Year: 2015

Check This Out- Write Naked

If the title sounds familiar, yes I did mention this site a few weeks ago on Market.  It’s a great site to submit guests posts to and get paid for it.

However, there were a lot of things I didn’t get to mention about Write Naked when I was talking about it as a freelance market.

  • Like the fact that it’s an inspiring read.
  • Like the author is an amazingly energetic woman that gets more done in a day than I do in three.
  • Like it’s a WordPress site, just like this one, and I love to talk up my brothers and sisters here.
  • And, like how the author blogs about her life, in which her day job is writing, and how she lives that awesome life we’re all working towards every day, and I love hearing those stories.

Post To Check Out-

  • We write what we read.
  • A writer welcomes chickens
  • What a Writer carries in her purse

So, if you didn’t already discover how awesome Write Naked is, check it out this week.

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The Writing Life- May 26

So, something pretty awesome happened last week.  Well, it’s awesome for me.  Probably no one else will care, some might even think it’s sad how excited about this I am, but that’s okay.

At the start of 2015, I made a whole list of goals for the year.  I want to publish an e-book (still working on it)  I want to start submitting Woven to agents (still working on it)  I wanted to join writing communities online. (Done!)

All of those are what I call self controlled goals.  That means that the only person who has any say over whether they get done or not is me.  I made only one goal that I needed outside help for.  I wanted to double my readership for Paper Beats World from last year.

Last week, thanks to all of you awesome people, we reached that goal!  Twice as many people now follow Paper Beats world than in December of 2014!  I can not express enough how much I appreciate each and every one of you.  Thank you all for reading.  I hope that I might have helped you reach some of your writing goals for the year.  And, since we’ve got six more months in 2015 to go, I hope we can keep reaching for our goals together.

Things That Rocked This Week

  • Making a lot of progress on Broken Patterns.  Not done or anything yet, but I’m making progress.
  • Sent out my submission for Second Hand Smoke, and started on the title short story for my first e-book.  It’s going to be a collection of short fiction.  Some of it will be published, some not.  I’m pretty excited about it.
  • Got to spend some time with my best friend who came in from Pittsburgh.  I really wish I got to see her more, but I can at least appreciate the time I get with her.

Things That I’m Looking Forward to This Week

  • The kids have only got two more weeks of school.  Then there will me no more classes in my living room, homework to help with and all the other fuss that goes along with the school year.
  • I’m working pretty steadily through my rather massive to do list, which means I’m working closer to two rather big projects I’ll be launching for you all here very soon.
  • I’ve got just two more things to set up for the awesome surprise I’ve got for you all in August.  I think you’ll agree, it’s well worth the wait.  I wanted to wait and do it during the month of Paper Beats World’s one year anniversary.
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Language and Literature in Your World

My favorite thing in the whole world is stories. All kinds of stories. Movies, books, tv shows with great plot and character growth. Urban legends, ghost stories, limericks. Any kind of story, I live for it.

I also love language. It saddens me to my core that I don’t speak more than one language, but I’m trying to fix that (I want to learn German and American Sign). But at least I speak it well. Here’s a link to Weird Al’s Word Crimes. You know you’re a word geek if you love that song.

Now, I am almost surely talking to a whole lot of people who feel the same way I do about stories and language. We are writers, after all. Words are our legos, but even better because they can’t be left on the floor to torture us on the way to the bathroom at three in the morning. They’re like play dough, but better because they don’t dry out if you leave the lid off of the container (my children!)

Language and literature are our favorite things in this world, with the possible exception of sushi. So, don’t forget to include them when you’re world building!

