3 Ways to Get Free (Or Almost Free) Training

Welcome to Toolbox Saturday where you’ll find tools for various things from writing to whatever. I’ve blogged about using a training budget before, but sometimes you may find your budget is hovering around $0. What do you do then? Spend time trolling through other author’s blogs, especially those who offer eBooks (and other types of [...]

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Hidden Gems and Little Darlings

What makes you uncomfortable with or defensive about your story is worth looking at closely for two reasons: 1) it could be a hidden gem, or 2) it could be a little darling. Hidden Gems Sometimes as we write our subconscious seeds our stories with hidden gems, like how or where your protagonist will find the answer to his [...]

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5 Links For A More Balanced Writer’s Life

This week I found myself having nightmares about conspiracies and daydreaming about a long vacation at some remote beach. That’s when I realized my life was once again out of balance. Who among us hasn’t felt like they were running uphill at full speed for days on end? It’s a common experience, especially if you’re [...]

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Marketing Monday: Self-Promotion HSP-style

“People forget what you say, but they remember how you made them feel”–Warren Beatty Caring for others, wanting to help our fellow humans, comes rather naturally for highly sensitive people, so why shouldn’t promoting ourselves and our products be just as natural? Most likely because we’re thinking of “selling” rather than “marketing.” Sell: to persuade or induce (someone) to buy something: The salesman sold me on a more expensive model [...]

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How To Include Back Story Without Killing Your Novel

I’ve been writing most of my life, but that doesn’t mean I’ve got it down cold. If anything, I’ve learned I have a lot to learn. For example, although my first novel may spend the rest of eternity tucked safely in the darkest corner of the deepest drawer away from anything living it might otherwise [...]

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4 Links To Overcome Publishing Despair

The road to publication is filled with pain and tears… bloodshed… mayhem…. I’m being melodramatic here. Of course, that could just be that I’ve recently read several posts about how painful the publication process can be and how difficult it is to write good fiction. Here’s a small sampling: “This is literally years of work you’re seeing. [...]

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Marketing Monday: Platform Building The Tortoise Way

If you’re a highly sensitive person like me, then you’ll understand how stressful marketing yourself, your product or your business can be. If you aren’t an HSP, then today’s marketing landscape with its hurry, scurry push in social media probably doesn’t bother you. You may, in fact, thrive on the pressure, the excitement. The downside to that is that mistakes [...]

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Reader Profiles: Ya Gotta Start Somewhere

One thing I never really considered until recently was who I expected to read what I’ve written.  It didn’t cross my mind even when I was doing the Problogger Challenge last year.  I always wrote stories and articles I thought I would like to read.  That’s not a horrible way to write, but it makes [...]

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A New Year, A New Beginning

Happy New Year! I apologize for being absent during December (ACK!). My only excuse is being super busy, unfortunately not with my current WIP. However, it’s a new year and time for a new beginning. Here’s what I’m planning for 2011: Get back to weekly blog posts: After reading Kristen Lamb’s blog for the last [...]

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Better Writing Through Dissection

Everything, be it a novel, a movie, or a television show has to have some kind of plot to move it forward. No plot, to forward motion. No forward motion, nobody enjoys it. But how do you know what’s a good plot and what’s not. As a reader or viewer, you instinctively know what’s a [...]

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