#WriterWednesday - #Christmas Day 2019 Edition + The #Smashwords End Of Year #eBook #Sale

Merry Christmas! I hope that you're simply having a wonderful Christmas time.

At least, I hope you were before you started reading this, because I'm going to assume your holiday celebrations are over - or at least that you're between holiday activities, and have some free time - or you wouldn't be reading this. Right?

So, with that in mind, on to those writerly links I collected for you before (mostly) stepping away from the computer for the holidays, starting with this reminder of the 85K90 Challenge, which is something those of you wishing challenges like NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) would happen in the quieter months of the year might want to check out, since the aim of it is to get your novel written in the first quarter of the year (January through March). It also gives you 90 days to get your book written, rather than the 30 days NaNoWriMo gives you, meaning you have a lower word count to aim for each day than you would if you were doing NaNoWriMo. It even has months set aside for editing and publishing, so can technically keep you on track all year, and maybe even have you published in time for next Christmas, especially if you plan to self-publish. Check out the link I just posted for full details on how the challenge works.

There's also STORYSTORM in January, NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month) in March, NaPoWriMo (National Poetry Writing Month) in April, Camp NaNoWriMo in both April and July, and NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) itself in November, if you need inspiration for other writing related challenges to sign up for next year. I dare say there are others I've forgotten or don't know about too. I've mentioned all of the ones listed in this paragraph on my blog before, but if you don't know what any of them are and want to check them out, a quick search will easily provide you with details, so either find my posts about them, or just type the challenge/event name in to your favourite search tool.

Ah, but should you plan your whole year? Well, that's up to you. But it might be an idea to have some kind of plan, especially if you want to do some of the challenges I mentioned above, or have your own writing goals you'd like to achieve. So, if you're thinking it might be a good idea to plan your whole year, take a look at the post I just linked to for a suggestion on how you might approach doing that.

Just remember, when you're planning your year, to schedule in some rest time, and don't over do it. Is writing supposed to be hard? Yes. But don't make it so hard you get burned out. Look after yourself while chasing your writing dreams. Please. Don't forget about the emotional side of the writing life. Look after your health; both physical and mental.

I mean, it's true that there is no time for 'someday'. But you do need to take care of yourself while doing the things. Plus, you need to allow yourself time to be bored, because it's good for a writer to be bored.

Anyway, here's an excellent post that answers the question, "Are people who write only as a hobby 'real' writers?" Short answer: yes. As long as you write on at least a semi-regular basis, and want to call yourself one, you're a writer.

Remember: while there are plenty of extremely valid reasons to not be writing regularly - or as often as you'd like to be writing, or whatever your personal situation is - make sure they really are valid reasons you're using, and if you are making excuses for not reaching your writing goals, rather than using valid reasons, leave your excuses at the door.

OK, so you're writing. Since that's the case, you might want to check out these tips to writing semi-coherent dialogue, and this advice on what to avoid with internal monologue.

Next, here's a great post that explains how objects tell your story.

Finally, if you got a new eReader for Christmas - or even if you didn't, but just want to get some new books at great prices - you may be interested to hear that the Smashwords end of year sale is now on, and you can go here to check out all the books on sale. Of course, I've enrolled my own books, which you can find via my Smashwords profile. Every one of my books is enrolled at 50% off, with coupon code SEY50 (which should be automatically applied when you add any of my books to your cart on Smashwords, but I'm giving you the code anyhow, just in case). So, if you want to get my books for half their usual price, you can do so exclusively on Smashwords through January 1st. Since my books are made available in all formats Smashwords offers, and they offer multiple eBook formats, this means there will be a format that works for you, regardless of whether you read eBooks via a Kindle, an iPad, your computer, or whatever. So, what are you waiting for? Grab some eBook bargains while you can!

#WriterWednesday - January 30th 2019

Up until this past weekend, I'd only managed to write two poems all month. However, I was able to take advantage of a bit of free time this weekend to get a few hundred words written - some on a short poem, the rest on a story. It's not much, but it's better than I had been managing. I've not been making my writing the priority it should be lately, mainly because it's the thing most people seem to want me to let slide whenever I just can't do it all, so it's just easier to let it be the thing I don't get to. But also a little because I've been procrastinating. Mainly the former, but I'll admit I'm guilty of the latter sometimes too. I'm hoping, after I've had surgery and recovered from it, I can change that. I could have started trying now, but decided to let things remain as they are for the time being. I will fix things though, because I have to write, and I'm missing it.

Sticking with the theme of the above paragraph: this is why it's so hard to sit down and get your writing done. Also, procrastination is a self-perpetuating cycle, so if you're as guilty of it as I have been over the past couple of weeks, check out the tips in the post I just linked to. Maybe they can help you make your writing the priority it should be. After all, there are reasons why your writing matters - even if you aren't making any money from it. So, how do you keep the passion for writing going?

