Tag: Writing

Look At This Mug

A great gift for a wanna be author is this mug I got from my Other for my birthday. A favorite on my Etsy list, now I own. If you want or you know someone who would like fun mugs like this one you should check out LennyMud. All ready it is keeping me company while I try and type all my novel ideas. I am nervous about my clumsy ways but I have promised to use it. Not let it sit up on a shelf as if untouched equals protected.

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I don’t think I will be posting next week since I will be on vacation and I don’t know if the wifi is free where I’m going. Also, I have a belief vacation is to get away from it all and not be working. Also, vacation reminds me how much I love staying off social networks and being away from the stresses of the everyday grind.

Hope everyone has a good week!

Writer’s Cafe Account

I forgot all about it. I have a Writer’s Cafe account. I was looking through old emails and I found the creation profile email. I returned to the webpage and good news I remembered my username and password. I was met with a friend request and someone gave me helpful criticism on a poem I had posted 2 years ago. It was six months ago I got this review and I’m only answering back now but now I have a renewed curiosity in the site. I have been writing more often the last few months and since leaving school I don’t have the outside creative criticism on hand I think I need. This is now looking like the next step I’ll need to help my writing take shape into full body stories others will understand and love.

If anyone reading this has a Writer’s Cafe account feel free to friend me. If you have never heard of this website check it out. It is a free online writing community writers can meet other writers, post work, get constructive criticism and even enter contests. I love finding a renewed interest in something once forgotten. There is that instinct to protect my writing and my own self-esteem but I have to get over my fears and move forward.

Edit Your Own Work Before Sending

Today is a writing/publishing lesson I learned the hard way. Four years ago I was working as an intern for The Celebrity Cafe. I wrote book, movie, and music reviews, interviewed a few celebs and wrote TV recaps. Mostly, I wrote celebrity news. When I sent my work in most articles would stay when published. Only once or twice was I emailed to rewrite an article because it was not up to the standard the cafe was looking for. But one time an article was published that I was and still not happy with. It was my first writing gig but sometimes I think I should have known better. I was interning and working part time as a casher. I think the TV recaps where the hard part of the internship. I’m not a committed TV watcher but it was a job and I agreed to recap Project Runway. This was around the time they were on Thursday at 9pm and started to air for an hour and half. By 10:30pm I was tired but I would write the article (about 500 to 800 words) and send it straight in. I had work the next morning and I knew there was no time to write Friday and get it on time. Tired is no way to edit your own work. I figured the editors on the other end would catch any inaccuracy, until one recap was published and the article was covered with errors. When I saw it posted up I cringed at all the mistakes I missed the night before and the comment from a stranger talking about the poorly written piece. After that I would write at night and edit it in the morning. I tired to wake up early or just skip breakfast. I never trusted another person to make sure is was blunder free. That Project Runway piece will haunt my mind because I know I’m a better writer than what’s presented in that article. I worry that piece will stop me from getting a dream job one day.

My next internship was a writer/editor for the website, Joonbug. Perspective. If you are writing in any field be aware everyone has limited timetables, and over flowing back-ends. As an editor, even with time crunches, I always read over the articles sent by “my” writers even if I’m sure I still missed mistakes. There could be an article with slip-ups even if it looked like the requirements were covered. I’ve heard of articles being published without being proofread. If an author consistently writes well and they need to post that article that second, editors will post it with not even glance.

Doesn’t matter if it is for print or digital, if you are just starting out and you are sending in articles make sure you send the best piece you can created.

Query Letter Concern

I find query letters frustrating. They seem so simple until the writing begins. So many tips out there but only one real template. I don’t want it to sound like very other but queries seem to have such specific sound. Over the years I have submitted a few short stories to writing contests and I have been rejected but none of them needed a query letter to enter.

This is my first query letter. I wrote a children’s picture book (without art). I have found a few places to send the book. The agent/publishing research is easy. It’s the writing. There are not a lot of examples or templates for writing children’s picture book query letters. I don’t think I’m worried about rejection. I expect it. My writing and or story may not be everyone’s cup of tea. I don’t want a bad query letter holding back my book from a future. Most likely this concern and frustration is all from my focus on detail, which I will have to learn to overcome.

Pinterest For Novel Outlines

I’ve been trying to write and edit a few novels and I have come across a useful tool to help visualize characters, places, and things. What I was normally doing for my character’s description was trying to write everything I envisioned down  in a notebook. Each character would get a page. The page would list physical appearances, personality, and motive. It wasn’t until I saw a post by blogger Shannon A. Thompson called, “Writing Tips: Picture Book” I realized how much detail I was missing by not using this useful tool. Pictures.

