Managing Distractions as a Writer

A Writer's Path

by Richard Risemberg

I recently saw an ad for the Freewrite, a “distraction-free” portable word processor–that is, one with no Internet capability. I immediately recognized it as something inspired by the old Alphasmart Neo, but hipsterized a bit with an e-ink screen and a bit morte of a Dieter Rams styling. I knew about the Neo because my friend Kent Peterson collects writing devices of all types, from fountain pens to typewriters to vintage word processors to actual contemporary computers, and he feels particularly drawn to the minimalist ethos of the Neo. Not to mention that they are available used for less than twenty bucks online sometimes.

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How I Am Approaching Book Promotion – By a New Author Who Has Always Dreaded Doing Any Sort of Self-Promotion #Writer

BlondeWriteMore

I can happily promote a blog post, but the idea of shouting about a book that I have written SCARES THE HELL OUT OF ME!

Below is me in cat form being told I will need to promote my book.

Book promotion feels like a different ball game to me.

Now, before I begin this post, please remember I am new to this. This is not a definitive guide to book promotion. I am at the start of my book journey. This will feel basic to some of you seasoned authors and I do apologise in advance. As I keep telling myself we all have to start somewhere.

I am a blogger and I feel a duty to share my experiences and hopefully someone somewhere will get some courage to do what I’ve done.

So, before my romance novel; Instructions For Falling In Love Again, was published, I had…

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Amazon Prime Day, 2019: July 15-16

chrismcmullen

JULY 15-16, 2019: AMAZON PRIME DAY

Every July, Amazon has a special day of deals just for Prime members.

This year (2019), the event will actually span two days: Monday, July 15, to Tuesday, July 16.

It’s like a Black Friday in the summer just for Amazon Prime customers.

The event attracts much attention.

There are millions of customers who have Amazon Prime.

If you have that membership, naturally you want to make the most of it.

And thus you are enticed to check out Amazon on Prime Day, to see if there might be a good deal on something that you’d like to buy.

Occasionally, Prime Day, Black Friday, or even Cyber Monday can be very big even for Amazon.

Not only does Amazon often achieve record sales of some sort (like Kindle devices), but sometimes there is so much traffic early on that customers have to wait patiently…

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The Value of Dreams For a Writer

A Writer's Path

by Doug Lewars

A member of a writers’ group to which I belong woke up one morning with a fully formed story in her head. She had to do a bit of background checking to make sure some elements of the setting were accurate but the basic plot was all there. I’ve never experienced that but I have had dreams that were useful in crafting a narrative.

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Why Do Authors Need a Newsletter?

A Writer's Path

by ARHuelsenbeck

I’ve heard that publishers contemplating buying a new author’s work want to know how big his/her email list is; in other words, how many regular subscribers will get a personal notification from the author about the upcoming publication? Clearly, a regular newsletter going out to your readers is an effective marketing tool.

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Writing Perils: How to Properly Format Your Dialogue Scenes

A Writer's Path

by Liam Cross

A big part of our game is studying the game.

We assess all aspects of social media, analysing the content other pages/people are putting out. We take notes. We look for any gaps/holes. And if they appear, we fill them with wonderful content.

That’s how the title for this article came about.

There’s so much information out there for writers, but in our opinion, not enough of it covers the basics. And when we say basics, we mean basics. You may have read that title and thought to yourself, Seriously? So if that’s you, this article probably isn’t of much use.

However, if you happen to be one of the (many) writers who still aren’t sure about proper speech formatting (as in, formatting that is publication ready), then stick around – we’re about to change that.

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Author Inspiration and This Week’s Writing Links

Staci Troilo

Ciao, amici. I want to apologize in advance for the quote of the week. It’s not strictly writing-related.

Today, the quote’s author is unknown. Which is too bad, as I’d like to thank him or her for the wise words:

At the end of the day, all you need is hope and strength.
Hope that it will get better and strength to hold on until it does.

Last week was rough, with family surgeries (yes, I consider my dogs family, but I mean my father, too) and other issues, some of which made the post last week and some of which didn’t. Because of those difficulties, I was determined to have a better week this week.

I didn’t.

We lost a dear member of the family this week. I should have seen it coming; she’s been in the hospital for months. But reports of her progress came filtered through…

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Get Rid of Repetition: Pleonasms in Your Writing

A Writer's Path

by Suzanne Purkins

Did you know that when you use more words than necessary to express something (like blowing windor frozen ice), you are committing a pleonasm, which is the fancy Greek way of saying you’re being redundant? Redundancy in writing sounds like a simple thing to spot—and sometimes it is. But some types of redundancy can be tricky to identify, and that’s because we tend to speak in expressions in English, so redundant phrases become little package deals, like a true fact or a free gift. (I hate to break it to you, but if it’s not free, you’re doing gifts wrong.)

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#BookReview 10 Steps To Hero @sacha_black #TuesdayBookBlog #AmWriting

BlondeWriteMore

This book How to Craft a Kickass Protagonist – 10 Steps To Hero has become a permanent feature in my writer’s handbag and it has really helped me on my journey to publication. If only the author, Sacha Black, knew how bendy I’ve made the book spine (from excessive use), how many pages are now dog eared and how many pages are adorned with messy fingerprint marks.

I have read Sacha’s 13 Steps To Evil which is all about crafting superbad villains and I loved it. The nifty thing with Sacha’s books is that she gives you a little writing pep talk as you go along. You can’t beat her use of humour, sarcasm and wit. Sacha also knows all of your bad writing habits when writing characters and will get inside your writing mind. I found myself rushing to a notebook after reading Villains.

This book on crafting heroes…

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Guest Post: How I Wrote A Novella in a Month as a Stay-At-Home Mom

Nicholas C. Rossis

This is a guest post by Iona Caldwell, druid, mother, author, and wife, who has written the British Occult Fiction, Beneath London’s Fog.

How I Wrote A Novella in a Month as a Stay At Home Mom

“Mom!!” How many times have you heard this when you try to sit down to write? Isn’t it funny how you ask them if they need anything and they promise up and down they’re good? It happens again: the fighting, fussing and questions wondering why you have to work since they’re out for the summer.

Worry not, parents, this is not a unique thing.

Let’s face it, we love our kids but it’s hard to sit down and write when you have to play referee. I’ve heard stories of parents who had to wait to write their books until their kids grew and left the house.

I have a six and seven-year-old…

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