Treat yourself to Book Writing 101 with a humous twist
Ever wondered how to write a book? Wonder no more. Rands wrote a tongue in cheek blog post about the process: How to Write a Book. In his article, he advises:
Even better, stop thinking about writing a book. Your endless internal debate and self-conjured guilt about that book you haven’t written yet is a sensational waste of your time. My guess is if you took all the time that you’ve spent considering writing a book and translated that into actual writing time, you’d be a quarter of your way into writing that book you’re not writing.
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Deconstructing My Constructed Self
Deconstructing My Constructed Self He paints my face—olive—light, a gift from ancient ancestors. His strokes thick, quick, powder flies everywhere. He draws my lips–firm, first an outline, plumb, overlaid with a layer for shine, fine. Then my eyes–smoldering, brown–shadowed and still. Lined with deepest black, my lashes traced. Then the finishing touches—rouge–to unhide my cheekbones. I feel beautiful today. My face masked by paint to hide an empty pallet. The brush rises again—wavy locks cascade from its tip—then pull away, twisting upwards, to crown my painted face. Leaving only tendrils to fall, to touch, my soft powdered face. But the day is over now; the paint no longer needed. I … Continue reading Deconstructing My Constructed Self
Secrets Of The Sea Known Only By Her: An Acrostic
Secrets of the Sea Known Only by Her
She sits by the water,
Eyes staring at the calm surface,
Cringing in the cold. She watched
Rings form in the clear depths.
Every ring brushed against
The waves, beating against the
Shores of her mind
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Some Haiku for You
Rain falling softly
Children with yellow rain coats
Splashing in puddles
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Dry grass crackling
Orange tongues of fire
Marshmallows melting
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Flunking another quiz
The books I never opened
A red pen- grade fixed
Laughs and an Outlet for your Writing
Do you do any of these things?
Camilla Marsh, writing for The Writing Cooperative, put together a list of quirks, anyone of which might apply to you. Here’s a sneak peak:
7. You’ve been known to taper off during a conversation, staring into oblivion, mouth slightly ajar, as your mind fills with an enthralling tale-to-be with characters yet-to-be named as your colleague’s fourth helping of stale office gossip falls unheard at your feet.
User Experience Matters
If you doubt this, come to my office where every little detail of a website is scrutinized. We’re not a big player in the web world. We don’t want to send our visitors screaming for the exit; we want them to come into our site and never leave. We are a black hole sucking you in. Spaghettification will begin soon…muahahahaha…..
Fresh Perspective: What Photography Can Teach You About Writing
Looking for a fresh perspective to start your week? Look no further. I’ve got one to offer.
What photography can teach you about writing
On the surface, photography and writing have little in common. If you dig a little deeper, the commonalities become plain. Photographers frame life with their camera lens and capture those images in pixels or film. Writer also frame life–be it every day reality or a slice from their fantasy world–in words. A photographer’s frame is the limit of his/her lens; A writer’s is his or her imagination.
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Sound off: Advice from the Web
While you relax and enjoy your well-deserved Sunday morning rituals, here’s some advice culled from the internet on a writing, creativity, motivation and process. While your sipping orange juice, some exotic tea, a coffee confection or plain old milk, let your mind consider these tidbits and store them away for future reference.
Here’s a new way to look at your writing from The New Yorker, a piece entitled, Omission: Choosing What to Leave out:
Selling books and eBooks with a Dash of Inspiration
A recent Publisher’s Weekly article, How To Succeed at Self-Publishing, zeroed in on self-published author, Victorine Lieske. Her ebook romance, Not What She Seems, sold 150,000 copies and blew up the best seller lists. She talked to Publisher’s Weekly about the secret of her success.
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Hypocrite? Who me? Say it isn’t so!
Yesterday I posted a rambling review of The Girl in the Spider’s Web. Sharp readers no doubt noticed at the end of the post that I contradicted myself. I talked about avoiding the fourth installment of the Millenium series initially just because Stieg Larsson, the series’ creator, passed on and a new author picked up the thread of the story.
I mentioned a thing called author loyalty. Then I ended the post speaking about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Mycroft Holmes and my enthusiasm for reading it. That got me thinking about the whole issue. How long does an author have to be dead before author loyalty erodes and readers flock in comfort to a new author’s continuation of the saga?
Caught in the Spider’s Web
![The Girl in the Spider's Web: A Lisbeth Salander Novel - Millennium Series, Book 4 | [David Lagercrantz]](https://i0.wp.com/ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61DdVWl9PlL._SL300_.jpg)
I just finished The Girl in the Spider’s Web by David Lagercrantz, book 4 in the late Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Series. Maybe you’ve heard of it. Maybe you’ve decided to skip the book out of loyalty for Larsson. That was my plan but it went off the rails when my fellow audio book junkies (aka my IT office mates) decided to read the book.
Expand your horizons
When you left school, did you leave learning behind? Or like me, do you hunger for knowledge? Yes the internet is full of information but unless you find a site or sites that’s curated by someone that knows their shit, you could be surfing through a whole lot of crap. Don’t get me started on the emails targeted at professionals touting courses to learn PMP or other business skills with hefty price tags. My inbox is full of their ilk. One more certification on my wall is not what I need right now. Neither do I want to hit up the nearest … Continue reading Expand your horizons
Image
I dodge raindrops. Through the camera on my cellphone, I frame the world. Then I cut the it up. Pummel the image in photoshop and slap bleeding slivers of it on my blog. Smile for the camera, you’re up next on my digital dissection table. The crop tool will cut you now. Resize, sharpen, apply a bit of curve and only a fragment out of place and time remains. Reminders of a time lost, a scene never repeated. An image captured and then gone again in the space of a blink. I walk between raindrops. Their patter hides the click of my phone capturing the the girl with blue wings. Continue reading Image
Maintaining the Fictional Dream
As writers we’re charged with the responsibility of drawing the reader in, making him care about the character and identify with the characters. To do that, we must create and maintain the fictional dream. There’s an article on that on the website in the Writers’ Aids section, but let me say here that it is through the fictional dream that a reader is transported from reading words on a page to living the events of the novel. – Vicki Hinze I quoted the above text from Vicki Hinze’s article, The Reason Editors Reject Manuscripts. Since I am pursuing the e-book/self publishing route, I … Continue reading Maintaining the Fictional Dream
How much should you write every day?
“Write 10,000 Words Everyday is Terrible Advice” so says @virajpatel24 on Medium.com and I agree with him. I’ve seen a lot of posts lately here and on Medium.com about word counts mixed in with advice about how to write. These posts came up during a search for editing/revising advice and curiosity made me read them. Who doesn’t like free advice? Write 10,000 words in one day. I’ve actually blown past that limit in one twenty-four hour period but I couldn’t uncurl the fingers on my right hand at the end of that session. My hand had locked up from too much abuse. I had … Continue reading How much should you write every day?
Melinda Kucsera - USA Today Bestselling Author of Epic Fantasy Adventures 
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