Recap from my technical blog for writers

New posts from my other blog...the technical blog, Writing, Funding, Publishing Just in case you weren't aware that I've split my content...

How to add an ISBN to your book or other published work

How to add a barcode to your book or other published work

Interview with author T. M Brenner about his successful KickStarter campaign.

My blog is splitting up...but don't cry, it's a good thing.

It's true! 

My blog is splitting up.

Why?  One word; content.

This is my author blog which, in my mind is content that my readers will enjoy.  Lately I've been writing technical content that is more geared toward writers and rather than crap up this blog with technical stuff, I'm going to move it to another blog.

This blog, actually: http://writingfundingpublishing.blogspot.com/

If you enjoy my witty, creative content typical of this blog, stick around -it isn't going anywhere (and tell your friends!).  If you prefer the technical posts, stop by and visit (and follow) Writing. Funding. Publishing.   If you enjoy both, do not lament, I will post a blurb and redirecting link on this blog pointing to the other because if you are like me, following too many blogs makes my head want to explode. 

So, in review, this blog ain't going away AND I'll have a new blog for technical stuff for writers: 
Writing. Funding. Publishing.  
 http://writingfundingpublishing.blogspot.com/

I hope to see y'all wherever I see y'all.

And on a serious note, thank you for following.  Truly. I hope I provide some source of enjoyment or education for everyone.

An image from my new blog: Writing. Funding. Publishing.  

Meditation And The Art of Writing

-->A guest post by Marcela De Vivo

Being a writer is one of the most difficult things to do because it’s not just a career path--it’s also a state of mind. Unlike many other hobbies, passions, and career paths, when you are in the wrong frame of mind for writing, everything gets blocked. You are unable to come up with ideas, find your style, or write with any sort of flow. Being blocked from writing can be incredibly frustrating. Luckily, people who meditate have found a lot of success in fighting writer’s block and becoming a stronger writer.

Put Yourself In The Right State of Mind

If your mind isn’t completely focused on your writing, it will be much tougher to get any words to paper. If you are nervous about deadlines or thinking about fights you had with your best friend, your focus won’t solely be on your words. It will impede your writing abilities completely. With the use of meditation, you can control your thoughts and put yourself in the writing mindset that you so sorely need.

Clear Out All Negative Thoughts

Critics are often a huge impediment to a writer’s abilities. If you are sitting down to write and keep thinking that you aren’t good enough, you can’t do it, and other negative thoughts, getting past that block will be impossible. By learning meditation, you can teach yourself to put a wall around those inner critics, thereby allowing yourself to write and not think of the negativity.

Gain Inspiration

There’s nothing more frustrating for a writer than sitting down to write and drawing a blank. Just because you’re in the mood to write doesn’t mean you’ll be able to get the words to flow. One of the many perks of meditation is gaining inspiration that will allow you to write to your heart’s content.

One Minute Meditations

If you’re in the middle of a sentence and all of a sudden writer’s block hit’s you like a ton of bricks, one minute meditation is the trick that you need. You’ll be able to close your eyes and do breathing exercises in just a few seconds to get yourself back on track.

Calms Your Nerves

Writing can be a nerve-wracking experience. You put so much of yourself into your prose that it can be terrifying. With meditation, you can keep yourself from letting those nerves get to you when you need to get to writing. By practicing basic breathing exercises during meditation you can get better control of your nerves.

Create a Meditation Room

Your home and writing space may be cluttered with furniture, papers, and all those other life essentials. Creating your own meditation room can help prevent these distractions during your writing process. Keep the decor in this room minimal and relaxing such as a wall fountain or small bonsai tree to bring in small elements of nature.

Steps To Meditate

Meditating is actually quite easy, so don’t worry about not being an expert. At the most basic level, you can clear your mind, repeat a positive mantra, and use breathing exercises in your meditation room or small space. Take as long as you need because getting on track with your writing is what’s most important.

