Featured Writer Prompt: How do you prep for a new novel writing project?
Do you outline first, or just start writing? |writing blue (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
At Write Your Novel this Summer, we just launched our Featured Writer series where we will feature individual writers who are participating in our summer novel writing challenge. To become a Featured Writer, all you have to do is ‘like’ our Facebook page, look for Featured Writer Prompts, and submit a response to the prompt along with a link to your blog or online writing portfolio. If your submission is chosen, we will feature you and link to your page from our Facebook page (see the Notes section of our Facebook page for more details.)
Yesterday, I posted our first Featured Writers Prompt, but I have yet to receive any submissions. So I thought I would answer the prompt myself to try to get the ball rolling. I want to also encourage my readers to submit. This is a great opportunity to drive readers to your blogs and writing portfolios. It’s also a great way to find out about other writers and learn how they approach the novel writing process. (more…)
Join the official Write Your Novel this Summer Challenge
Join the Write Your Novel this Summer Challenge and write the first draft of your novel between June 21st and September 21st.
I recently wrote a blog post in which I discussed author Stephen King’s view that you should never take more than a season to write a novel. In that post, I posed a challenge to my readers to “write your novel this summer.” I’ve been thinking about this challenge, and I think it might be fun to make it a real “thing.”
How cool would it be if a bunch of us banded together to support each other in knocking out that first draft of the novels we’ve all been meaning to get around to? It could be kind of like NaNoWriMo, only we get an entire season rather than just one month. I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to write a novel in one month, November is just about the worst month of the year to do it in! (more…)
Do you spell-check your Facebook posts?
I know I’ve brought this up before, but I really wish people would spell-check their Facebook posts. I don’t know about you, but rotten spelling on Facebook has caused me to hide more than a few ignorant Facebook friends from my News Feed. Okay, so maybe you know that red squiggly line under half your words means you’ve misspelled them, and you’re just in too big a hurry to fix it at the moment. But do you realize what your momentary laziness says about you to your 437 “friends?”
Really, friend? Is that really how you think you spell “despise?”
Writer’s observation: Reading is fundamental
My latest writer’s observation assignment was to go to a crowded environment to people-watch and capture the atmosphere of the place. Here’s my attempt:
Hard benches line hall, buzz of machinery – maybe the heat system? – behind locked doors, one woman alone at the end of the bench by the door, checks her Facebook on her phone. Spotted, filthy gray carpet.
Woman gets phone call, talks loud. “Yeah, everything is all about him, it always i (more…)
Reading and writing a new project
“The Name of the Wind,” a novel by Patrick Rothfuss, helped put me in the right frame of mind to get started on my latest writing project. (Photo credit: Rakka)
I can’t seem to write without reading. And when I do read, I always end up writing in the same genre I’ve been reading. When I read a lot of poetry, I find myself writing a lot of poetry. If I’ve read a couple of good YA novels in a row, my brain wants to write a YA novel. So, it was no surprise that an idea for a fantasy novel popped into my head right as I was finishing Patrick Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind a couple of weeks ago.
I was out for my almost-daily walk one morning when a couple of interesting characters began to have a conversation in my head. Normally when this happens, I reach for a pen and paper (or my laptop) and rush to capture these conversations word-for-word. What I usually end up with is a small bit of compelling dialogue that goes absolutely nowhere. (more…)
Can you really potty train a cat?
Meet Zelda: She likes to hang out in my office while I work.
A few weeks ago, I finally got my 6-year-old the baby kitty he’s wanted so badly for so, so long. She’s a sweet little calico named Zelda, and she has yet to have a single accident outside of her litter box. Seriously, not even one. She’s awesome! But the whole litter box thing is still kinda grossing me out.
This is the first time I’ve ever had an indoor cat, so I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I started with a small litter box and soon found my bathroom floor covered in cat litter because Zelda kept kicking it out of the box. So then we moved to a bigger litter box with somewhat of a cover on it. But she still somehow manages to kick the cat litter out all over the place. Plus the smaller litter box fit neatly right next to our toilet, but the big litter box fits neatly… well… NOWHERE. (more…)
Spellcheck Public Service Announcement
Words (Photo credit: Southernpixel Alby.us)
You may have noticed that, when updating your Facebook status, certain words might occasionally show up in the text box with a red squiggly line under them. This red squiggly line typically indicates that you have spelled a word incorrectly.
Whenever this happens, simply right click over the squiggled word and see if a correct spelling is available. Click on the correct spelling and proceed with your status update.
If the correct spelling is unavailable, you can usually google the word to find the correct spelling. Unless you have completely butchered the word, you should be able to easily find the correct spelling using the tools available right at your fingertips. (more…)
Can you do me a huge favor?
Would you mind taking a quick survey about a blog?
Earlier this semester, I wrote a blog post about the new blogs that my Communication Technologies students were creating. Well, they’ve been hard at work blogging all semester, and now they are looking for some feedback on their blogs. Each student has created an online survey asking for feedback on their individual blogs, and we are looking for willing respondents to take a look at one or more of the blogs and then take the survey. (more…)
Checking in
The area in which a user types their desired status on Facebook (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I admit it. I’m one of those people who feel the need to constantly ‘check in’ on Facebook. I’ve had ‘friends’ ask me why I do this. Why do I think people care where I am? Am I that self-centered? Frankly, I think some of the people on my ‘friend’ list who read my status updates and think everything I post is for their benefit are a bit self-centered themselves. (more…)
Dear potential employer who just asked for my Facebook password,
Image via CrunchBase
Dear potential employer* who just asked for my Facebook password,
I am going to do you a huge favor and deny your request. You see, it is illegal for you to ask me in an interview how old I am, if I have any kids, what my religion is, or whether I like boys or girls.
Did you know you can easily access all of this information about me simply by reviewing my personal Facebook profile? By complying with your request to log in to my personal Facebook account, I would be opening you up to a huge lawsuit that would likely ensue once I realize that you considered my age/religion/sexual preference when deciding whether or not to hire me. (more…)
Maybe I just take too many pictures to begin with
Image via Wikipedia
Several years ago, when I got my first digital camera, it never occurred to me that the ability to take an unlimited number of pictures would one day become a problem. I’ve always been a big picture-taker, but film was expensive, and I used to always try to save my film for the most important moments. But when the day came that I no longer had to worry about the price of film, every moment became a camera-worthy moment.
Then came a new problem: the cost of developing unlimited photos. It wasn’t long before I had upwards of $50 worth of photos in my Snapfish shopping cart, just sitting there waiting for me to order prints. But I was broke, so I began to search for other ways to save those priceless images. (more…)
Stay away from Pinterest
Image via Wikipedia
The other day, I stumbled upon Pinterest. It is awesome. Seriously. Avoid it at all cost.
I mean it. If you are a busy person who does not have time in your life to spare, you need to stay away from Pinterest. It is a huge time-sucker, maybe even worse than Facebook. I can’t get anything done anymore!
Like I could ever get anything done before. (more…)
