Category: my novel’s progress

  • A Three Hour Writing Course That’s Worth Your Time

    A Three Hour Writing Course That’s Worth Your Time

    Beware: the following sounds like like a commercial, but it’s only because I liked the “product” so much. Now that I’m wrapping up the second draft of my WIP, I wanted to share my thoughts about an online course I took called Write a Bestselling Novel in 15 Steps, which I’ll refer to as WABNI15S…

  • Friday’s Findings

    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…

  • Don’t Be Afraid. Don’t Be Very Afraid.

    Don’t Be Afraid. Don’t Be Very Afraid.

    Ever since Jeff Goldblum’s character uttered those words in the 1986 film The Fly, he has inspired people to use them in a humorous but sincere way to express anxiety about a current situation. That includes many aspiring writers I see on social media who are afraid “their WIP will not be well received. I…

  • Some Recommended Resources for Writers

    Some Recommended Resources for Writers

    Check out K.M. Weiland’s latest article on her blog for writers, Helping Writers Become Authors: The Professional Writing Resources I Use for All Parts of the Writing and Publishing Processes This awesome blog post has several resources I’m going to consider using in the future. I also recently came across the following links for writers…

  • How I Trick Myself into Writing

    How I Trick Myself into Writing

    Even though I love my Work In Progress (WIP), sometimes I need a little motivation. Recently, just for fun, I printed out the full manuscript of the second draft of my WIP. I couldn’t believe how tall the stack of pages turned out to be. I had only worked on my WIP digitally. I had…

  • Dogged Decision

    Dogged Decision

    I’ve decided to retire from dog sitting. It’s a side job I’ve been doing for years—decades, really. I still love dogs. I still love dog sitting. Something, however, has changed. Maybe I want to concentrate more on writing; I mean I can still do that when I am at someone else’s house taking care of…

  • What Will You Be Reading This Year?

    What Will You Be Reading This Year?

    “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft I’ve come across this tip for writers by Stephen King in many places, but I’ll never forget the first time I came across it in his…

  • Shame. Shame.

    Shame. Shame.

    Game of Throne fans will understand the title of this post. But even if you don’t know the reference, you may understand the feeling of “shame” when you don’t finish National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) with fifty thousand words. And I say, “It’s okay. Forget about it.” Some years I “win” NaNoWriMo, some years I…

  • Making a scene

    Making a scene

    Originally posted on Andrew M. Friday: One thing I find helpful for NaNoWriMo is making an informal list of scenes. The key is to not get married to this list; just use it as a jumping point. I usually end up moving the order of the scenes around. Here are some things to keep in…