Why Writing Isn’t Enough—The Savvy Writer’s Guide to Success

JANUARY 31, 2016 ~ THEOWLLADY ~ EDIT

Kristen Lamb's Blog

Image via Drew Coffman courtesy of Flickr Creative Commons

Today, we’re going to do something a little different. You want to know one thing I love probably more than anything in the world? Spotting great talent and getting to share it. Thus, today I would like to introduce you to one of my followers who snagged my attention over the holidays and I asked her to come and share her wisdom today because I think we can all gain something from her (even me because am always learning BAY-BEE!).

I would like to introduce, Britt Skrabanek!

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Indie Author Britt Skrabanek

A lot of you may be wondering how I ended up on Kristen’s blog in the first place. She’s pretty big-time, an influencer—she’s worked her tail off to build her brand presence. Many of us look to her for writing tips we can actually use, knowing some esoteric BS like…

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500 Great Words for Writing Love Scenes

JANUARY 31, 2016 ~ THEOWLLADY ~ EDIT

Bryn Donovan

Last week, I wrote a post on synonyms for the most intimate parts of the body, which can be helpful when writing a sex scene (or just writing about a character who’s thinking about being in one.) I felt like it would be helpful to have those separated out.

Here, I’ve rounded up all kinds of verbs, nouns, and adjectives you might like to use in the steamy parts of your next story. It can be inspiring to think beyond one’s usual vocabulary.

I have more verbs than anything else, because they’re important. Lots of them can also be nouns–I didn’t list them twice. I haven’t explained the possible contexts for these words, but hopefully you’ll imagine them.

There are actually more than five hundred. You know how it is–you get started, and it’s hard to stop. Anyway, I’m a writer, not a mathematician. Check out the list!

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The Essential Guide To Nailing Your Character’s Appearance (plus a character sketch template)

JANUARY 31, 2016 ~ THEOWLLADY ~ EDIT

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

There are approximately 3,348,547,029 articles, blog posts, and questionnaires on the internet to help you figure out your character’s appearance. It’s true. And that was a totally accurate number, by the way. Well, today, I am not adding another one to the pile. At least, not another monotonous one. I did title this post ‘The Essential Guide’, did I not? There is epicness to be had here, ladies and gents. And here is what I think all those other posts aren’t getting: Physical appearances are not objective. Your character’s looks will change based on the beholder’s perspective.

Source: The Essential Guide To Nailing Your Character’s Appearance (plus a character sketch template)

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GRUMPIES ON BOARD by @carolewyer #Travel #Humour #Bookreview #WeekendBlogHop

JANUARY 31, 2016 ~ THEOWLLADY ~ EDIT

Rosie Amber

Grumpies On Board by Carol E. Wyer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Grumpies On Board is essentially an A-Z of holiday suggestions for the over 50’s. Containing more than 300 get-away ideas, it is sprinkled with jokes and written in a tongue-in-cheek narrative from the perspective of a “Grumpy Old Couple” who no longer want to put up with screaming children, nor are they ready for coach tours and tea dances for the elderly.

The author adds comical touches to the book from her own background as a comedian, who runs a show called “Smile While You Still Have Teeth”.

Although not yet ready for the Grumpy age bracket I did find several holiday suggestions which appealed, here were my favourites; Castle holidays, canal boating, bear watching, healing hotels, spa breaks, seeing the Northern Lights, a safari, storm chasing, touring the Australian Outback, Volcano tours, a Voodoo tour and…

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Amazon Link Anatomy: What You Don’t Know Might Be Killing Your Reviews…

JANUARY 31, 2016 ~ THEOWLLADY ~ EDIT

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

To find out what you SHOULD be doing,

click on the link or image below:

amazon-search-url-isbn-ref/

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How to find a title for your book

JANUARY 31, 2016 ~ THEOWLLADY ~ EDIT

Writer's Treasure Chest

You wrote a book. You are writing a book. You are prepared to write a book. And of course, it is important that your book or future book will get a decent title. Catching, attracting curiosity, but not telling too much about its contents. Now, what are you doing?

I have asked as many writers as I could: “How do you find a title – and when do you try to find a title for your book?”

And I got as many answers as I asked authors.

Some of them find them at the beginning, or before they even started. Some can think of a title while they’re still writing and some are thinking forever about it after the book is completed.

For the past few days, I have tried to research some information on how to find a book title for my book(s).

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August 1, 2013, Writer’s Relief…

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What Makes Iconic Characters Unforgettable?

