#WriterWednesday 02-09-20; Writerly #Quotes And Links

“The novel is an event in consciousness. Our aim isn't to copy actuality, but to modify and recreate our sense of it. The novelist is inviting the reader to watch a performance in his own brain.”

~George Buchanan

 

OK.  Well... I haven't been writing - read the post that's going up this coming Friday and you should understand why - but I do have a load more links to share with you.  So, let's see what I have for you this week, shall we?

 

“You don’t need a certificate for it, you don’t need to apply to do it, you don’t even need to ask permission to do it. You just have to claim it—and claim it every day by showing up to do it.”

~Grant Faulkner

 

The writing process, and writing life in general:

Don't lose your novel! 5 ways to backup your writing

12 reasons writing doesn't feel worth it right now (even though it is)

12 things to know about writing through your feelings 

The energy you spend on writing only goes so far 

10 things to remember if you didn't meet all your writing goals this month

Are your writing goals too ambitious?

10 subtle things preventing you from reaching your monthly writing goals

'Lazy' writers exist - that doesn't mean you're one of them 

10 secrets to writing more (and getting really good at it)

4 reasons to carve out designated writing time 

How to get motivated to write

Unforced errors: 5 ways writers stand between themselves and success

12 things writers can actually control

The 'dos' and 'donts' of writing what you know

The imaginary things holding you back 

The hardest lessons a writer will ever learn

10 reminders for when your words don't feel like enough

“You have to protect your writing time. You have to protect it to the death.”

~William Goldman

Writers' block and idea generation (for both authors and bloggers):

How visualisation got me out of writers' block

5 must-try methods for beating writers' block    

8 ways to help overcome bloggers' block

How to come up with writing topics

Things to write about when your ideas run dry

“Learning how to be a good reader is what makes you a writer.”
~Zadie Smith

Random writing tips:

Special items: paranormal 

Special items: fantasy

Dialogue tags and you

The nutshell catch and the point of no return

10 rules of time travel

7 tips to handling grief and mourning in fiction

 

“As long as you can start, you are all right. The juice will come.”

~Ernest Hemingway

Editing:

Good grammar and bad manners: how to handle writing mistakes in public

12 tips to write tight

 Why a bad first draft is not a failure

 

“Nothing you write, if you hope to be any good, will ever come out as you first hoped.”

~Lillian Hellman

 

 Publishing:

To pre-order or not - that is the question. A look at the benifits of pre-order 

 

“I would write a book, or a short story, at least three times—once to understand it, the second time to improve the prose, and a third to compel it to say what it still must say.”

~Bernard Malamud

 

Marketing:

Children's books and back matter

 A different approach to social media

 Building a local readership

 

“Writing is as hard as breaking rocks. Sparks and splinters fly like shattered steel.”

~Clarice Lispector

 

Ideal Inspiration Blogger Award From Cat

I was nominated for this award by Cat over at The Strawberry Post.

As with all these kinds of awards, there are rules that go along with it, and here are the ones for this particular award:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link back to his/her blog.
2. Answer their questions.
3. Nominate up to 9 other bloggers and ask them 5 new questions.
4. Notify the nominees through their blog by visiting and commenting on their blog.
5. List the rules and display the “Ideal Inspiration Blogger Award” logo.
6. Provide the link of the award creator of Ideal Inspiration Blogger Award as Rising Star from https://idealinspiration.blog/

 

First of all: thank you Cat! :)

I haven't included the logo, because grabbing it wasn't working, and I gave up.  So, if you want to see it - and grab it for yourself if you need it - go check out Cat's post here.  In fact, you might want to go do that once you're done here anyhow, since she's got a great blog.

***~~~***

OK, so... Here are the questions I was asked, along with my answers:

1. Who in your life has been an inspiration to you?
 

 My brother, Carl.  He lost his sight at the age of two, and seeing how much he did with no sight helped me see that losing mine wouldn't be the end of doing all the things I loved, but only the reason I had to do them differently.  Sure, there are some things we really can't do (at least, not without sighted help).  But most things just require adaptation.  Thanks to Carl, I learned that long before the prediction I would lose my sight too came true.

 

2. What advice would you give your younger self?
 

It doesn't matter.  I wouldn't have taken it anyhow.  I'm one of those people who has to learn the hard way.  Besides, though I have some regrets, and sometimes wish I'd done some things differently, if I had the chance I wouldn't go back and change things anyhow, because there's no guarantee doing so would put me in a better situation than I currently find myself in, and there are things I wouldn't want to risk losing by changing my past.

 

3. Where do you hope to be/what do you want to achieve in a year from now?
 

I just want to be living somewhere where I know I won't be needing to worry about moving again any time soon, where me and my petkids will be left alone to go about our day.  Read the post I have scheduled for this coming Friday and you'll understand why this is my answer. 

 

4. What do you like to do to relax/unwind?
 

Mostly read, watch movies or TV shows, and spend time with my petkids.  Cuddle time with Lilie and Logan is always comforting, and it's hard to be stressful when you're hanging out with Artemis, so she's great for some hygge moments.  I also enjoy a nice bubble bath (with or without scented candles or insence) and quiet moments listening to nature sounds (especially the sound of the ocean).

 

5. What do you love about blogging?

I love how I get to "meet" friends from all over the world through it, sharing much more than the short social media posts allow for.  I've learned a lot through blogging, and shared in the ups and downs of the lives of many people I consider friends - even if I've met very few of them in person.  I stepped away from blogging for a while, and it's one of the things from my past I regret - even though I felt it was the right thing to do at the time, and would most likely do it again if given a chance to do things over only knowing what I did then - because I lost touch with some people through it.  I'm glad I came back to it, and that some of my bloggy friends were there to welcome me back though.

 

***~~~***

 

Now I'm going to cheat a little, and hope Cat doesn't mind about the second part of it.

 

I know some people who read my blog might want to play along, while others consider their blogs award free zones.  There are people from both camps I'd like to nominate, and picking is difficult.  So, instead I'm going to fall back on my usual tagging response, and say that if you're someone who knows I read your blog regularly, and you haven't yet been nominated for this award, you should consider yourself nominated, and play along if you want to.  I won't be offended if you don't, but I hope some of you do.

 

As for the part I hope Cat doesn't mind my doing: since I think her questions are great ones, am curious about how others would answer them, and can't think of better ones right now, if you decide to play along, I'd like you to answer the same questions I was given.