I never thought of using pictures to help inspire and build images of characters, places, or objects. I’ve had a Pinterest account for years. When I first signed up I used it a few times but it wasn’t long that I left it having found no use for it. Now I can’t help but think, here was a writing instrument at my fingertips and I have left it idle.  Well, no longer, I have started to use it to help with my novel’s vision. Pinterest has an a great number of pictures, easy access for pinning from other websites, and a board privacy setting (so the world doesn’t have to know what you’re planning). Also, saves on paper and ink, which helps me, keep my limited budget from going over. Also, it adds a bit more of creative fun to the process. I find creating a character board or looking at a few photos can be all the pop I need for a shot of inspiration. Even on days writing is slow I can get a daily writing exercise from a few pinned pictures.

If there is anyone out there who is struggling to write a novel, I hope this helps. It has sure has helped me. If you would like to see Shannon A. Thomas’s examples I have linked to her website and her “Picture Book” blog above.

The Second Before I Fall Asleep

My mind likes to talk to me as I’m falling asleep. The light has been shut off. I have just found a comfortable way to lay and my mind starts talking.  I know it is my subconscious waking up. I try to keep a pen and paper or my phone with the note page option next to my bed. Sometimes I’m just to tired to write it down. My eyes too heavy and my body’s to cozy. I believe I’ll remember all the “great” novel ideas the next morning but I wake the next morning have forgotten most of the ideas or words I tried to memorize. Do you fight sleep and write when inspiration strikes or say to your muse, “Can’t you see I’m trying to sleep. Can’t you come back tomorrow when I’m ready to take all that creative energy and record it on the computer?” Curses with the morning light and the muse is no where to be found. Bitch.

Blogger’s Block

I’ve been trying to keep up with a blog schedule but it is proving to be a hard task. I try to post every Tuesday but I didn’t post anything yesterday because I have nothing to write about. For a bit I thought I’d post a creative writing piece but that ended with my brain going quiet at the site of the blinking curser. I was thinking about trying different days even though I know creative flow has nothing to do with a certain days of the week. Lately, I read a lot and was thinking of writing book reviews to fill up some blog space.

How do you keep your topic creative juices flowing? Have you had a blogger’s block? (Like writer’s block but with blogs?)

I Killed A Dragon

I’ve been playing Skyrim. (Now the title of this blog post makes sense.) I killed a dragon and I forgot to save the game in the excitement of my victory. I go to the next location press the wrong button and now I will have to do the whole fight over. I’m sad, frustrated, angry, and tired. Grrrr. I can’t believe I forgot to save.

It reminds me of the time last week where WordPress wasn’t saving my article as I typed. When I clicked on “refresh” in my confusion and the second after clicking I cursed me. I should know better. I worked for companies with horrible blog backends. I have lost hours of work with one button before. I don’t normally type my articles directly onto a WordPress post. I usually write articles in Word and copy and paste. Why?!

What I’m trying to write is, I’m not a quitter. I have to stop beating myself up. Everyone makes the same or similar mistakes more then once in life. I will go back and kill the dragon the second time so I can right my wrongs and move on in the game. Just like I have never quit on an article or blog post. I remind myself how the article is usually better the second time. All the thoughts are outlined. And it will not take me as long as it did the first time. YEAH! Determination.

Something I will do different. I will right my wrongs another day. This isn’t a job and right now Skyrim you’re not fun. (I still love you, just not right now Skyrim. You understand?)

Image Obtained From Andrew Whemphill’s WordPress

Overwhelmed

How am I suppose to write all these stories slushing around in my head? How do I make them separately make sense? I know I can outline and organize but it is more then that. It’s that rushing and overwhelming feeling in the brain. All the ideas all trying to get out at once. The brain slows down like a few too many computer programs running. It’s the story you said you write with a friend, the query letter not coming together, some fixes for that first draft, and the new story ideas all picking this one moment. 
I hate that moment. 

Green Thumb May Be Present

This post is late because I had to finish a book. It is number two in a trilogy and called, Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor. Couldn’t tear myself away from the last 100 pages. Now I have to wait for the third to be released to find out what happens. I don’t know if I should scream, growl, or cry.

Now, for some patience rewarded and what I’m really going to write about are the little seedlings I planted almost a month ago. I had no information on how long it would take to see green and I had some worry nothing would come from the seeds. I know Basil seeds grow quick because I grew Basil before and two to three weeks was written on the seed package. But I had no information on the Romanian seeds. Finally, last week I started seeing green! It’s so rewarding to see those little leaves peak up from the dirt. If you have been reading my post, “Grandma was right” will make perfect sense. If not, Grandma had dried pepper seeds and told me they would work better that the package seeds were crap. The pepper seeds showing off their green are Grandma’s.

Below are some pictures of the seedlings. It seems some seeds didn’t make it. Some people are telling to not loss hope so I keep watering dirt.

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Three pepper starters in the row and one Endiva on top. Looks like a few didn’t make it.
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Beginnings of Basil