Marcela De Vivo is a freelance writer from Southern California. As a full-time writer, she understands how difficult it can be to get your thoughts down on paper and finds meditation a great tool to avoid writers block. Follow her on Twitter today!

You can also find Marcela on Facebook, Pinterest and her website.

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~In the book world, word of mouth is king~

Coming soon....

the second book from The Never Chronicles

Available now from J.R. Wagner...

A tale of perseverance, strength and redemption.

www.TheNeverChronicles.com

In bookstores

 

A Picture inspires a thousand words

by Carlie M.A. Cullen

All the advice about writing states you should write something every day, and it’s something I try to do as much as possible. But there are days when you don’t have a W.I.P. to work on; maybe you’ve just finished a draft and it’s with your editor, maybe you’re just lacking a little inspiration, or maybe you want to have a break from the norm and do something a little different. Whatever the reason behind it, you may find yourself needing a little prompt.

Enter pictures.

As my wonderful host and I share a love of fantasy, I’m going to use fantasy pictures as an example. All I’ve done is type ‘fantasy pictures’ into the Google images search bar and found some real beauties. Let’s take this one as a first example:

Just think about what you can write using this picture for inspiration. I could probably write close on a thousand words just on the girl alone! When you add in all the background detail and work it all into a story to explain who the people and creatures are and what’s happening in the scene, you have the makings of a great story or flash fiction.

Here’s another example:

Who is this woman? Are those spikes on a headdress or protruding from her skin? What do the tattoos mean? What sort of land does she inhabit? Is she good or evil? Does she possess magic or a paranormal talent? The more questions you can ask about the picture, the more you have to write about.

A third example:

Where are these two? What magic does the woman possess? Is the warrior beside her man or creature? Why does she need a warrior – is it for protection or is she his prisoner? Are they about to undertake a journey on the water or have they just arrived? Where are they going/coming from? What is the purpose of their journey? Who/what is the woman? Do the spikes on the warrior’s armour signify anything specific?

Final example:

Are you a social media butterfly?

A Guest post by Carlie M A Cullen

Are you a social media butterfly? 

Earlier this year, I wrote two guest posts for Josh’s blog called ‘Presenting A Professional
Image’. There were two parts to it; one dealt with being able to deal with constructive
criticism, and the other was about the little things you can do when meeting and networking
with people (like getting business cards printed). I hope you found both of those articles
informative and helpful.

I decided to follow on from those posts and talk about networking with people, especially on
social media platforms.

Now I’m not one of those butterflies that flit from one social media network to another;
there are so many on the internet now, it would be only too easy to get caught in the trap
of traipsing from one to another, and another. Before you realize it, you’ve spent several
precious hours being a social media butterfly and you’ve no time left to do the most
important thing of all – writing.

I’ve decided to pick just two platforms and concentrate my efforts there. I predominantly
use Twitter (http://twitter.com/carlie2011c) and pop in to Facebook (http://facebook.com/
carlie.cullen) on occasions.

I’m not a Twitter snob and only follow writers and readers; I follow all types (except those who speak in a language I don’t know/understand). Making connections on Twitter has not
only enriched my life, I’ve forged good friendships and strong links with people from other
countries (mainly those from across the pond). And here’s where some of the networking
comes into it.

I must be doing something right on Twitter as I’m attracting more and more followers each
day. At the beginning of 2012 I had less than 200 followers – now I have over 1640. So how
did I do it? There was no magic plan, no marketing strategy and no one guiding me.

I think it happened because I genuinely care about other people and have a passion for
supporting other authors.

I regularly Retweet authors who are publicising their own or other people’s books, I tweet
about other books and several weeks ago I started my own hashtag #SupportSunday. I pick
four authors who I follow and publicise their book(s), including a link to it/them on Amazon.
I try to rotate it so I don’t have the same four people every week, although I admit I do tend
to favour my two closest friends on Twitter and they get included regularly. BUT I have
one rule where this hashtag is concerned: if the author I’ve publicised doesn’t have the good
manners to show any appreciation or even acknowledge that I’ve tried to help them, they
never get included again. How long does it take to tweet someone with a simple ‘thank you’?

