I missed my Friday post deadline because I went on vacation. My family and I drove down to see family that just moved to North Padre Island. It was a strange vacation with masks and distance. The kids did great wearing their masks everywhere. The family we went to see is family we’ve already been in contact with several times since my step dad passed away in May. My niece and brother in law taught us how to surf and boogie board. The kids loved the boogie boarding more than the surfing. My sister is more of the surfer. I just enjoyed the sun and the company. We also learned what a Blue flag at the beach means: Marine life. In our case…Jellyfish! I got stung 3 times. My sister and her kids got stung too. They don’t feel very good. May I recommend if there is ever a blue flag at the beach, go another day!
Category: Writing Journey
90 Days to Your Novel Book Review
I saw that an Instagram friend of mine was doing a 90 Days to Your Novel challenge thing, based on this book. I was intrigued. I mean, who wouldn't want to write a whole novel in 90 days? Can you really do that? Would it be any good? I know there are indie authors out there that crank out 4-5 novels a year. Something I've learned in the last year is that consistency and frequency really help when it comes to growing a following. For example, I started this blog in August 2016. Then, I decided to start grad school to become a librarian. So, from June 2017-Aug 2019 while I was in school and working full time as a teacher, I posted infrequently. Since August, I have (for the most part) posted every Friday. The number of followers since then has nearly doubled and views on the website are way up. I expect by the end of 2020 the views will more than double from last year. BUT that is not nearly important to me as quality content. I try to be consistent. But sometimes I've got stuff going on in my life (my MIL and my Stepdad passed away in the last 9 months) that prevent me from writing quality content for you, so I skip a week or two. Maybe that hurts the SEO, but I refuse to put junk out there attached to my name.
From Rough Draft to Published is Published!!
I’m almost at a loss for words right now. For the last few days/weeks/months all my time after work has been on this project. One of the major things I set up was a Writer’s Resources Vault for people who get the book and sign up for the blog with their email address, they can access a vault full of resources I mentioned in the book. Such as these documents that I’ve created…
From Rough Draft to Published Cover Reveal & the Cover Design Process
Today is the day! You get to see the cover of my new book! I can't wait any longer, so here it is!
Writing Health
Lots of people have talked about the mental toll this pandemic quarantine is taking on them. It has been pretty brutal on most everybody. I'm not going to talk about that though because I can't add anything to the conversation that hasn't already been said. I will however, talk about the physical toll this pandemic has taken on me and probably many others.
A Writing Process
Sarah Rhea Werner released a podcast about her creative process. That is something I've touched on but not completely, so I thought I'd share my process to see if perhaps this might help you discover a process that can help you.
How to Create a Critique Group
Finding a critique group that is a good fit for you is HARD! You might want to create your own group. But where do you start? I have it all laid our for you here in this post!
Writing Advice about Writing Garbage
For beginning writers, one of the most difficult things to do is to finish the story they'd started. There is always another story that promises to be better. But that creates a big problem for writers.
Hello 2020!
2019 was a fun year! I have a story published in Youth Imagination Magazine! I've been doing a ton of writing. This year I'm being more intentional with my posts and focusing more on writing craft.
Writing Advice: Writer’s Block
When I was little the doctor used to prick my finger to test blood for something I didn’t understand. The prick never really hurt that bad, but the doctor squeezing my finger to get enough blood out into the tiny capillary tube hurt like crazy! That is what writer’s block is like. The type of writer’s block I’ve had was more of a 10+ year paralysis. After college I wrote 1/3 of a novel. I decided to research the craft of writing. Great idea in theory. It was like drinking from a fire hose because I decided it would be a good idea to read every book that I could get my hands on. I had no idea there was so much to learn. I became overwhelmed and didn’t know how to implement ALL that I had learned ALL at once. So I stopped writing. Life got busy anyway. I changed careers, got married, had a child, moved a couple times. Ya know…Life.
