I took this picture in my backyard last month. I thought it was pretty with the snow upon the branches and while I was looking at it this morning I wanted to see if anyone could come up with a poem or a one line story to go with the photo. I thought this could get some of you writer's juices flowing in your mind.
Can't wait to hear what you come up with!
Picture of Words
Blog-erific Writing
When it comes to reading anything at all I have a very hard time keeping focus. If the first few sentences don't grab my attention 90% of the time I won't finish reading it. As mentioned before I have challenged myself to read 50 books in a year (turning to be a tough one for me). On top of that I have followed many blogs and wanted to mention a few that have kept me entertained, and made me want to read the entire post from start to finish. These are the Blog-erific Blogs!
1) Desperately Searching for my Inner currently Marybeth is fasting off of facebook and twitter for Lent and blogging about it. Her posts are humourous and have a homey feel to them. Everytime I read a post of her's I feel as if I known her for years. She is quite the entertainer!
2)Rachelle Gardner If you are a writer then I recommend reading this Literary Agent's blog. There is so much information about the writing world that she reveals it's hard to catch up. Whether you are a newbie or an old pro, all of the information is clear and useful.
3) Sharing with Writers and Readers Carolyn Howard-Johnson has a pretty neat blog you should all check out. I attended an online conference where she talked about frugal marketing strategies which made me extremely excited to market my own novel someday soon. Each post is something different, full of information and tips for us all.
Question for you: What's your favourite blog to read?
Until next time, have a great week everyone!
NEED HELP!
I apologize for a late blog post everyone!
I have to admit something to you all. I have Olympic Fever! I have been watching the olympics all afternoon and well into the night each day. I really think I am enjoying them more than ever because they're in my home country of Canada.
With that said, I have completely forgot to do anything and everything that I usually do.... like writing..... My motivation is totally gone. I tried and I mean I sat in front of my computer thinking very hard about what to write. After about an hour I had to take an advil from the severe headache I received from thinking so hard.
Okay I am going to admit something else. During that hour I was thinking about what was going on with the olympics, who was winning and who was going to perform for the victory ceremonies that night. Shame on me!
In short I really have no writing news for you all. I am close to putting up Wanted signs to get my motivation back.
I NEED HELP FROM YOU!
How should I get my motivation back? Have any quirky ways of motivating yourself? Please share
Okay until next time yall!
Traditional Publishing vs Self Publishing
On a personal level I have argued with myself on whether I wanted to self publish (as I like the possibility to do everything myself) or go the traditional publishing route (which would give me more credibility in the long run). These days, self publishing is becoming more popular but are still seen as uncredible.
I have found an article done by a lady I met at The Muse Online Writers Conference named Stephanie Chandler for my Article of the Month. (I'm doing the article of the month a bit early, hoping for a book I'm awaiting to arrive in the mail for me to review for you by the end of the month) Here's her bio for you could get to know her and the link to the article will be at the very bottom.
Stephanie Chandler is an author of several business and marketing books including From Entrepreneur to Infopreneur: Make Money with Books, eBooks and Information Products (John Wiley & Sons) and The Author’s Guide to Building an Online Platform: Leveraging the Internet to Sell More Books (Quill Driver).
Stephanie is also founder and CEO of Authority Publishing, which provides custom book publishing, content marketing and internet marketing solutions. A frequent speaker at business events and on the radio, she has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, BusinessWeek, Inc.com and many other media outlets. For author and speaker details visit StephanieChandler.com.
Click here for Traditional versus Self Publishing
Until next time, enjoy the article!
Happy GroundHog's Day!
Howdy everyone!
It's groundhog day and so far I heard that up here in Canada we're supposed to get another 6 weeks of winter, or however long we're supposed to have. Doesn't surprise me as our winters up here always seem to be too long in my view lol.
I cannot believe that it is February already! I have a feeling that this is going to be yet another incredibly fast year. Maybe I'll be able to hold onto something along the way to slow it down.
In about 12 days will be Valentine's Day! I already found my Valentine who is a two year old I babysit quite a bit. We're probably going to spend our day listening to Michael Buble and making crafts lol. The whole on coming of Valentine's Day has got me thinking about writing. Then again when do I not think about writing?
My niche is thriller/drama types of writing and since this is the year I have been challenging myself I thought about writing a very short romance story for you all just to see if I can do it. So, just in time for Valentine's Day, I shall post that short story next week hoping to hear from you about what you thought.... this is going to be quite the challenge in deed for me lol!
