Welcome to the blog of Avoid Writer’s Hell. Pour yourself a glass of bubbly over there and help us celebrate our new blog!

My name is Faith Bicknell-Brown. I’m an author and an editor. Many of you know me, but for those who don’t, you can visit my bio page at my website for more information. In a nutshell, I’ve been in publishing over twenty years, I’ve been editing professionally for nearly twelve years, I’m represented by an amazing literary agent, and I’ve written for national men’s print magazines for a long time. I’ve written under a couple names some of you might know such as Zinnia Hope (retired now) and J. Emberglass amongst many other nom de plumes I still use or have launched.

It has been nearly three years since my first nonfiction book for writers was published by Wild Child Publishing.com. There are four books in the series, and they were written in Laymen’s terms with my offbeat sense of humor (or warped for those who really know me, lol). The books are based on my experiences from my years of contributing to print magazines, e-zines, and e-books. My journey in writing was a difficult one and I often wished I’d had someone to rely upon to guide my way. Sure there were editors and authors from Marion Zimmer Bradley to my wonderful Gent Magazine editor, Jack Lisa, who offered encouragement, advice, and tips. And believe it or not, I even encountered a few literary agents who took time out of their busy schedules to write me letters or messages to point me in the right direction.

However, there just wasn’t a site that I found online nor any book that really helped to give me those ‘ah-ha!’ moments.

When I began editing professionally, I had one writer and editor after another who said I should write nonfiction books on what I know about publishing, grammar, punctuation, and publishing etiquette, and, after much thought, I decided to write the Avoid Writers Hell Series.

Oh, but it went beyond that.

One night a year and a half ago, I had a chat at The Romance Bistro. While waiting for the chat to begin that evening, I formed the Yahoo Group, Avoid Writers Hell, to go with the books. Little did I know that by doing so, the group would turn into something that has been a hub of information and camaraderie that has kept me hopping ever since. The chat kept me busy for nearly four hours,  literally hundreds of messages went through in that short time, and nearly one hundred people signed up for the AWH group that night. Three hundred members later, I’ve covered countless mini lessons on various aspects of writing and publishing, and finally had to take on a moderator, Ms. Tess MacKall, to help me in my absences and to simply moderate due to the amount of posts that go through the group.

Writers come and go, but 80% of the original members have remained and new ones have joined who state they’ve found a cyber home as long as I choose to keep the group open.

I have grown very fond of my AWH puppies, and I wield a cyber newspaper that whacks them whenever they repeat the same errors in their excerpts and exercises. We laugh, we cry upon one another’s shoulders, we rant and vent, we even do a li’l bitching, but the group is a safe haven. All there know that in order to survive this business a writer MUST keep an open mind and develop a thick skin.

Publishing is nothing like it was thirty or forty years ago. Now we have digital publishing. e-Books and the gadgets to read them on are beginning to boom. The English language changes constantly. Publishing changes constantly. And readers’ tastes change constantly too.

I teach what I know as a way to help aspiring authors to avoid some of the potholes and craters I encountered. Writing, when it’s a true calling of one’s soul, is an emotional roller coaster ride. To me, writing is the same as breathing; I’ve shed tears as well as celebratory moments over the years. That said, I understand what it’s like to struggle in this busness, so when I can help another writer dodge the slings and arrows of publishing, it puts a smile on my face.

Moreover, in order to keep the group a place of learning and communion with others in the business, and due to the growth of AWH, I had to impose special rules—and I hated to do so.  I know authors want to shout about great reviews or new covers. They desire to point fellow authors to a cool blog posts or a new website, so I was forced to impose days that promo, review announcements and so on could be posted. Confusion ensued.

Tess and I discussed the matter, and she suggested a blog. I didn’t have the time to set one up or constantly monitor it. Afterward, I found out she’d talked it over with author and web designer, Lex Valentine, who graciously offered to design and host a site for my AWH puppies. They surprised me with this beautiful blog and I sat back and thought, “Wow, I truly have some special  friends out there in Cyberland.”

Whether you’re a devoted AWH puppy, a newbie to the group, a newcomer thinking of joining AWH, or simply someone who enjoys reading blogs, take a moment to thank Tess and Lex for their lovely work and time involved to create this blog.

I hope you’ll visit here often. And if you’re interested in joining AWH, you can find us at THIS LINK. Membership is upon approval; we do this to weed out promoters and spammers.

Remember: AWH is about learning and support.

And if you’re curious about the AWH books that got this all started, you can find them at www.wildchildpublishing.com in their how-to section and at Fictionwise.com under Faith Bicknell-Brown.

Literature is a gift. It’s a means of escape from the stress of our world, and a method in which to learn. It doesn’t matter if the written word is in the form of an e-book or a hardback published by NYC…cherish books and encourage others to do the same.

I wish you all much success in your writing endeavors.

Warm regards,

Faith