I want to try something with this blog and my writing career. Many writers like to give advice. Hell, I like giving advice, especially on writing, but if I’m honest with myself, my writing advice isn’t always suitable for everyone and maybe not anyone, but I like doing it so I can refer back to… Read More Books on Writing
As a child, my parents called me ambitious. My classmates called me informative, and teachers called me creative. Personally, I think of myself as someone with a purpose. What is that purpose? Creating a world worth living in. What is the best way for me to do this? Well, I’m a writer. I’ve been writing… Read More Writing Politics into Fiction
It has been a little while since I did a book update on The Great Bandit. To help promote my book, I registered with a few sites, but then discovered that it would cost an arm and a leg. A few copies of the book were sold on Amazon, and… Read More Independent Author Update on Getting Book Reviews
Gary, a friend of mine, has a house full of dogs left by his late brother Ronnie, who was also my friend. He’s been living with them for almost a year. It’s unclear what he’ll do with these dogs, and he’s trying to find them homes. However, most of them are very large, and no… Read More The Dog Channel Pissed My Dog Off
Over the past five years, I have worked on the same damn book. An earlier version of the book had been published, but I thought it needed to be expanded upon. By the time I was finished, I had written forty chapters, and I’m currently working on a second book. Here are the details: Lauren,… Read More Publishing My Book as an Indi Author
Here is something I had not done in a while; I lost my entire blog. As many know, I have Hemiplegic Migraines. These are some of the ugliest migraines a person can have. They affect my entire body and keep me bedridden for days, weeks, and even months. During these migraines, I lose track of… Read More Need to Recover Old Blog Post?
Guest Post by D K ELLIOTT The characters in your novel are the essence of your story, and you want your reader, your customer, to develop an emotional involvement with the characters. You create involvement of the reader when you bring him into the scenes as a participant in the action. This requires that you avoid… Read More Avoid Filtering and Improve Your Writing
As you all know, I have a chronic illness. I got significant news a month ago; they came out with a new medication I hadn’t tried. Yay! My doctors, Diana O’Connor, and Rachel Moore out of Oklahoma City, gave me a sample but said they didn’t have many so this would be the only ones… Read More One Gals Journey to Living a Normal Life
You got to love migraines; they come when unexpected, especially while you are trying to be a writer. Nothing is worse than having a pounding headache, unable to see, inability to focus, and yet your mind keeps going back to your writing project. Writing with migraines is a bitch. So, how do you be a… Read More Being a Writer with Migraines
A subordinating conjunction is a group of words connecting each other or a phrase called a conjunction that introduces a dependent clause, joining it to a main clause. Subordinating conjunctions go with dependent clauses used to redefine or change the focal point of a sentence. Now you know what a subordinating conjunction, here is a list… Read More List of Subordinating Conjunctions
This tutorial teaches how you can turn a PDF file into an image file. There are plenty of ways you can do this but, one of these methods I teach is free. The other way is by using the pad version of Adobe Acrobat Pro, which allows you to export a PDF into an image file.… Read More Convert a PDF to an Image File
Dialogue tags are words which refer dialogue to a specific character. “Said” and “asked” are two common examples of dialogue tags. “I won’t help her!” said Christina. Dialogue tags are an important aspect of writing. When scenes have several characters, they help determine which character is speaking. Novice writers use dialogue tags with adverbs to… Read More Dialogue Tags and How to Use Them
I don’t want my daughter’s thinking they need to get married. I don’t want them to think they need a partner to define who they are. I also don’t want them thinking they need to have kids in order to fulfill their womanhood. Marriage and childbirth should always be an option. I got lucky with… Read More Raising Feminist Daughters
There are 3 parts to a scene and 3 parts to a sequel before you venture back into a new scene and begin with a new goal. This is the emotional progression of a scene and sequel that every delightful story should follow. Scene: Goal: Every scene should seek out the character’s goal. Identifying what your… Read More The Emotional Progression of Scene and Sequel
My doctor gave me a short list of what I should take since I have Familial Hemiplegic Migraines, and I thought I’d share it with you. These are vitamins to help with our bodies and hopefully keep those debilitating migraines away. Magnesium- take 200 to 400 mg daily. Riboflavin (B2)- at least 25 mg, but… Read More Supplements and Nondrug Treatments for Chronic or Frequent Headaches
There are five types of writing; narrative, descriptive, expository, persuasive, and creative. These four writing types can overlap each other, and each one has a different purpose. Narrative Writing: This writing recounts personal experiences as a story and always includes characters, a setting, and a plot. An example would be a short story, a novel,… Read More 5 Types of Writing
Every writer I’ve met has a mentor they either follow or chat with often. The blogs and sites I read keep me in the loop on what editors like and don’t like. They also keep me informed on what is selling and how readers react to what authors are writing. I guess you could say,… Read More Writing Chapter One
Comparisons in a story help create a visual image for readers. If you choose the right comparison, the reader will have an emotional connection with the character while they read. The purpose of this master list is to help you find the right color or pattern to use in your story. This list is an… Read More Colors and Pattern Master List
It’s important to understand your character. The more you understand your character, the easier it will be to write the story. I have listed a few questions to ask about your character. If you’re using Scrivener, you can add this to your character folder and save it in one of your templates. Each character needs… Read More Character’s Fears
Good characteristics can be interchanged with character flaws. They help build a character, strengthen the story, create conflict, and move the story along. There will be clickable links with each of these good character traits, and this is a continuing list. Please bookmark this list on Pinterest or on your bookmark bar for future reference.… Read More Good Character Traits Master List
R.D. Hayes 