However you do it, here's a reminder to always write down your 'shower thoughts' and those random thoughts and ideas from other times and places too. After all, one of those ideas might have the potential to be something great one day, and it would be a shame if they were lost forever.

Struggling with writers' block? Here are some more tips for where to find ideas for writing a story. Just don't wait around for ideas.

Remember: when you have your list of ideas, or random thoughts and observations, you can always recycle them when you're ready to write your next story or poem. Or, if you're not sure which to work with, you can go on a speed date with your stories.

OK, let's assume you're managing to avoid procrastinating, have your ideas, know which you're ready to work with right now, and are writing away. With that being the case, you might want to think about how you can write large.

Do you have any geologists in your story? Then you might like to take a look at this guide to being a geologist, so you can make sure you're making your geologist character believable.

Are you writing flash fiction? Is it set in a world you created yourself? Then read this post for some tips on how to build a fantasy world in flash fiction.

Now you have a first draft, it's time to do some revising, and tackle those plot holes.

Rewrites and edits are important. However, you need to avoid getting up in that vicious cycle of rewrites and edits, where your book is never quite finished in your opinion, even if it really is. With that in mind, here are some signs you're afraid of finishing your manuscript.

So... Here's how to write better: a quick guide.

Finally, if you're a writer too, how's your writing going? If you're doing any kind of writing challenge - like STORYSTORM or the 85k90 Challenge, just to give two examples of writing challenges I know have been going on during January - how are you doing with it? I'd love to know, so tell me in the comments.

#WriterWednesday - December 26th 2018 + An #eBook #SALE On #Smashwords

Happy Boxing Day! I hope you're enjoying your holiday celebrations, whatever you happen to be doing to celebrate at this time of year. Or, if your celebrations are over, I hope you enjoyed them.

Did you get a new eReader for Christmas? Or, perhaps, you got some money you want to use to fill your old one? Then you may be interested to know that the Smashwords end of year sale is now on. Authors across Smashwords will be offering their books at various levels of discount, from 25% off to completely free, for a whole entire week. I've enrolled most of my books at 50% off, which puts all my books at between $0.99 and $2.50 with coupon code SEY50 (which should automatically apply itself when you add books that are in the sale to your cart) on Smashwords throughout this sale, which runs from December 25th 2018 through January 1st 2019. Go to my Smashwords profile, and grab your eBook bargains today! Oh, and don't forget to browse the list of books on sale, and see what eBook bargains you can pick up from other authors! This is exclusive to Smashwords, but all my books - and those by many other authors - are available in multiple eBook formats, making them accessable to you, regardless of your eReader of choice. In fact, if you can read this post, you can read my books, since there's a version you can read in a web browser.

Yes, officially most of my books are aimed at children. But, in the words of one of my favourite authors:

A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.
~C.S. Lewis

I expect most people are too busy enjoying their holiday celebrations to be online today. Or maybe recovering from having done a bit too much enjoying of them yesterday. But I wanted to mention the Smashwords sale. Plus, I grabbed a couple of links before I started focussing properly on my holiday celebrations, so figured I might as well go ahead and share them. I'll take a look at what came through while I was busy enjoying the holidays later, and share those another day. But here are the couple of links I have for you this week:

You know... That moment when you get a shiny new idea, and start writing your amazing book... It's a wonderful feeling. But the sparkly happy feeling fades eventually. It's the way it goes with everything. So, what happens when the honeymoon phase ends? The same thing as with anything else: you work at it, and remember that what you put in to it is what you get out of it too. So, if you want to be a writer, finish that book. Yes. Keep working on it, even if the honeymoon phase has ended. One day, you'll be glad you did!

While you're working on that book, you'll want to learn how to master story archetypes, so you might want to read the post I just linked to for some details about the different archetypes.

Another thing you'll need to learn is about backstory. Spacifically when to use it, and how much to use.

By the way, if any of your characters happen to be going on some kind of adventure where they'll be exploring dungeons or ruins, here are some dungeon crawling tips they may find useful. Those of you who play roleplaying games may find them useful too.

My final link today is for those of you who find NaNoWriMo (NationalNovel Writing Month) happens at the wrong time of the year, or who need that accountability to give you the nudge to get further than the writing stage of book production. Have you heard of the 85k90 writing challenge? It's a writing challenge that essentially structures your writing year for you: January through March for writing, May and June for editing, etc... The post I just linked to explains in more detail. Anyway, I won't be doing it, but I thought it looked like a great challenge, and figured I'd give it a mention, for the benifit of any of you who might be interested, especially since two people immediately spring to mind who might see this post, and often say they would love to do something similar to NaNoWriMo, but find November is a bad month for doing a writing challenge like that. There's also Camp NaNo in April and July... In case you didn't know.