Reading and Writing: The Escape and The Outlet

Reading and writing. When written like that, they sound like an intolerably boring grade school class. I am a strong believer that both are for some and can be for others much, much more.

In fact, I tell you they are life-changing.  Both of them. I'm not talking about learning how to read and write, which is obviously necessary for reasons I care not to delve into. I'm talking about profound impact. They may have changed your life already and they could impact someone eases life and YOU could be the change wielder.

I'll start with reading.

Reading is The Escape. Escape from what? Well, that depends. What do you need to escape from?  A crappy job? An annoying sibling? A bad day at school? A bad home life? Abuse? 'Friends' who keep trying to talk you into doing drugs? The death of someone close? Life in general?

Everybody needs an escape. Everybody. Some need it more urgently than others but we all need it.  If you're reading this, you most likely have found The Escape that resides between the covers of a good book.  They take you away. They shut off the world around you.  They silence the voices that tell you you're not good enough or pretty enough or smart enough. You enter a place of blissful quiet.  A new world with new surroundings, new people, new challenges.  You get to be someone else -to share an adventure, a romance, a mystery or maybe even something so terrifying, it will keep you up at night.  But even the terror is better than that place from which you've escaped. You can be inspired, awed, amazed, excited and....educated???

NOOOOOOOOO! Don't ruin The Escape with education! It's true.  While you're off in the arena with Katness, your brain is working, learning, becoming a faster, better, more perceptive machine.  Sometimes, that perception is strong enough to bring something back from The Escape and apply it to your life in the real world.  Imagine...being able to reach into a book and pull something out from you're favorite stories (if your envisioning grabbing Edward Cullen by his hair and yanking him through the pages of Twilight, please stop).  It's true! You're constantly picking up things -most often subconsciously, that you will use in your real life.

So, not only are you provided with a refuge from whatever it is you need shelter from, but when you return to our world, you return better armed to deal with the challenges all around you.

Now, if you're brave enough, you will share this gift, The Escape, with others -especially those who really need it.  Don't worry, they're easy to spot.  Over-stressed, anxious, withdrawn, temperamental, rebellious, mean spirited -generally those people you don't want to come into contact with are the same people who need The Escape the most.  I challenge you to find one, just one of these people and show them 'the doorway' (a book that will pique their interest).  That may be all you can do -that also may be all it takes. 

The Importance of Writing Exercises

A Guest Post by Carlie M. A. Cullen

You sit down at your computer for the first time of the day, open up the document ready to dive into your latest work of art and what happens? You struggle to get started. Once you get into the flow, you’re fine, but it’s those first few painful minutes where you suddenly doubt yourself. So why is this? Why does it happen?

Your brain and creativity, like any other muscle in your body needs warming up before you start to really exercise it. Put it this way – would you run a marathon without stretching your leg muscles first? Would you try bench pressing a huge weight without easing into it with lesser weights first? Not if you’ve got any sense you wouldn’t!

You would end up with painful pulled muscles and ligaments which would seriously inhibit your ability to do everything you’d normally achieve without thinking about it.

So why strain your creativity in the same way?

A five or ten minute writing exercise completely unconnected to your current ‘Work In Progress’ will warm up those muscles in your brain and get the creative juices flowing.

Here are some examples of what you can do:

• ·      Free Writing – pick any word at random and write whatever comes into your head about that word. Don’t stop to correct spelling mistakes or grammar, just keep writing.
• ·      Pictorials – pick any picture from a newspaper or magazine and write about what you see. Describe the environment, describe any people in it, describe any feelings the picture invokes.
• ·      Photographs – choose one of your own photographs and write about the day it was taken. Where was it? Why were you there? Who were you there with? Describe the scenery or buildings. Talk about any people in the photograph; who they are, what they mean to you.
• ·      A lyric from a song – it may be an unfamiliar song you hear on the radio or a new CD, or one that you know particularly well. What feelings does that lyric invoke in you? Does it fill you with joy or happiness? If so, why? Does it make you sad and if so, why? Does it make you remember events from your past? If so, what, and how does that affect you now?
• ·      Look out of the window and choose an object or person/couple you see. Describe it/them. If it’s a person, wonder about what sort of life you think they lead, where they’re going. Look at how they’re dressed. If it’s a building, what sort of people do you think live there, what are their lives like? Describe what you imagine.
• ·      Everyday objects – choose a random object from your house and build a mini story around it. It could be something as basic as a ball of string, a rolling pin, a candle, a pack of playing cards, a box of matches. The list is endless.

