So I have seen this “Next Big Thing” post going around for awhile now and have been patiently waiting to get picked. However, when I saw my friend Tabitha post hers I pretty much begged her to pick me as someone to tag. She is a super nice girl so she obliged willingly. Thanks Tabitha!! 🙂
Now on to the questions! Continue reading
Young Adult author, Lindsay Cummings, is currently hosting a giveaway in which she will select three people from the entries and will read 3 chapters of their work and give a critique. Sounds like a good deal, right? And it only took a few minutes to enter so, why not try it out?
About Lindsay: Lindsay Cummings is a 21-year-old author of THE MURDER COMPLEX series (coming Summer 2014) from Greenwillow Books/HarperCollins. She loves dystopians, loves sci-fi, and can’t get enough of Supernatural right now. Lindsay deals with chronic fatigue, owns two German Shepherds, one wolf cub, and a real live Budweiser draft horse named Dan the Man! Lindsay collects weapons, loves to shoot guns and bows, and can’t wait stop dying her hair crazy colors. She’s still waiting on her letter from Hogwarts–it was probably just lost in the mail. She loves Jesus and believes all of her success is His doing! You can follow Lindsay on twitter @lindsaycwrites! Or keep updated on her books at lindsaycummingsbooks.com. Continue reading
Continuing on with my theme of community, I attended my first local writing group this past Monday which is hosted by professional writer Nancy Christie. I would probably have no idea about the group still if my dad hadn’t showed me the announcement in the local paper (people still read the paper??). I had done countless searches online for local groups and was never able to find anything – I guess some people still spread the word the old-school way. Continue reading
Hello all my fantastic, adorable, wonderful readers. I am in an amazing mood because my group writer blog THE WRITER DIARIES has gone live today!
Yep yep – so go on over the The Writer Diaries and say hi!! We have a lot planned for this year and some exciting surprises. Look around, check out the contributors’ bios, and see the first Song for a Scene post! Our schedule for the future is going to look something like this: Continue reading
So I have joined up with my friend Vikki over at VikLit where she has started an awesome blog hop! Every Friday, we hop around to everyone’s blog. They should have posted an accomplishment for the week and our job is to go around and congratulate / celebrate with them!
Positive energy creates only more positive energy so let’s blow up the blogosphere with it!
For my positive accomplishment this week: I reached 35,000 words in my first draft of THE BEHOLDER. I am 5,000 away from 40K! I still feel like I am so far from the end, but I just keep putting more and more words down and, eventually, I will look at the screen and realize I am done! Right??? I mean that has to eventually happen at some point.
So YAY me! Now hop around to the other blogs and tell them congrats! See the link below to view the other blogs or sign up yourself!
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I have learned a very important lesson this past week while I was pursuing an idea that had been floating around in my head for awhile. I had this idea where I asked the few writers that I have met through Twitter, forums, CP exchanges, etc. if they wanted to start a group writing blog with me. I know that I already pretty much document my every move of this writing journey on my own blog here but I had this itch to share it with others, to work alongside my fellow aspiring writers and learn more about it than I could from just pondering things over by myself.
To my surprise, the idea spread like wildfire and I got 11 other writers involved on this project with me. Continue reading
I have a dream. I dream that one day people will be making their Debut Author to-read lists and MY book will be on them! Until then, I must support my fellow writers who have finally made it to the brink of their dreams and cannot wait for release dates to arrive this year.
Over at The Hobbitsies Book Blog, they are doing a 2013 Debut Writers Challenge, asking people to support and read at least 12 debut author books this year. I went through the list and there were so many goodies to choose from! Alas, I picked my 12 and have displayed them below for your viewing pleasure (because awesome book covers are one of my favorite things!) **Hint, click on the book cover to read the summary on Goodreads! Continue reading
Wow, this was a big one. And hard earned at that.
I honestly didn’t think I would make it. Well, let me rephrase…I set a deadline for myself and spent all day on the deadline date working towards this word count. I didn’t think I would reach it but in a last spurt of writing inspiration, I chugged on past my 30,000 word goal. And then Downton Abbey was on and so it was a whirl of celebrating in an English accent. Continue reading
Let me start off by saying this: If you are in the murky depths of about 20,000 words or so on your novel and are kind of lost between the middle and the end, then this post is for YOU. If you missed Part 1 on this subject, no worries! You can find it here! Start there and then come back and rejoin us here on Part 2.
Waiting….
Okay, you back? Here we go! Continue reading
I have never been a big believer of writing New Year’s resolutions, mainly because I know that I am made up of 10% ambition and 90% lazy. Well, at least when it comes to things unrelated to writing. You know the “I’m going to work out and eat better this year.” Yes, I would love for that to be actually plausible but let’s face it. I hate working out and I love to eat food that isn’t green. It is true that I will still probably subject myself to the treadmill and “salad only” phases throughout the year but I can promise you that it will not be consistent and it will not be fun.
I have never made a writerly resolution list though, and I think that making one and trying to follow it actually will be fun. Of course, there will still be times when I want to throw my WIP across the room and then set it on fire while my three cats pee on it simultaneously…but, I digress. The overall fun-ness level should stay relatively high.
Here are the resolutions I came up with this year for 2013 as it concerns my writing goals. I have first listed the goal and then in parenthesis the “ambitious” version of the goal. Really, the ambitious version is my actual goal but, as I said before, when you realize that you are made up of 90% lazy, you have to make yourself feel good when you exceed expectations. If I reach some of my “ambitious” versions of my goals, I will be thoroughly impressed and may reward myself with a cookie…or ten. Continue reading
J.A. Ward Writes 