Is Your Writer’s Block Really Writer’s Indecision? – by Louise Tondeur…

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

on Jane Friedman site:

While I was planning my current novel and annotating that plan, I asked myself a series of questions in the annotations. I know I’m not the only one to make notes on a draft in the form of questions, but until recently I wasn’t aware that I was creating problems for myself by not categorizing the questions. (I’m taking part in a coaching program for writers called Dream Author, run by bestselling crime writer Sophie Hannah, and this realization came to me as a result of one of the exercises we did.)

Some questions have to be answered before I can make any progress with a draft. But others are simply the result of indecision; I could simply make up my mind and move on, knowing I can always change my mind later.

Now I am convinced that two things can hold me back (for years…

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Made – Tuesday Use It In A Sentence #tuesdayuseitinasentence

She stared up at the stars as Carl Sagan’s quote about how we are all made of star stuff ran through her head. A strong sense of longing to be up there among them embraced her, as if she belonged there.

This day-late post is part of the Tuesday Use It In A Sentence prompt, “made”:

#tuesdayuseitinasentence ~ made

The Old And The New

Time flows on.
A new year comes
As the old year goes.

Be not afraid,
Embrace the change.

Say good-bye
To the old
And welcome
The new.

Look forward to
Seeing what lies in store
For future you
In the year ahead.

SPOOKY PHISHING SCAM TARGETS TRADITIONALLY-PUBLISHED WRITERS – Written By Victoria Strauss

Writer's Treasure Chest

Apparently not even traditionally published authors are safe from crooks. Victoria Strauss on her ‘Writer’s Beware’ blog describes one particular case on her blog. Please read it and be careful. Thank you.

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Posted by Victoria Strauss for Writer Beware®

The New York Times has published the story of a strange international phishing scam: unknown actors targeting traditionally-published writers, posing as their agents or editors to obtain copies of their unpublished manuscripts.

Earlier this month, the book industry website Publishers Marketplace announced that Little, Brown would be publishing “Re-Entry,” a novel by James Hannaham about a transgender woman paroled from a men’s prison. The book would be edited by Ben George.

Two days later, Mr. Hannaham got an email from Mr. George, asking him to send the latest draft of his manuscript. The email came to an address on Mr. Hannaham’s website that he rarely uses, so he opened up…

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Crossing Genres: #Fantasy & #Historical Fiction

Legends of Windemere

Different Genres

Here we are for the last ‘Crossing Genres’ post unless somebody requests pairing another one off with ‘Fantasy’.  I’m open to any that I can slip into January.  Not sure any will be as difficult as this one.  One genre is completely fictional to the point where you have to build an entire world from scratch.  The other is fictional with a solid base in reality, so people can connect to it.  Still, there are overlaps that I can think of.  Not much, but the advice for one can still work for the other.

FANTASY & HISTORICAL FICTION

World Building

This might throw you off a bit because many don’t connect world building with Historical Fiction.  We know it’s a big part of Fantasy, especially if your story takes place somewhere that isn’t Earth.  You need to design cities, magic systems, histories, cultures, landmasses, oceans, religions, flora, fauna…

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20 Ways to Get Yourself Out There as a Writer

A Writer's Path

by Kelly D. Smith

1. Get out there! Meet people, and don’t be scared to say you are a writer.

2. Blog- now, is blogging really worth it? I’m not sure, I’m actually going to be talking about that soon but I enjoy it!

3. Guest blog, because really if you’re going to do it why not start with someone else’s hard work?!

4. Make sure you have your books on your blog, website, Facebook, and anywhere else!

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Have A Holly, Jolly Christmas

Wishing one and all a very merry Christmas and happy holidays!

(All images found on Pinterest)

A Place to Write

Story Empire

Hello, SE Readers. Joan with you today with my last post of 2020. If you follow this blog, you’re either an author who wants to engage with other authors and learn more about the craft or a want to be writer.

For most of my life, I fell into the latter category. I knew by the age of ten (maybe before) that I wanted to be a writer. It was only a dozen years ago that I decided to do something about it. I didn’t have a clue about writing fiction, so I took a few online writing classes. The things I learned were invaluable.

In one of the classes, the instructor used the term “butt glue.” In other words, butt in chair, fingers to the keyboard, and write. But many of us juggle other responsibilities—a home, family, full or part-time job. We have to make time.

But equally important…

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A Wizard’s Hat

Nicholas C. Rossis

Have you ever wondered where the pointy wizard hat stereotype stems from?

Someone on Quora did and Wendy Carolan had the answer.

Where Does the Idea of the Wizard’s Hat Come from?

As you can well imagine, the question here refers to the stereotypical pointy blue wizard’s hat with the stars and crescent moons, immortalized by Fantasia:

Source: FilmAffinity.com

Tall, conical hats have long been associated with magi and sorcery.

It’s been claimed that the cone-shaped hat traditionally worn by wizards is symbolic of wisdom and intelligence. Its pointed shape represents the cone of power, which is associated with the circle, the symbol of the sun, unity, eternity, rebirth, and the triangle. The conical hat allows the wizard to concentrate his sacred power so that he can be centered with a power that is infinite.

Whatever the basis for such claims, it’s true that pointed hats were frowned upon by…

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Funny Similes and Metaphors

These are great! LOL 🤣🤣

Nicholas C. Rossis

Mike Kerr, author of the Humour at Work series of books, has some hilarious similes and metaphors I think you’ll enjoy. Use them as inspiration or steal them for your books. After all, Mike himself copied them from high school essays!

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.
2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.
3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.
4. She grew on him like she was a…

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