A note from Susie May: Alena Tauriainen is one of my favorite aspiring authors – she’s a hard worker, creative and has a heart to press on in this journey. She is also the MBT Retreats Hostess and writes a series for the MBT Blog called, “The Next Step,” about the small steps an aspiring author makes every day that add up to a finished novel. I asked her to blog today on her perspective on attending a writers conferences when you’re early in the journey. Thank you, Alena! ***** Many of my writing friends told me attending a writing conference was the next step on my writing journey. I shrugged them off. After all, I was learning to schedule time in to write, reading blogs and other various articles […]
Read the RestArchive | September, 2012
Techniques for Layering Emotion into a scene: Other People
“Hi Susie. Um, Susie?” Sally sat down in a chair opposite me, handed me a coffee. “Kathy said you’d forgotten this.” I took it, tearing my eyes from the woman I’d been watching across the room. She wore a pair of sweatpants, the baggy kind, an oversized sweatshirt and a bandanna over her hair. Curled up in a leather chair, she was drinking coffee while buried in a novel. I sighed. “I want to be her. Just take a day off and read.” “That’s apparent, by the look on your face,” Sally said. “I know you’ve been busy these past few weeks – hello, I completely feel abandoned, but you look like you want to go rip that book from her hands, push her out of the chair and take […]
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Building Your Tribe, Part Two: What’s in it For You?
I get it. You’ve already got so much on your plate, it’s rolling off and onto the floor. The last thing you need is another task to do in your already jam packed day, right? Well, yeah! But tribes aren’t a burden. They’re the ones who come behind you and clean up all that stuff that just fell off your plate and splattered onto the kitchen tile. If you’re thinking of your tribe as another task, let me encourage you to change your mindset. Think Native Americans. Not those who lived in cabins and homes in the Smoky Mountains, but those who lived in teepees and wandered around the plains of the Midwest in search of buffalo. They were never without help. They banded together. When one was weak, others […]
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Featured Fiction Friday Presents: Ronie Kendig
Well, the Frasier Winners have been announced. The hard work of the judges has decided the winners, and today we will take a look at the novel of another of our esteemed judges… Ronie Kendig and her book Trinity Q: Ronie can you tell us a little bit about your story? A year ago in Afghanistan, Green Beret Heath Daniel’s career was destroyed. Along with his faith. Now he and his military war dog, Trinity, train other dogs and their handlers. Though his passion is to be back in action, the medical discharge has forced Heath—and Trinity—to the sidelines. Military intelligence officer Darci Kintz is captured while secretly tracking the Taliban. Only one dog can handle the extreme conditions to save her. Trinity. Only one man can handle Trinity. Time is running out […]
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