Who doesn’t love free? Here’s the first of a few round-ups of best free resources for writers on the web. This installment includes market resources, submissions trackers, and productivity software like word processors, spreadsheets etc.
View From the Top of the Mountain… NaNo reflects
So, as I’m sure the discerning reader has noticed, I crossed the finish line of #NaNo late Sunday night…. whew! Confirmed the win on the website, and had a twitter and facebook happy dance followed by a real happy dance all over my kitchen. Then I went to sleep, exhausted. Followed by yesterday catching up […]
Pride and Exhaustion
Marathon day and 5234 words… whew! Today I turned a corner in more ways than one. Not only am I within sight of my goal, but the novel is picking up in awesome ways with the entry of my hidden puppetmaster character, Lady Mine Natogara. Naturally, it all comes to a head with a memorable […]
Turkey & Word Sprints
After a fantastic Thanksgiving filled with turkey, rolls, stuffing and cranberry sauce, I came back with a mission: 15,000 words in four days. Yes, that’s right – I’m going to finish the whole kit and kaboodle of NaNo by Monday. (You heard it here first!) So, in grand sprint style, I’ll need to average a […]
POV crisis & crunch time
Passing the 30,000 word mark for NaNo is awesome!…. until you realize you have a problem. Momentum, my NaNo project, is supposed to be an action/adventure space opera with romantic elements, so naturally the two largest characters are a guy and a girl. Sadly, the guy, Graham, is disliking this whole project. He’s not speaking […]
Why I love whiteboards
Feeling stuck is your brain’s way of telling you there’s something you’re missing. It’s a red flag. A flashing light. A clue to slow down and start thinking. Carefully. One of the best ways to think is through brainstorming. Getting up, getting a marker, and writing things down on the whiteboard. Some people use clustering […]
Queries, or A Radically Simple Idea
I polished up my query for Clean on Friday to send out to agents in the next few weeks. Like a good girl, I got a couple of talented other writers to take a look at it and give me feedback. I got the usual responses, mostly making me clarify my thoughts (thanks guys) but […]
Feast or Famine
After a weekend (and Monday) of taking care of other people’s problems, I tried to hit the ground running on Tuesday. I hit the ground alright – straight into an inconveniently-located telephone pole, and fell, staring up at the stars, wondering why I had only written four hundred-odd words. NaNo organizers claim that Week Two […]
Red Clay Writer’s Conference & Connection
Which makes me think, how does this apply to my life? How can I connect better? What things can all of us do to make that leap to meet our audience’s needs? It’s easy to start with yourself. It’s better to start (or at least, finish) with your audience.
A Lovely Hour of Dashed Hopes
Instead of working on NaNo like a good girl today, I went to the Red Clay Writer’s Conference at KSU. I learned a lot (more on the conference later), but in the last session my phone started vibrating. Even on “quiet”, the thing was loud, so I popped it out of my bag and hit […]
