Wednesday, March 04, 2020

#WriterWednesday: A #Sale Reminder, Writerly #Quotes And Links + #WritersLife 04-03-20 - #AmWriting

Between trying to rest to get rid of this cold/flu thingy I've had, a trip to town that tired me out, a medical appointment, the serious renovations apparently going on in the property next to mine - and the barking from my dogs that goes along with all that drilling and banging - and various day to day things that have needed my attention, the past couple of weeks haven't been as productive when it comes to writing as I'd hoped they would be.

However, having said that, with the bits of writing time I did manage to achieve - which generally happened on those mornings I was up WAY too early, so managed to get some writing done before the renovation work and barking started - I've actually managed to write more than the number of poems for my goal of how many I want to write this year, and am making good progress on finishing up the story inspired by Lilie and Logan I've been working on. The latter of which I'll tell you more about soon. But not today.

Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.
~Virginia Woolf

OK. I hope you don't mind, but... In the interests of making things a little easier on myself - which I seriously need to be doing more often - I'm going to start doing these posts a little differently, and just give you the list of links I've collected, rather than trying to make them fit in to paragraphs, with any writing quotes I find during the time I'm putting the post together scattered throughout the post where ever I feel like putting them. I will be putting the links under headings though, so you can see what area of the writing/publishing/marketing journey they're for.

So, here are the writerly posts and articles I consider worth sharing from those I've read during the past couple of weeks.

The writing process, and writing life in general:

It has never been easy for me to understand why people work so hard to create something beautiful, but then refuse to share it with anyone, for fear of criticism.
~Elizabeth Gilbert

Writing historical fiction:

Writing romances:

Writing for children:

Poetry writing:

Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul.
~Alice Walker

Characters:

You can't blame a writer for what the characters say.
~Truman Capote

World building:

Grammar and editing:

Nearly every piece of writing advice can be taken, tested, and found wrong. Because inevitably there exists a novel — a popular novel, either bestseller or an award-winner or both — that does exactly the thing you’re Not Supposed To Do. Or it doesn’t do the thing that Everyone Is Supposed To Do. Novels break the rules all the time because ultimately, no rules exist. (The one rule that does exist is that you must finish your $#*t. A book can never exist until you finish it, and so all books pass that indestructible law.)
~Chuck Wendig

Audio book production:

Marketing:

Imagine where you want to be with your [writing] life. Imagine it is a distant mountain. When you are doing that something with your life, take a moment to stop and see whether it is taking you toward the mountain or away from the mountain. If it is taking you away, don't do that thing. Only do things that move you closer to the mountain.
~Neil Gaiman

Writers as readers:

Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren’t very new after all.
~Abraham Lincoln

Before I end this post, I want to remind you about the sale I posted about on Sunday. It's the 11th annual Smashwords Read An eBook Week Sale, and several of my books are enrolled at 75% off, with all of them priced at $1.25 or lower in this sale. One of them is even completely free! Check out the post I just linked to for full details. Hurry though, because the sale ends this weekend (it runs through March 7th 2020, and is exclusive to Smashwords).

2 comments:

Jeanie said...

Your new format makes perfect sense to me. I actually think it's easier to follow, in a list for, as the titles are pretty explanatory. And it sounds like you have a load on your plate. Please be careful with your cold and all that is coming up.

Victoria Zigler said...

Jeanie:
Thanks. I am trying to not over-do it, as well as take better care of myself in general, which is why I've made some changes to how I'm doing some things to make them easier and less time-consuming where possible.

Also, thanks for your feedback on the new layout for the post. I'm glad you actually find this new format better. It's a lot easier and quicker to put together, so it works out great for us both.