As you can see, there are so many possibilities of things you can write about to exercise that muscle before you attempt to begin on your latest project. And because the creative juices are already flowing, you will find it much easier to pick up where you left off with your project.

If you can discipline yourself to spend those few minutes doing your warm up exercises, I’m sure you’ll find those moments of doubt and struggle disappear, and your writing will be all the richer for it.

Ups and Downs -the ebbing confidence of the typical writer

You're on a high, you're feeling good about your project!

Everything seems to be falling into place.  You're climbing fast. Success is immanent.Oh, the places you'll go!

Then, doubt creeps in...

You're not different, you're not special.  It seems as if EVERYONE is doing what you're doing.  You're supposed to be setting yourself apart not following along like a mindless sheep.

You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted.  But mostly they're darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out?  Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose? How much can you win?

An article saying you're doing it wrong, a blog saying you haven't got a chance, others, struggling like you except they're not like you because they've been struggling for years and you've just gotten in...still, their goal is the same...like you.

Only, they aren't you.  While you may have a 'community' behind you, you're also alone.  You follow in the footsteps of others but based on what?  Success? Perhaps. Perhaps not. Maah.  (because anyone whose been around sheep knows there is no 'b' in the sound they make)

So, now what?  Are you a sheep?  Are you an innovator?  Are you a fighter?  Are you even up to the challenge?  Did you even know the challenge would be there to begin with? Did you expect it to be easy? Is it too much for you? Are you a coward? Chicken S&*T? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

You can get so confused
that you'll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place...

Then, it happens.  You quiet your mind and take a moment.  You read what you've written and remember that you're in the game not because you want to be like everyone else but because you ARE original and the proof is the words right in front of you.  You don't just like your story, you LOVE it.  It calls to you when you don't pay it attention.  It wants more of you. More of your time. Your story is a reflection of you albeit a shadowy one.

You're a writer. Let everyone else get bogged down by doubt.  Get up and see it through. Trust the mind that created your story to see you to the end.  To what end?  To your end, not the sheep's end.  You decide how your journey will end.

You're doing it wrong! You'll fail for sure! You don't know what you're doing! You don't deserve to be here to begin with.  Listen to those who've walked the walk -who've seen YOUR end, not their end, which, in all probability falls far short of YOUR end. Shut out the others. Block them out and move onward.  Time is a luxury no man can purchase.

Lift yourself up.  When you can't, find someone who is kind enough to lend you a hand.  The voyage is long, treacherous, not for the faint of heart.

If your story pecks at the back of your mind, "let me out, writer, share me," it says. If your creation wasn't boxed in to conform before it was even complete -you are a creator. Let it grow with you as you grow.  Don't despair

NO!
That's not for you!

Somehow you'll escape
all that waiting and staying.
You'll find the bright places
where Boom Bands are playing.

There is only one you, there is only one 'your story'. One. If it consumes you (if it is right, it will consume you) let it. You are but an extension of your words.  Wield them.  Innovate.  Collaborate.  Lift others as you rise. Let the sheep worry about the negativity, the doubt and the dead ends.

You are a writer -does self doubt come along for the ride? Absolutely.  Let it.  Over-confidence will land you with the sheep. Maah.

Stay positive, self doubt is an extension of your editorial you.  You need it beside you.


I'll see you at the end.  MY end not YOUR end.

P.S. Thank you Dr Seuss