Author: Jenny Hansen

by Jenny Hansen I was just introduced to the Law of Loss Aversion on the marketing side of my life and was shocked at how much I see it in action in the writing world. What exactly is the Law of Loss Aversion? It describes the very human foible that we feel loss more than Read more

Every so often, we open the doors of WITS to our readers. We like hearing what you’re up to in your writing, and October, the first full month of Fall and the month before NaNoWriMo, is a great time for this. Today, we’d love to hear your first lines for a new manuscript or short Read more

by Jenny Hansen Many authors are afraid to let their friends and loved ones read their writing. They use pseudonyms, join Reddit discussions and fret endlessly about “What if my boss / mother / [insert name] reads this?” Many of us started reading and writing as an escape from our everyday lives. I always joke Read more

Since the beginning here at Writers in the Storm, we’ve been all about spreading the love. And every so often, we throw the doors open for some shameless self-promotion opportunities for our readers. Our only requirement for those glorious days — formerly called “Pimp & Promote” — is that they double the love and promote Read more

by Jenny Hansen I just watched a video by one of my favorite motivational speakers, Simon Sinek, where he states: “There is a big difference between ‘falling’ and ‘failing.’” How powerful is that? So many authors suffer terrible anxiety over their fear of failure. “Failure” often sounds so very catastrophic. What if we changed our Read more

by Jenny Hansen Earlier this week, Karen DeBonis did a post here at WITS about finding your writing process. In the comments, I confessed that finding mine to a long (LONG) time. I’ve tried a gajillion tools in my quest to get a book off the ground and finished. Fast Draft, W-Plot, Snowflake Method and I have a confession to Read more

by Jenny Hansen A lot of leadership advice, training styles, and life philosophies pass by my desk in the course of my day job. Books like Emotional Intelligence 2.0, The Storyteller’s Secret, and Start With Why are sitting in my workspace right now. When I’m really really lucky, those leadership philosophies and “life rules” inform Read more

Fabulous first lines tend to stick with all of us. We ponder them, agonize over them, rewrite them, and rewrite them again. And more than once, we’ve actually purchased a book based on breathtaking first line or paragraph. Plus, a good first line is quotable. Who doesn’t remember these? “It is a truth universally acknowledged, Read more

by Jenny Hansen Over the last few years, I’ve shared “Top 10” lists from several amazing people on the topics of writing and success but I haven’t branched out into musicians. In my humble opinion, there’s no one better to talk about creative success than Prince. (Yes, that Prince. aka Prince Rogers Nelson.) This massively Read more

by Jenny Hansen A little over ten years ago, I wrote a post that changed my trajectory as a writer. Writing this post literally pulled me back from that edge of giving up the thing I most love to do. It was January, 2011 and one simple resolution saved me. In these crazy pandemic times, Read more