Category: Friday’s Findings
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Friday’s Findings
One of my former co-workers has more free time because he is quarantined at home. For the past few years, he has been telling me about the fantasy novel he’s been working no, but with his job and family, he hadn’t had much time to work on it. Now he’s been catching up on his…
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Friday’s Findings
During this period of COVID-19 crisis, each person who writes finds himself or herself in his own unique situation. Some are furloughed from work. Some are working at jobs considered essential. Some who write full-time already may not find their writing routine changed much. I am blessed to have a job during this time. Fortunately,…
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Friday’s Finding
Here are some articles on writing I’ve come across lately. My hope for you is you to stay safe. Find motivation to improve your writing craft as a way to remain mentally healthy if you are at home for an extended period of time. Fueling Your Writing With Feeling How to End a Story: Top…
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Friday’s Findings
Sometimes I find myself using the same gestures for my characters over and under and over again. I think I’m guilty of making them “furrow their eyebrows” a lot. While the gestures and body language suggestions from the first item in today’s list is not exhaustive, it can give you ideas for your own variety…
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Friday’s Findings
Semicolons. I think of them as the yellow on a traffic stoplight. But I admit it. I love using the semicolon. When I write a rough draft, I indulge my semicolon addiction, but when I self-edit, I have to rewrite most of the sentences where I use them. They are like spice; I use them…
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Friday’s Findings
While being at home this week, I took a Udemy.com course called How to Plan and Outline Novels (Using Scrivener). I loved the simplicity of how the instructor, novelist Sean Platt, broke down the novel writing process. And I got a lot of great ideas for using Scrivener. The course is only about two hours…
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Friday's Findings
I always think of my first draft as a lump of clay I’ve been working on for only a few minutes. It’s wet and soggy and unpainted, but I know it’s unfinished and the best is yet to come. Why Your First Draft Isn’t Crap Stop Killing Your Creative Genius How a Career Can Reveal…
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Friday’s Findings
Why do you write? I just want to publish novels and entertain people. I know that sounds pretentious, but it’s true. I have not subscribed to making money by writing books. It happens to some writers, but I don’t have time to waste on pipedreams. The danger of chasing the “blockbuster novel” dream is not…
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Friday’s Findings
A couple weeks ago, I shared some tips on how I trick myself into writing. One of those tips was to print out your manuscript and put it in a binder. Having tangible evidence of your hard work can be motivational. But what format should you print it out in? The first link in today’s…