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Archive | November, 2013

Write a novel in a month

Keep on writing, keep on writing

By on November 18, 2013 in 1. Discover your story, 2. Create Your Story, 4. Writer’s Life, Inspiration and Life Coaching, 7. Search by Author:, Encourage Me!, House Calls, Susan May Warren, Writers Q &A

I wrote a novella last week. 31, 160 words. That’s over 5K a day. Now, here’s what we all have to keep in mind – many of these words will have to be rewritten or deleted. I will have to go scene by scene and make sure I’ve inserted storyworld, and the 5 Ws to anchor the scene. I’ll have to ask what the main emotion of the scene is, and how to strengthen it. I’ll have to tighten my writing, make it clearer, make sure I’m not overwriting.

I’ll have to make sure I am telling the story between the quotes, and that I am wrapping up my dialogue with the right meaningful action and body language, adding zingers.

And, I’ll have to make sure I all the ingredients of the Scene Tension Equation.

All these things are in my brain as I’m writing, trust me. But, if I want to forget ahead and give myself something to work with, then I have to be like Dori in Finding Nemo.

Don’t look back. Forget everything but my goal….reaching the end. (or, P Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way)

But how do we keep that focus? I know it can be hard, because even in the middle of a scene you suddenly think: WAIT! I just came up with something BRILLIANT and I need to add it into chapter 3!

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Five Reasons Why You Quit

By on November 16, 2013 in 4. Writer’s Life, Inspiration and Life Coaching, Encourage Me!, Life Coaching, Nurturing Creativity, Nurturing the Soul, Reba Hoffman, Writer's life, Writing Life, Writing Life Coaching

I’ve done it. I’m sure you have too. You get a great idea and dive right in. Somewhere along the way, you chip away at your enthusiasm until one day you suddenly realize you haven’t pursued that thing in quite a while. You quit.

That’s fine if you started watching season one of Castle or took belly dancing lessons. There comes a time when those things naturally come to an end. But when it comes to quitting your writing dream, it will leave you empty and utterly unhappy.

There are any number of reasons why individuals throw in the towel on their pursuits, but here are ones I have found to be the top five:

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Rachel Hauck

What Comes After “Once Upon A Time?”

By on November 14, 2013 in Crafting a Strong Premise

Well, here it is the middle of November and you’ve been pounding away on your NaNoWriMo novel.

Sometimes, it feels like this picture. Once upon a time…

And you’re out of room.

Out of juice

Out of creativity.

NaNo is supposed to be a grind-it-out month.

No stopping to plan or rework your story or edit.

Just write.

So what do you do if you’re just stuck?

Here are a few tips:

1. Remember what the story is about? What the protagonist want? Have you shown this enough? Have you caused them to move farther and farther from their goal?

2. Write a scene out of sequence. The other day I came home and wrote a scene for the first of the book rather than the beginning of the middle where I’d written to at that point. The scene came to me and I knew it was one I needed so I wrote it.

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Linking Your Social Accounts and Other Major Blogging and Social media No-nos

By on November 12, 2013 in Edie Melson, Learn the art of Social Networking, Social Media Primer

Successful social media is something of an art form—with lots of gray areas. Building a successful online presence takes a good amount of flexibility and a little bit of experimentation. But even though I encourage people to find their sweet spots, there are a few things you want to avoid. Today I’d to weigh in on linking your social media accounts and other major blogging and social media no-nos.

No-no Number One

Do not link your blog with social media. What I mean by that is you don’t want your blog o send a notification of your newest blog post to Facebook or Twitter or any other social network. On the surface it seems that would be a great shortcut for those (almost all of us) who find ourselves in a constant time crush. But it’s not.

Here’s why:

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