I believe it's no secret that one of my favorite bands is Paramore...hence my choice for this week's song: Hello Cold World!
This is one of four new songs the band recorded recently (one being Monster that was a previous song of the week). This particular song was chosen with more reason than the fact of it being written/performed by one of my favorite bands.
This particular group has been through a lot over the past twelve or so months, so for them to put out a song like this just goes to show you that they are still here, still going strong, and still have a very positive outlook on their future as a band - and that in itself says it all (and as writers, we can take a lesson in staying strong when it feels as though the world might be falling down all around us).
Since there isn't an official video - yet - I've chosen a neat little thing called a 'lyric video' and the creator did a pretty good job in putting this together (as in you actually pay attention to the words and they flow ever so nicely with the music).
Hope you enjoy and have a wonderful week!
Monday, January 9, 2012
Thursday, January 5, 2012
This Week in Favs......
On the MP3 Player: Seven Nation Army (The Glitch Mob Remix) by The White Stripes. <-- Lurve this song!!
Ah, the first Friday round-up post of the 2012. Know what that means? A lot goal setting, new ideas, and fresh perspectives on old writing tricks! ;)
Needless to say, I am very excited about this week’s round-up ‘cause I’ve found a lot of really great posts from this week, and because not all of them can make the Top Ten, I have created a space below the regular round-up for Honorable Mentions.
Happy Reading!
10) “Kindly, Kindly Look Toward the New Year” by Barbara O’Neal on Writer Unboxed. What’s better than New Year’s Resolutions and Goals? Three simple pieces of writing suggestions to start you off into the new year with a fresh relationship with your writing. What can you do to obtain that new relationship? Open your mind a little, click on the link for this article and absorb the simple yet awesome advice Barbara unleashes there. PS: My favorite is the first suggestion: show up!
9) “Authors Interacting with Readers Online – More Controversial Than I Thought” by Roni Loren on her writing blog, Fiction Groupie. Do you think it’s okay for an author to say thank you in response to a reader’s review? Roni has made some very good points in this post about what effects an action such as this (and others) can have on a book review forum. I had never realized until this article that the possibility of turning off your readership by responding to their comments and/or reviews could actually hurt you in the long run. Maybe I didn’t realize this because as a writer and a reader, I welcome comments and exchanges with the authors of my favorite books. This is exactly why this particular post is a must read for all writers. Oh, and while you’re out on the web today don’t forget to order your copy of her book, Crash Into Me, that was released this past Tuesday. *smiles*
8) “A Peek Into J.K. Rowling’s Writing Process in Her Own Words, Part 1 and Part 2”, guest post by Shelley Souza on Harry Potter for Writers. In true J.K. fashion, thses post has left pretty much no stone unturned when it comes to the genius author’s writing process. While I’ve read plenty of articles here and there on JKR, I’ve never actually pulled it all together and compiled it into one place like this. The best part is that Shelley has pulled the ‘writerly’ clips from those interviews and arranged them in such a cohesive manner that every writer should print this out right now and post it on their Wall-O-Writing. After re-reading JKR’s words, most I had read before and some very new to me, I can’t help but sit back and say, once again, “Incredible!” Here’s yet another must read for every writer out there.
7) “25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing” by Chuck Wendig on TerribleMinds. Yet another genius post and awesome 2012 writing advice that every writer should read and take to heart: what you should STOP doing right NOW! As I’ve said before I really enjoy reading Chuck’s posts, but this one truly did hit a sore spot with me this week. Maybe it’s because I sat back like the rest of us and thought about my writing process and what I should start and stop doing, or maybe it’s because I feel like he’s talking – er yelling – directly at me on some of these points? I dunno, but please get over there and check out this one out. You will not regret it!!
6) “Writing Lessons Learned from THE HELP” by Julie Musil. I’ll be the first to admit that I make up the – oh say, 10%? – that hasn’t read this book, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t valuable writing lessons that you can take away from this article (And it may help to know these points before going into the novel so you can be on the lookout for them). Julie’s found some ‘writing diamonds’ within this novel and once again, she is sharing the wealth of knowledge with everyone else. Go check it out!