JANUARY 31, 2016 ~ THEOWLLADY ~ EDIT

Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

To read this interesting article, click on the link or Author Melissa Donovan’s photo below:

writingforward.com/storytelling/iconic-characters

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Warning Messages for Errors in Amazon Kindle e-Books

JANUARY 31, 2016 ~ THEOWLLADY ~ EDIT

chrismcmullen

KINDLE E-BOOKS WILL HAVE ERROR MESSAGES

This rumor has been going around for a week or so. When I first saw this rumor, my first thoughts were:

• Where is the PROOF?
• Why hasn’t Amazon provided any information about this?
• Let’s get more information, preferably from Amazon itself, before we PANIC and WORRY.

This morning I learned that Amazon HAS provided much updated information about quality issues, right on their KDP help pages:

Click here to view the KDP help page describing error messages.

ACCORDING TO AMAZON KDP

A few quotes from this KDP help page are quite illuminating.

The KDP help page includes this quote in the opening paragraph:

• “If readers tell us about a problem they’ve found in your book, we will make sure you know about it.”
• So we see that Amazon will be contacting authors/publishers to notify them about problems that readers have reported.

Note that…

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Mystery Monday: R.J Harlick on When Dreams Become a Reality

JANUARY 31, 2016 ~ THEOWLLADY ~ EDIT

KRISTINA STANLEY

This week I have the honor of hosting R.J. Harlick on Mystery Mondays. I was lucky enough to have R.J. provide an endorsement of BLAZE which I proudly display on the cover, so it is a true pleasure to have her on Mystery Mondays.

R.J is here to talk to us about When the dream becomes a reality.

By R.J. Harlick

Hi Everyone.

I’m thrilled to be speaking to you today on Kristina’s blog . Thanks, Kristina for inviting me.

Today I thought I would address a question I am often asked by readers. At what point did I know I wanted to be a writer?

Though some of my confrères knew at a very young age, for me it was a more gradual transformation. There was no lightening bolt moment when I shouted, “Yes, I want to be a writer.” I more or less slid into it, starting where most…

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Everything You Need To Know BEFORE You Start To Edit

JANUARY 31, 2016 ~ THEOWLLADY ~ EDIT

Sacha Black

I finished the first draft of my novel in August last year. I was B.U.Z.Z.I.N.G I’d finally done what I said I’d do – write a book… Ok, I finished a draft.

I listened to the advice you gave on what I should do next, which was… Nothing – Lock the manuscript in a dark cupboard and throw away the key for months. I did. Sort of. I may have peaked at the first few chapters.

That was a mistake.

It was of course, total shit. More than shit, I wouldn’t have wiped my butt cheeks with it. Seriously. I may have cried, ok, I didn’t cry. But I did shed some tears on the inside. All those months of sweat and tapping, for what? A massive steaming pile of turd. A twitch formed on my eyelid as a heady mix of panic and fear set in. How was I ever…

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Modesty, Perfection and Promotions, Guest Post by Sally G Cronin… at TRSA

JANUARY 31, 2016 ~ THEOWLLADY ~ EDIT

Daily Echo

If it was not for our modesty we would be perfect!

This term is usually reserved for those people that we meet who are brazenly open about their achievements and have no problem as they say ‘In blowing their own trumpets’.

I come into contact with a lot of writers, including when approaching for an interview on my radio shows. The reluctance I met on most occasions was baffling and yet once I managed to winkle these writers out of their modesty shells they thoroughly enjoyed themselves and loved the attention.

Continue reading:Modesty, Perfection and Promotions (Guest Post by Sally G Cronin)… | Chris The Story Reading Ape’s Blog

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10 Tips For Doing Your (Aaaaauuuugh) Author Interviews

JANUARY 31, 2016 ~ THEOWLLADY ~ EDIT

Dan Alatorre - AUTHOR

 Your humble host.

I can hear your collective groans from here. Stop it.

As an author, you will occasionally get to do interviews. As the shy, retiring type that most of you writers are, you won’t want to do them. As a marketer, you do want to do them! Interviews raise awareness of your product – the book you want to sell – but don’t be fooled. The TV stars you see being amazing in interviews on late night TV or the Ellen show didn’t just fall out of bed and hit a home run, being all charming and spontaneous and witty.

Luckily, most of the interviews you get to do will be by email or some other written version. (For some sample interview questions I put together, click HERE. Many are the typical stuff you’ll be asked; some are just me.)

Why is that lucky? Because radio…

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