Blog
Magic, Monsters, and Mayhem
Who’s On Your Team?
When I was writing my 50k words for NaNoWriMo, I wrote entirely alone for the month of November. I would not recommend that to most people. Even if you are by nature more introverted, there is power in knowing that you are not pulling the sled alone. A close friend...
Eat The Bigger Frog First.
Today's topic is procrastination. Recently I came across a quote attributed to Mark Twain and I felt that it was particularly appropriate for creatives doing new year planning. "If it's your job to eat a frog, it's best to do it first thing in the morning. And if...
3 Successful Storytellers & Lessons From Their Mindset
The term "mindset" is getting used a lot these days. And many writing books start with the advice to keep it foremost in your mind that YOU ARE A WRITER. In her now classic Harvard commencement speech, J.K. Rowling discusses living in poverty and how she wrote on her...
2 Time Management Tips for Creatives
I've been listening to a number of interviews with people who have transitioned to writing full time. It has been fascinating to listen to people talk about the years beforehand, when they worked a dayjob and had to wedge in their writing time. Many of theme woke...
Write To Market: Deliver a Book That Sells
The inventory at Kindle Unlimited continues to grow and I'm glad I splurged at the beginning and paid for a discounted bulk annual price. Chris Fox is a new favorite of mine and this book is no exception. He has a direct informative style that I really appreciate....
Choosing Abundance in 2017
There are so many fantastic webinars and blog posts this time of year, about planning and thinking positively. I've enjoyed them all and in the spirit of that planning, I made my vision board yesterday. What's the purpose of the vision board? Two things, both of...
Writing a Fight Scene? Get it Right.
Write The Fight Right by Alan Baxter Who doesn't love a little hand to hand combat? Problem is, if you're not a brawler yourself, you could spend hours watching and re-watching television and movie fight scenes but still have difficulty describing it when it comes...
What’s The Secret Ingredient To Finishing Your Book?
Answer: There is no secret ingredient. There's just you. When I started NaNoWriMo, I wanted to make sure I armed myself with all the things I would need to finish successfully. So I set expectations with my family and myself about writing time. I...
Are You Having Fun? 3 Questions to Ask Yourself.
Dale Carnegie once said, "People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing." I love that. It's a reminder to me that if I am dragging my heels about something that I need to reframe it. How can I make it a better experience? Most of us are good at...
Unfolding Your Own Myth
I haven't written enough fiction (yet!) to find my fiction voice, but I do think that blog writing lends itself well to having a writing voice in general. For fiction, I find myself turning back to my favorite authors, reading their great works again with my editor's...
Scene Mapping With Scrivener
So in my last post, I talked about how Rachel Aaron recommends making a scene map. Since I own Scrivener, I imported my MS Word file from NaNoWriMo (100+ pages!) into Scrivener and now I have a great visual way to see my story with the Corkboard view. Here's the...
You Finished Writing Your 1st Draft, Now What?
Ok Wrimos, you've made it to the magical milestone of finishing your first draft. It was awesome, you celebrated, you took a snapshot of your winner certificate. But now what? If you're like me, you're probably slightly nauseated at the editing and re-writes that...