There was an Easter party on Sally's blog over the weekend. She had asked her guests to come wearing hats. So I sent over a photo of Kero wearing one. You can see it in the first party post, which went up on Saturday. You should check out the party posts - the second post too - even if you don't want to see the photo, since loads of great authors and bloggers are mentioned, both in those posts and in the comments sections. So hop on over and take a look.
Anyway, in case you don't know, April is NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month). I was going to take advantage of it and do a poem a day during April. I'd have had enough poems to publish the poetry collection I'm slowly working on if I had. Only I ended up not doing so. Now April is almost over, and I actually haven't written a single poem this month. There's still time for me to potentially write a couple of poems, and perhaps I will. But I definitely won't be finishing April with 30 new poems to show for it. Never mind.
I have done some more work on my adventure story over the past couple of weeks though. Not as much as I'd planned to do this month, since I'd actually hoped to finish the first draft of it before the month was out. There's still time, I suppose, since April isn't over for another week. No matter if I manage it or not though, there's some progress, and any progress is great progress, so it's all good. Plus, it's because I've chosen to do other things instead, so I can't really complain when it's my fault for not making writing enough of a priority, and using my time for other things instead. I would still like to try and finish the first draft before April is out though, and start making my writing more of a priority now that I'm doing better healthwise. Well, more of a priority than some things anyhow, since there are things that will never take priority over my writing. Spending time with my furkids, for example.
On a similar note, here's a post that discusses why you haven't been able to make more time for writing - and how to fix that. Just bear in mind that successful writers don't spend all their time behind a screen, which is why not making your writing the top priority is sometimes a good thing.
Anyway, if you're faced with a blank page, and struggling to start, just remember it all begins with a word, and see where that one word takes you. Also, the 'sitting down and doing it' part of writing might be tough sometimes, but do it anyway.
So, do you need to name a place in your story? If you do, check out this post on the stumbling art of naming places for some ideas on how to go about it.
Also, here are some crazy creatures you might want to think about as possible additions to your fantasy stories. They'd especially be fantastic additions to a historical fantasy, since they're real or imagined creatures from medieval times. Or, perhaps, they might help inspire creatures completely from your imagination. Made up imaginary creatures are great additions to stories too. After all, that's where some of the legends come from. Not all, since some are based on real creatures. But some.
On the other hand, here are some mundane elements you should probably cut from your story. At least, if you're not using them intentionally as plot devices, which you might be in the case of some of the things on the list.
Next, here's how not to get ahead of yourself when you're writing.
Last, but certainly not least: April 22nd was the anniversary of when I published my first book. I first published one of my books - "Mr. Pumpkin-Head And Other Poems" - on April 22nd 2012. Seven years ago. Also, May 3rd is my bloggerversary; I started my blog on May 3rd 2006, so I'm about to celebrate my 13th bloggerversary. So, to celebrate both events, the eBook versions of two of my most recently published books - "Puppy Poems And Rodent Rhymes" and "Where's Noodles?" - are both completely free via Smashwords with coupon code BJ97F, until May 10th 2019. This offer is exclusive to Smashwords. Oh, and... Yes. It is the same coupon code for both books. So, grab your copy of "Puppy Poems And Rodent Rhymes" here, and grab your copy of "Where's Noodles?" here!
2 comments:
Thanks (as always!) for the links. There are usually one or two that really speak to me!
Jeanie:
You're welcome (as always).
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