Speaking of Valentine's Day, have any of you seen the trailer for the movie called Valentine's Day? It has a major all star cast which worries me a bit as not too many all star movies do so well in Hollywood. The cast includes; Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates (amazing actress), Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane (known as McSteamy on Grey's Anatomy), Patrick Dempsey (the ever so hot McDreamy), Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher (Mr. Demi Moore), Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner (howls), Taylor Swift, George Lopez, Julia Roberts etc.
I am hoping to go see the movie and will let you all know what it's like. I'm crossing my fingers that it will be good.
Okay so really quick, I wanted to update you on some of my challenges. I am proud to say I am almost right on target with my reading for my 50 books in a year challenge. I managed to read a 300 page biography in 3 hours. I was utterly surprised with myself. WriYe is well I am trying to get back on track with that one. I only wrote about 2000 words in January so February is definitely a catch up month...
Anyways, I hope you all have a great week and for some strange reason I still want to find ONE more challenge for me to do this year....any suggestions or am I just nuts?
Article of the Month
For those who know me, know that I am an informational-holic. I can spend hours upon hours searching for anything on google. I sometimes call myself the Google Princess as most of the time I can find just about anything. With that said, I have come across thousands of articles all about the different aspects of writing. I am one who loves to share information (and music) with anyone who would love to listen. So here's my vow to you, my wonderful readers.
During the final week of each month I am going to post an Article of the Month containing an article that I found interesting, that I would like to share with you. Most of the time it will be about writing unless I find an article that is just too funny not to share.
For the first Article of the Month, a person I met from The Muse Writer's Conference tweeted the link to this article. Her name is Karina Fabian http://www.fabianspace.com and this article is called Tips to Cut the Clutter. It's a great article to help tweek those pesky sentences that seem okay but are not quite right.
You can click Cut the Clutter to read it now.
Also if you have a favourite article that you would like to share leave a comment.
Until next time, have a great week and take care!
Review: The Lovely Bones (Movie)
I promised myself to try to write more reviews this year. I recently finished reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold just in time for me to see the movie. I wanted to give my first review a try with comparing the movie and the novel. So I apologize for a not so good review. It is my first.....and I strongly believe practice makes perfect. (Hopefully by December they'll be great hehe) Enjoy!
The Lovely Bones Movie
* * * out of 5
When I went to the movies to see this particular movie I wasn't sure about how the movie would turn out. As the movie began I was immediately drawn into the fictional story of a 14 year old girl, Susie Salmon, who was murdered by her neighbour on December 6 1973. Though a few tears fell upon my face as Susie Salmon was lured by a monsterous murderer named George Harvey into homemade contraption in the middle of a cornfield, the images and the storyline blended beautifully. The portrayal of Susie's heaven were beyond remarkable.
However I found the movie did not stay true to the essence of the book, which is acceptable in my view as movies and books are completely different. There were many plot holes in the second part of the movie in which I will not mention as I do not want to give anything away. Though I will be the first to admit that I went to the movie to see Mark Wahlberg (I just adore him for no known reason...okay he's hot) the acting was a bit stale in some parts among all the characters, including him. I found there just wasn't enough of all the characters and found that the story line seemed to be rushed.
On a high note, there was one character/actor who blew me away. Stanley Tucci did an incredible job in my view, of playing George Harvey. I am used to seeing this actor in more light hearted roles and was surprised to find out he was to play this character. Reading the book, I always found the character of Mr. Harvey to be a dark creepy fellow. In the movie I personally believed Stanley Tucci did a wonderful job with that particular character making George Harvey come alive and become more creepy than ever. He was rightfully nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture during the Golden Globes. If you ever get to see the movie you will definitely see why. There are just no words to describe his performance.
Challenge Yourself
This year I decided to challenge myself more than ever before. For the past few years I noticed I had a never ending decline heading towards hating to read. (I know shocking!)This year I wanted to end that hatred for reading by signing up for a reading challenge. I shall read 50 novels in a year! So far I have read one novel (The Host by Stephanie Meyer) and I'm in the middle of reading a second (The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold which I'm trying to finish before the movie comes out this Friday) which means so far so good. I am hoping to gain some experience with writing reviews for books so throughout the year I am going to try to post at least one review per month for all you wonderful people!
