About 3 months ago I submitted my writing to a chapter contest for Romance Writers of America. I received the feedback a little over a month ago and am just now writing a post about it because I was too embarrassed to share before.
Today I want to talk about deadlines and how they are your friend. Or would that be friends? The power of this November during Nanowrimo lies in that it’s a deadline, and a collective...
We all face it, that frightening moment when our flying fingers pause mid-motion over the keyboard. Wait, was that the wrong tense? Did I say that before? Is that a realistic reaction from my character? Oh pink elephants, that’s too predictable!
Why do we let failure identify us? Why do we not realize that adversity, burdens, writer’s block, etc. are just isolated events from which we can recover? Sometimes we let failure define who we are, making us believe we’re actually … A failure!
Today I want to talk about creative flow. How do you know when you’re in your flow? For me, I feel content, grounded, powerful. When I’m not in my flow, I feel grumpy, spacey,...
I took the decision not to do NaNoWriMo this year. I’m so far behind with other writing projects; I could not contemplate starting something new. However I did enjoy the last couple of years and learned a lot from it. Hopefully for next November I’ll be ready to try it again.
Many authors and students have difficulty starting their projects. For students, often the problem is they aren’t terribly inspired by the topic. I don’t blame them for feeling stuck. It’s difficult find motivation in broad topics like, say, global warming. Once you’ve created a slide showing that poor polar bear swimming in the melted waters of the Arctic, there isn’t much else to say.
Does your writing sometimes feel dead? Perhaps your words stare vacantly back at you like lumps on the page? Or do you feel like a lump as you write? How can you inject passion and danger back into your writing?
My friends and associates will always start a conversation with me something like this, “So how’s your writing coming?” or my fav, “When are you gonna publish your next book?”
You don’t get anything done as a writer without having some sort of writing routine. An exercise routine can help you write better because when you put your body to work, your brain gets a re-boost as well.
Here’s where we talk about plotters and pantsers. If you don’t know the definitions – a plotter is a writer who outlines their book before beginning to write it while a pantser writes from “the seat of their pants” with no outline. Kind of like writing from the stream of consciousness. I don’t think a survey has been taken but from what I’ve seen, most writers are plotters. Yet there are many famous pantsers too.
Did you see that blur? Were you able to make out the bits of green of Spring 2015? Or the shimmery waves of heat of Summer 2015? Did you miss the burnished coppers of the impending Fall 2015? I sure did. As a matter of fact, when I bothered to poke my head up lately, do you know what was staring back at me?
Novelist, it’s about that time now… Your book is done, or you’re thinking about marketing yourself as an author, even though your book isn’t done yet. How do you talk about yourself? You just...
In today’s publishing market, deciding whether or not you need or want an agent can be a challenging decision to make. With self-publishing keeping all of the control in the author’s hands and smaller digital-only presses accepting submissions directly from the author, it can sometimes seem like an unnecessary step. Depending on your career goals, it may be. However, if you choose to follow the traditional publishing route, a good agent can be your biggest ally.
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