This amateur painting I made hangs above my desk, reminding me of the wisdom my aunt uses to get through the highs and lows of creating. Read the full story here.
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My Top 5 Tips to Optimize Your Writing Process
Every writer wants to know new ways to help them write more, better, or more often. I’ll let you in on my own routine for kicks and giggles, but remember it always comes down to what works for you. It’s really a matter of trial and error. So what works for me might leave you stymied, and what works for you might end in me scrolling Pinterest instead of typing words.So without further ado… My Top Writing Process Tips: Routine and Habitat 1. Make playlists. If you’re like me, music can be a double-edged sword: rife with inspiration, but a sucker for your attention if you’re not careful. Some writers…
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An Argument for Cross-Genre Fiction
There’s no denying that categorization can be useful. It can help us find what we want. But I have to be honest: I hate book genres. In some ways, I can appreciate knowing what to expect in the form of parameters. If you know you love romance and require a happy ending, you know where to look. If your favorite thing is clever world-building, sci-fi is probably your friend. Trust me, it’s a lot easier than searching the whole bookstore for something you’ll like. (Take it from somebody who generally ends up doing just that.) But no matter how you cut it, I’ve got beef with genres in general, and…
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Please Do Not Feed the Pigs
Hey. You. Starry-eyed writer. You. Listen to me. I know you just want to write your stories and, God willing, get paid for it, but let me tell you something: there is a crowd of people between you and your audience. They will say they can help you. Now listen to me. *takes your little face in my hands* Don’t assume you can trust them, nor that you actually need what they’re offering. Let’s face it: you’re new, impressionable, and scared. This industry is like a big freaking secret; it feels like you can’t find an in anywhere, no matter how good your writing is. So whenever someone waves and…
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The Big Question: Why Self Publish?
What do you think when you hear the words “self publishing”? It’s okay, you can be honest here, if only with yourself. If you’re like many people, your first thought might have been, “Were they not good enough to get published traditionally?” Like it or not, self publishing has had quite a stigma attached, and while its image is improving, there are still negative connotations to fight through, not to mention a major lack of knowledge on the subject. That’s why I thought I would take a few minutes to talk about what led me to the decision to self publish and let you in on the questions I asked…
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It Hasn’t Been Written
Writer, I’m about to give you some of the best news ever. If you paid attention to the title, I already have: It hasn’t been written. “What hasn’t been written?” you ask. Just pause for a second and feel for that glow of hope. That. That story which is on your heart. The one you’ve been searching for in every book you’ve ever read and haven’t quite managed to find. The one that feels so familiar that you could swear you’ve read it somewhere or maybe had it read to you as a child, if you could just remember where. That one perfect story, or the one that’s perfect to…
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The Writer’s Toolkit: 5 Ways to Bait Your Muse
Typewriters, laptops, and notebooks all have two things in common: they serve writers and they can smell fear. You’re trucking along, writing like a pro, and then chapter six rolls around and suddenly you have the urge to clean the apartment from top to bottom. In fact, every little task you’ve been ignoring suddenly seems like a great idea because for some reason, you’ve lost the ability to put one word after another. This quasi-productivity is accompanied by feelings of inadequacy, self-doubt, and internal stagnation. You’re afraid to even say those fated words, “writer’s block,” because they feel like a life sentence. Honey, have a tissue. We’ve all been there.…