want to show you this fantastic transforming dress perfect for going from orange to princess in seconds flat. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs8dKwwHDjq/ View this post on Instagram Hey bagles...
read moreI’m now officially available for speaking engagements and writing workshops
Photo courtesy of The Nutley Public Library For a long time now, I’ve offered talks and workshops to schools, libraries and writing groups on a variety of topics year-round from beginners who were just getting started with writing and playwrighting to more advanced topics like networking with bookstores and author branding to rave reviews from hosts and participants alike. I’m an energetic speaker with a massive amount of knowledge from writing and publishing to retail and marketing who can make an hour talk fly by while being...
read moreThe Love of Three Oranges changes lives (ok, fine, maybe just one life)
Did you see this awesome profile of J’Kalein Madison, a young actor making a splash in the local theatre scene in Waterloo, Iowa? What’s particularly cool is that Madison is a graduate of Waterloo West High School and had this to say about his theatre experience there: Madison originally planned to study law. That changed in his junior year when he played a role in the raucous comedy, “The Love of Three Oranges.”“It cemented for me that I loved performing and music. A lot changed for me about what I wanted to do with my life,” he said....
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Hillary DePiano is a playwright, fiction and non-fiction writer who loves writing of all kinds except for writing bios like this.
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