5) “The Road to Success Part One – What King of Author are You?” by Kristin Lamb on her blog, Warrior Writers. In this first part of Kristen’s series, she addresses how we can make the most of our time on social media so we can spend more time writing. What’s more important than that? Nothing. This is one of the reasons why I’ve been fairly absent on Twitter and Facebook lately, so I really enjoyed pulling these nuggets of greatness out of Kristen’s post to help with something that’s going to be vital when it comes to time to actually sell the books that I’m spilling my guts into. Go over there and pull some out for yourself, you’ll definitely learn a little something that will take you a very long way!
4) “Back to Basics: Every Scene Must Have Conflict” by Lydia Sharp on The Sharp Angle. Live it, learn it, love it! I absolutely cannot resist sharing a post where a fav writer/blogger takes a ‘basics of writing’ point and adds their own spin that makes you feel as though you’re learning that skill for the first time. Lydia always does such a wonderful on posts such as this, so this was definitely a must share for me to all of you…and it has been printed and added to the ‘Book of Writing Tips.’
3) “Every Writer (Should Be) a Sadist” by Ava Jae on Writability. Hehe! *evil grin* Is it bad that I do that every time I read the title of this post?!? Nah. One of the best parts of being writer is being in control and having the ability to throw the most impossible situations at your characters. Ava even provided one of the best possible examples to prove this point: Harry Potter. Go over there and take that example and learn (or be reminded of) how to be a bit of a sadist when it comes to your characters.
2) “Pitch Prep: How to Write a Pitch” and “Pitch Prep: What Makes a Great First Page” by Jami Gold. In the first post Jami addresses one topic: writing a pitch. However, she not only tells you how to do this, she gives multiple strategies in which to tackle this small amount of writing that seems to scare a few writers’ socks off from time to time. This particular post should now be the #1 post on where to go if you need information on how to work up a pitch, and I think it comes as no surprise that Jami was the master mind behind it. In the second post, Jami takes a look at what you can with your first page that will keep the reader interested in your story by taking a look at what works at pulling the reader in. In the comments section, she has even opened it up to those participating in the pitch sessions to post their first 100 words (to be included with their pitch) for critiquing. With her Pitch Your Shorts pitch session coming to her blog on January 10th, Jami has done the leg hours (hours of it, I might add) and helped her followers to make their pitches and first pages the best they can possibly be. Now I’m just worried for the editors of Entangled Publishing. With as many great pitches and openings as I think there will be, they have seriously got their work cut out for them! Go over there and thoroughly read these posts, print them out and put them away for safekeeping – you never know when you’re going to need those pitching skills in the future!
1) “What’s Your Value?” by Scott Nicholson on The Writer’s Guide to E-Publishing. And here we have struck a bit of gold in writing motivation: taking a look at what your value is and what you can bring to the table for your readers. I truly loved this post, and especially loved a few lines in particular: “The reader makes sense of the story. The reader works much, much harder than the writer. The reader is the most previous part of the telepathic creation of imagination.” Wow! Never thought of it that way! But still, I think all of us writers have actually been writing for this purpose to begin with, Scott just found a new and fairly powerful way of getting it into our heads deeper than it’s ever been.
Honorable Mentions to Also Check Out:
- “Surviving the Publishing Industry’s Looking Glass” by Christopher Harris on Writer Unboxed
- “Do You Have a Marketing Plan?” by Rob Eagar on Rachelle Gardner’s blog
Happy Reading & Writing, everyone!!!
Melinda
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Writerly Wednesday: Writing Resolutions for 2012
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For the writer/aspiring author inside of me, I’m sure that this New Year is going to bring a lot more challenges, to which I have promised myself to rise to the occasion, and opportunities – ones that I will grab and run like hell with.
As writers, it is important that we not only make these resolutions and stick to them, but that we also ensure they are obtainable. Sure, every single one of us wants to put down on the list that we will sign with an agent and get a book deal, but is it truly realistic given that in this industry everything from finding the right agent to selling your story takes a little – or a lot more – time?
