#WriterWednesday - October 17th 2018

"Where's Noodles?" will soon be available in audio, since Judith has already completed production of it. As long as it goes through the part of the reviewing process that ACX are responsible for without any issues, it won't be long now. Personally, I love it! I especially love Judith's voice for Lilie!

Also, the new narrator for "Yua And The Great Wizard Hunt" is Matt Jenkins, who you can learn more about in this recent narrator interview of his. Matt has done so well with production progress that we'll soon have that one available for you to buy in audio too.

Oh, and I recently updated the page on here that lists all my published works. It now also lists the narrators beside the titles - though only in cases where the audio versions are available - providing direct links to their ACX profiles. I'll do the same for the rest as the titles become available in audio. I thought it would be nice to list the narrators beside the titles they've narrated. At some point I plan to send a list to the person in charge of my website, and have him list them on my actual website too.

That's all the personal writing and publishing news I have to share today, since none of the other audio books are finished yet, and I don't have anything worth saying when it comes to actual writing progress, since there really hasn't been much of that. At least, not enough to make it worth talking about.

Have your adventures, make your mistakes, and choose your friends poorly — all these make for great stories.
~Chuck Palahniuk

My mind is full of ideas. Finding time to write all the stories and poems is the problem. But, if you aren't so lucky, and you're struggling to find your next idea, try one of these 7 places to find novel ideas. Yeah, it really is that simple. Ideas are everywhere. The trick is to find the one that speaks to you, and turn it in to a story people will want to read.

Speaking of which, this is how to turn an idea in to a plot - in case you're struggling with that, or want to make use of those steps to ensure you're totally ready to write your story when it's time for NaNoWriMo (which is only a couple of weeks away now).

Sticking with the subject of NaNoWriMo for a moment: this is a great post on how to achieve NaNoWriMo success - even if you're really busy.

Oh, and... If you have an idea, but feel you can't write about that, because it's too boring, or weird, or whatever. Well, just write it anyway. You can always improve on it later if you need to.

To help you with that, here's a post about how to describe settings, and why it matters, along with some tips for improving show, don't tell, tips for invoking the five senses, fixes for microblocks and miniglitches, and tips to help pantsers get moving again when the story stops.

Anyway, to keep things realistic, chances are you're going to want to do at least a little research. In fact, with some genres - historical stories, whether fictional or otherwise, for example - you may find yourself using research as your novel outline, even if you don't usually use outlines, just so you can keep your facts straight, and make sure nothing gets missed.

Cram your head with characters and stories. Abuse your library privileges. Never stop looking at the world, and never stop reading to find out what sense other people have made of it. If people give you a hard time and tell you to get your nose out of a book, tell them you're working. Tell them it's research. Tell them to pipe down and leave you alone.
~Jennifer Weiner

You need to make your characters believable too. So, to help you do that, here are some tips for how to write grieving characters, and writing the teenage protagonist.

By the way, sometimes impostor syndrome will try to sabotage your writing career - dont let it! Yes, publishing has gotten easier, and success has gotten harder, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't try.

The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.
Sylvia Plath

Your answers to these three questions will determine whether writing is your true calling, or if you just like the idea of being a famous author, but should probably go do something else instead.

On a similar note: these are five things every writer should have, to help you on your writing journey. Those following other creative paths could do with having those things too.

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties.
~Erich Fromm

Here are some ways to keep writing when you're struggling with your mental health, because sometimes you need to, and a lot more people deal with that kind of thing than you might think. The image of the depressed writer may not always be accurate, but sometimes it is, and there are a lot of people suffering from depression, anxiety, or some other mental health issue. Not just writers, but other creatives too. In fact, plenty of people in general. In short: you're not alone in your struggles. With that in mind, here are some self care strategies for authors, which will either help you avoid the issues, or help you deal with them, depending on your state of mental health.

Remember: sometimes you need to press that reset button.

Finally, check out these ways to support writers (and other artists) online, and maybe consider doing some of them.