Another challenge I have signed up for is called WriYe or Writing Year (http://www.wriye.webs.com/) I have challenged myself to write 200 000 words during the entire year. I believe it shall be easy to accomplish (I hope) as I have NaNoWriMo, Editing/Rewrites, finishing a few novels and maybe a random novel in the middle of the year. I love to write so I am excited about this challenge for sure.
If I could not get any busier than that I have challenged myself to finish my Web Design Course by June. For those who do not know me well enough yet, I am a part time child care giver, part time writer and student who is taking at home courses for Web Design. I am hoping to get involved with a Youth Business Program run by the government, during the summer, and hopefully begin the process of opening my own web design business by the end of the year. In order to open that business of mine I have to finish that darn course! I hope mentioning it here will motivate me enough to finish it sooner hehe.
This is going to be one heck of a year and I will make sure to keep you all posted with the process and outcomes of each. It is so amazing how far anyone can go with a few challenges along the way.
So I must ask, what are you doing to challenge yourself this year?
Have a great week everyone! Until Next Time!
Writing Advice/Tips
Since a the age of about six, I began writing stories for fun. One of my most vivid memories of my very young writing life was writing my first puppet play, to be performed in front of my grade three class. I was never so proud to accomplish such a big writing task than at that moment. Throughout the many years since I have grown to love writing more than anything and have worked hard at perfecting my babies to the best of my ability. I might be only twenty one but I have learned plenty from some amazing people along the way. With their writing tips and guidance I am finding I am slowly getting better with each word I write.
With that, I would love to share with you some writing tips and advice I have received from those wonderful people along the way. I hope that they will be as useful to you as they have been for me.
1. I have a really good friend I met on www.writing.com a few years back. She goes by Tirzah and when you need a laugh or in my opinion, motivation, she is the girl to go to. She recently started her own blog called A Clever Whatever Blog (http://acleverwhatever.blogspot.com/) and in a recent funny post she brings up a great point and an obvious tip for all writers in my view. No matter how badly you think your novel is at the time of writing it, never give up on your novel. It might suck. It might be horrendous, but the best thing for that novel of yours is to finish it and finish it NOW!
2. When I was in high school, I was fortunate to have a wonderful English teacher who encouraged me to keep going with my writing dreams. She even set up a group for the school to help aspiring teen writers to hone their craft. The main thing I learned from being in that Writers Group for four years was how to keep the muse going by using prompts. There are many days in my own life where going to my desk to write seems like the worst chore, especially if your brain turned to mush. Random and fun prompts can be found anywhere online, and could help your mind have a mini vacation from what you are currently working on.
3. Back in October of 2009 I attended a really cool writers conference online (and for free ). It is called The Muse Online Writers Conference (www.themuseonlinewritersconference.com). The creator, Lea Schizas, did a wonderful workshop called Assaulting a Writer’s Thinking. She mentioned how Determination and Perseverance are two things a writer must have, which I personally find is true. Determination drives you forward and makes you want to accomplish the goal you have in mind. I personally do not know what to do without it. Perseverance helps you through all the critics, rejections and so forth. It is not always easy to hear the negative aspects when it comes to your writing baby, but after that workshop Lea had done, I still feel as if I could burst through those barriers and be proud of what I have done.
4. Most importantly I have learned a lot from one in particular person....or animal you might say. *Sings: Just keep swimming, just keep swimming* Sound familiar to you? Being a child caregiver on the side, I have watched Finding Nemo too many times to count. The movie is fantastic and Dory is definitely my favourite character. She taught me something incredibly important. Just keep swimming. Just keep going. Just move forward. Hard times will come and go but I promise you if you take five minutes and keep singing that song it will brighten your day. Heck, you might even get motivated to write while singing it.
I hope you enjoyed my small list of tips/advice that have helped me thus far in my little writing world.
I would love to hear from you all and have a question to ask of you:
What advice has been given to you during your life that you live by?
Until next time, Happy New Year to you all and be safe!
Holidays
Hey everyone!
I just wanted to post a small paragraph about the holidays. I know last week I promised some writing/editing tips that I find useful, but as of now I have been so busy working and getting ready for Christmas that I haven't had time to put a good list together. With that said, I am going to take this week off from blogging and come back next week with an awesome top five list of writing/editing tips I have found useful from other writers.
Until then, I Hope You Have Wonderful Holidays and please during this time of year if you are going to drink DO NOT DRIVE!
