Okay, a quick blog post for today. Did you know you can take advantage of the author pages on Amazon.com? https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/landing You can set up your bio, link multiple pen names into one account, edit book info (great if your back copy blurb is one mashed paragraph as sometimes happens), add pictures, and link your … Read More
How NOT to use Facebook if you’re a writer.
Lately, there’s been a pretty aggravating trend of writers not using Facebook the way it was intended (as a pretty good social networking site) but as…well… A $2 whore. This trend seems to be predominant amongst newbie and self-published writers, although it’s not exclusively limited to writers. I’ve seen plenty of self-help gurus and others … Read More
Writing How-To: Realistic Dialog, Pt. 1
I’m not trying to say I’m da shizzle when it comes to writing dialog (yes, dialog is an acceptable spelling of dialogue). But I’ve been complimented enough on my realistic dialog that I decided it should be a blog post topic. I’ll cover this over several parts, because I couldn’t just sit down and pinpoint … Read More
Writing How-To: Bleeding red ink.
Being a writer means editing is a part of life. It boggles my mind when I hear newbie writers who haven’t even been published, or who have only published one or two small articles or short-stories, whine about the editing process. Since I’m currently working on edits for two of my publishers, I thought it … Read More
Writing How-To: Beware the alien space bats!
Short one for you today. I’ve been sick, but didn’t want you to think I died. Sometimes writers use plot devices without realizing they’re using them. This can produce results good and bad. Most writers are aware of the Deus ex machina plot device (or should be if you read this blog, because I covered … Read More
Writing How-To: Taking Stock of Characters, Pt. 1
Writing How-To: Character development. … Read More
Writing How-To: Who’s In Third? Omnipotent limitations.
The first “official” (meaning not a freebie, one I had to pay money for) purchase I made on our new Kindle was Stephen King’s “Under the Dome.” Now, I cut my writing teeth on SK in high school. He was my first “writing idol,” the one I wanted to be “just like him” when my … Read More
Writing How-To: "And then, suddenly…"
Deus ex machina. Literally, “god from the machine.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deus_ex_machina You’ve seen it before. It’s the object that turns up exactly at the perfect time the characters need it to get out of their life-threatening fix. It’s the character who suddenly remembers they studied Morse code in Boy Scouts and translates the message that sends them … Read More
Writing How-To: Special Snowflake Follow-Up.
Wow. I’m totally blown away (in a good way) to the response to my “You are Not a Special Snowflake” post. I also had no idea (and I had many private responses besides the ones in the comments) how many people said they’d been afraid to say what I said. And that, to me, begs … Read More
Writing How-To: You Are Not a Special Snowflake.
I was having a private email discussion back and forth with another writer who, like me, has found better than average success writing for indie e-publishers. They told me something that so totally resonated with me that yes, I have to share it. They were once given the advice to use multiple pen names and … Read More
Writing How-To: Promotions
I responded to a promo question from newbie author who is a fellow writer at one of my publishers. I thought it might not be a bad idea to share my answers with y’all. Feel free to contribute your own ideas for what’s worked for you in the comments. Her e-book won’t be out for … Read More
Writing How-To: Avoiding Head Hopping POVs
Well, yesterday I did something I don’t get as much time to do lately as I’d like. I sat and finished reading a book. Unfortunately, this book was an older romance (published in the early ’90’s). I ordered it and the sequel from Paperbackswap.com because the sequel had been talked about on an Amazon.com discussion … Read More
Writing How-To: (Bad Pun Alert) Easy Writer.
I want to let you in on a little secret about writing. (It’s not a secret for my fellow pubbed authors, because they already know this, so quit that snickering there in the peanut gallery.) Writing is the EASY part of your job. Yep. You know, all those gallons of sweat and all those buckets … Read More
Writing How-To: Determination
Approximately a year ago, about this time, my older Toshiba laptop died. Well, as I panicked when the screen, which had been getting progressively redder upon start-up over several months, went totally black, I realized I still had lights on in the main laptop body. Meaning it wasn’t dead-dead, just sort of dead. I unplugged … Read More
Writing How-To: Configuring Retro-Word Appearance
Do you miss the old versions of Word where you could use a dark background and light text? I got this link courtesy of author Douglas Clegg: http://www.ehow.com/how_4494872_make-word-2007-look-feel.html You can not only change Word 2007 so the background and text colors are reversed for ease of use, you can make it look like an old-time … Read More