With that thought in mind, I went into my writing resolutions with eyes wide open, knowing that not only do I have to hit it hard in 2012 in order to make my dream come true, but also knowing that yes, there are going to be disappointments, hardships, and if I write down that I will make a flying leap forward towards being published, I may be setting myself up for a fall.
With that being said, I’m always hopeful that that will happen, but I decided to make obtainable goals that I, as the author of my own life, can control and make happen:
- Finish writing, edit and polish my NaNoWriMo manuscript, Destiny’s Resistance, that has been sitting on the backburner since December 1st. The holidays are a busy time of year, so it came as no surprise that there just wasn’t enough time in the day to truly sit down for longer than fifteen minutes to write like I wanted to.
- Complete the critique on my CP’s manuscript. Alongside this, be completely open to learning and growing from the critique that she gives on my manuscript – as well as any others that I may have throughout the year. We have set a deadline of January 31st and I’m well on my way to knocking this one down, but I felt that this was too important as this will be our first time (of many more) to learn and grow from one another.
- Become a bit more of a plotter. I’ve made it no secret that I’m a pantser. But I learned something grand throughout the month of December when I didn’t actually have time to write: the ideas are always going to be there swimming through my head, and even though the time to sit down and write them out isn’t there, there’s always an index card. I did this for a bit and when I sat down after Christmas to look at all of those ideas, I realized I had practically plotted out the rest of my NaNoWriMo story as well as cooked up a plot for a new story. So yeah, my writing process is going to grow and change throughout 2012, and I’m thoroughly ready to take on that challenge.
- Work on more than one story at a time. This is one of those challenges I’ve been talking about. It may be hard enough to carve out the time to work on one, but I want the challenge of finding the time to work on two at a time since taking time away from one might in fact help the other in the long run…and vice versa.
- Begin the query process in 2012 with Destiny Awakened. This is one of those realistic challenges I went into with open eyes. Instead of writing down that I wanted to sign with an agent this year, I wrote down that I begin the process of getting the agent. If it works, then I’ll have not only completed this resolution, but blew right past it and landed on the next stepping stone in this journey. If not, then I at least began the process and made the effort to move forward and will learn something new in the process.
- Put together and flesh out the five scenes I wrote during a dialogue workshop. I recently read through the scenes I wrote for a workshop with Devon Ellington, and you know what? I think I may have started something that has the real potential to be a complete novel. So I’d like to take the time to work on those characters and their story. And who knows, their story may be fully written this year.
- Begin the 3rd book in my Destiny series, currently untitled, by outlining the final chapter in my most beloved MC’s story before moving on. While a story should be able to stand on its own two legs and submitted as one that could potentially be a series, the story of Avalyn and Ambrose is one that is taking three books to complete, and currently, one cannot truly stand without the rest. Their story is one that I absolutely must finish, though with this resolution I’m only going to plot out the last chapter of their story then put it on a shelf until the time comes for it to be completed (and that will be due to a publication opportunity and hopefully not because they just won’t let me rest *smiles*).
- Enter at least one writing contest this year. I’m sort of on the way to completing this particular resolution right now, but I’m having so much fun working with a deadline that I want to enter another contest.
- Host another Week of the Writer on my blog. This last August I put together a week of celebrating you, the writer, by bringing on guest bloggers whose writing blogs I can’t get enough of each and every week. Over the summer I look forward to putting together another Week of the Writer (around July) and hope for it to be even more successful than the first one.
And there you have it – resolutions for 2012 that are obtainable and within my control so that when I look back on them on December 31st, 2012, I will feel as though I not only made great strides to becoming published, but happy and content that I *hopefully* rose to the occasion and faced every challenge head on.
What types of resolutions did you set for yourself this year? Were they personal or related to your professional and/or writing life? Are they within your control to obtain/complete? Please share a few; I’d really love to hear what your goals for the New Year are.
**In regards to the contest I’m on my way to completing right now, I highly suggest that if you have a completed short story or one that is in the works that you polish it up and enter Jami Gold’s Pitch Your Shorts short story pitch session that begins on January 10th. It will be an amazing opportunity to have your pitch reviewed by several editors from Entangled Publishing. Who knows, if they like it, you may get the chance to have your story read. Check out the link for details, and good luck!
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