Category Archives: Writing

What degree should a writer get?

A business degree. What? Lets set aside the creative writing degrees, publishing workshops, and English majors a moment and really dig into this. If you are a writer it is inherently because: You like to read. You enjoy writing. You are fairly creative. All these things do not require a degree and you do themContinueContinue reading “What degree should a writer get?”

The Land of Tub: Map Creation

For many sci-fi and fantasy writers it can be tough to think of new worlds. Even if you can vividly picture it in your mind, getting it to the readers can create pitfalls and potholes on an already bumpy ride. First mountains, and oh wait, mountains need valleys so lets add those… now naturally withContinueContinue reading “The Land of Tub: Map Creation”

Please Vote: Character Name Selection

Alright, I need a little help. I’m trying to decide on the last name for Haylee’s love interest in my book. Most votes will decide it and go into the final version of my book, The Bonaparte Complex: Glimmers of Truth. A brief bio of the character: Jonas is tall, bearded, and a high schoolContinueContinue reading “Please Vote: Character Name Selection”

The Price is Write: Habits to Write By

Daily habits are key to any lifestyle, especially a creative one. Whether you get up before everyone else or find time crammed between events we all have habits that keep us on track. For me this means writing while Lets Make a Deal and The Price is Right is on television. For some reason IContinueContinue reading “The Price is Write: Habits to Write By”

‘Showing’ Character Description

Description should be like tasty nuggets of information readers cherry pick out of the pages before them. Not a nutritional paragraph of data they must swallow. This post is all about revising your words to get the more ‘show’ and less ‘tell’ in your character descriptions. For Secondary Characters: Too much description gets boring. The classicContinueContinue reading “‘Showing’ Character Description”

Four Month Blog Breakdown

It’s been an exciting four months of blogging and we are so happy you are here checking in with us again! I wanted to share our year end status report for anyone who is interested in blogging and building a platform for whatever reason. The report shows the work put into the site in concreteContinueContinue reading “Four Month Blog Breakdown”

10 Steps for Working with an Illustrator

Maybe your story is like mine. You’ve submitted a children’s book to several publishers without pictures and have had no response. Lets be real can a picture book really make an impact without pictures? Maybe… Maybe not… So after reading through the Children’s Writers Market I’ve decided to try again, except with the pictures included.ContinueContinue reading “10 Steps for Working with an Illustrator”

Magic Realism Is Not

A relatively new term has been popping up all over the publishing realm, Magic Realism. But what exactly is magic realism? And is the classic definition what agents and publishers really want? If you do a quick GoodReads search for magic realism books you will get a haphazard collection of works. Whether or not these are classifiedContinueContinue reading “Magic Realism Is Not”

Beta Reader Breakdown Part 3, Evaluation time

So you have all your shiny packets back, well except for those first few pages with the coffee marks. But Yay! You have them back. And you’ve glanced through them and you are getting excited about all the positive feedback you are sure to receive! My mind is humming, “I can’t wait for them toContinueContinue reading “Beta Reader Breakdown Part 3, Evaluation time”

Gift Guide for Writers

Here are some ideas I complied for gifts for writers. Some are practical, others are quirky but I hope you find some ideas you can use. Eat. Sleep. Write. Coffee Mug. Any coffee mug with a fun saying will work. A quick internet search turns up hundreds of options. Find this mug on Amazon. LEDContinueContinue reading “Gift Guide for Writers”

Beta Reader Breakdown Part 2, Equip your team

Find Part 1 of Beta Reader Breakdown, Pick Your Team Here Now onto the tough part. What do you ask the beta readers to do? Or do you say nothing? I think some rough framework is needed so I am creating a packet I will print off for each reader, it includes: A complete printContinueContinue reading “Beta Reader Breakdown Part 2, Equip your team”

NaNoWriMo: A Postscript (Or Reflections on a Month of Creative Abandon)

Guest Post by Andrew Newton, Find his blog at newtonandnewtoninc.wordpress.com This past November, I embarked for the fourth time on a literary adventure of grand proportions. National Novel Writing Month (aka. NaNoWriMo, or just NaNo) is an annual challenge for writers of all ages to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Each timeContinueContinue reading “NaNoWriMo: A Postscript (Or Reflections on a Month of Creative Abandon)”

Pick Your Team, Beta Reader Breakdown

As I enter my final stages of revision for my YA novel my heart is fluttering with excitement and dread. It’s coming to the point where someone else will be reading my words… characters as close as family will be critiqued. Secretly, I think it’s flawless. Reality hits cold. What do I do? How doContinueContinue reading “Pick Your Team, Beta Reader Breakdown”

Building a Frame, not a Cage

We are divided into one category of writers or the other; we are either pantsters or plotters. While I do not know for sure who coined these terms, the pantster writes by the seat of their pants while the plotter writes from an established plan. Etymology aside, I am a plotter and my plan usually takes the form of anContinueContinue reading “Building a Frame, not a Cage”

Gift Guide: The Artist

Are you looking for a gift for the artistic/creative person in your life? Here is a list that I came up with of some amazing gifts that they would love to get! Coloring Book! of course Artist love coloring! Sometimes we need to do something creative that is more laid back and doesn’t require soContinueContinue reading “Gift Guide: The Artist”

Lost for Words: Five ways to Generate Story Ideas

I was recently asked how I come up with new ideas to write about so regularly. I liken it to an athlete doing conditioning. To condition you practice, you stretch, and you eat right. Writing is no different. You practice your writing each day or at least as often as you possibly can. You stretchContinueContinue reading “Lost for Words: Five ways to Generate Story Ideas”