Including things like different languages in your world can be a huge pain, if you let it. Honestly, the pros greatly outweigh the cons with this. This is just one more great world building tool, and like any good tool, it’s got more than one use.
* It will differentiate and add texture to your different countries.
* It’s a fun challenge your character can face if she doesn’t speak the language of the country she suddenly finds herself in. Or if he doesn’t know the language of the pretty girl he wants to flirt with. Or, as I used in Broken Patterns, if he needs to learn the language of the country that he’s just found out he’s going to be king of someday. (Is it still a spoiler if the book isn’t even published?) Huge well of funny/awkward moments with that one.
* Language is also a subtle way to show us about your character. For instance, someone who is not comfortable with English will speak it very properly, and is not likely to use words like can’t or don’t, because they’re not sure of the right way to use it. Or, someone who’s been sort of speaking English all their lives might say things like “You ain’t s’possed to be doin’ none of that!” (I did not make that up. A woman said that to her son after being told that he’d misbehaved at school, right in front of me while I was picking up my kids from school one day. I thought the teachers head was going to explode.)
* How many languages are common in your country? Is there a different language used in formal settings, by one class of people? This can set the scene for you so well.

I have such a good time playing with languages while working on Woven.

Literature is a feature of world building that I think is overlooked. To fully incorporate it into your book, just ask yourself these questions.
* What do people read for pleasure?
* Is reading common among all walks of people?
* What about different styles of writing from different countries? Think about the difference between a German fairy tail, (Grimm Brothers!) and a Japanese fairy tale (The Branch of the Jewel Tree.)
* Is poetry common?
* What sort of people write? Is writing considered an honored profession, or just a step above trained seals and a step below rodeo clowns? (Points if you know what author I just referenced!)

How do you use language and literature in your writing? Do you like using meta jokes when you do? Or is it too much like looking into a mirror with another mirror behind you?

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Writing Prompt Saturday- Create a Found Poem

Warning; this is not a poetry form for you if you’re not really cool with defacing old books.  This is the poetry form for you if you’re also into drawing, painting, scrap booking, or collage work.

A found poem is one that you discovered in the existing text on a page.  I think I used to do this during Science class by accident in my textbooks.  Basically, you go along, and in some way highlight the words of your poem.  Then get creative with the rest.  Here’s an example of mine.

found poem

If you can’t tell from that really bad scan job, that’s the first page of Treasure Island, and the words are, “I take up my pen in the time, and remember, in the broken voice.”

I had so much fun with this poetry form.  Fortunately I happened to have this really old Readers Digest edition of some classic stories that I intend to do this with.

Did you create a found poem you’d like to share with us?  Leave a picture in the comments below!

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Markets- Over My Dead Body!

No, this is not a magazine about parenting, or tired cliches.  This is a mystery magazine that takes short fiction.  It’s clever, cute, and fun.

Genre- Fiction, Mystery and thriller.  Non fiction, reviews.

Word Count- 750-4,000

Sub date- Open to submissions year round.

Wait time- Six to eight weeks.

Payout- 1 cent per word.

Now, this magazine requires a solicitation before sending full manuscripts, so don’t send them anything without doing that first.  Here are their full submission guidelines.

Did you have luck with this market or any others?  Let me know, and I’ll include you in the monthly brag board on the last day of every month!

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Check This Out, Elle & Co

I found Elle & Co on Pintrest, like I find so many other awesome things like coffee recipes and things to do with old books.  And I swear, I lost an hour just scanning through the archives.  It has, no lie, some of the best images I have ever seen.

I love this site because I learn how to be a better blogger just by watching what Lauren does.

  • The images I was talking about?  They are perfect, and have a great consistency.  They’re also super basic!  Just words in the same font, written on a plain colored background with some decorative lines.  That it, no fuss.  But they are eye catching.
  • They’re eye catching because of the content.  This site has some of the most solid advice I have ever heard about running a site, selling a product, and working your life around your work.  (Indie writer=small business owner.  I’ll keep saying it, it’s okay.)
  • Even though it’s a site dedicated to selling design work, I get a ton of inspiration.  I hope that inspiration will, among other things, lead to a super sweet cover for my e-books when they’re done.

Best of all, though, is Lauren’s really great, conversational writing tone.  She’s got a very good voice for this sort of thing, even if she doesn’t write anything but non fiction.

Posts to see-

  • 12 ways to network authentically
  • A backwards approach to product launches
  • How to create a clean and cohesive inspiration board (And here, by the way, is a great example of accidental inspiration.  I used this post to help me create visual boards in Pintrest for each of the countries in Woven.  They are public, if you want to check mine out.)
  • SEO made simple

Is there a website, blog, or book that’s inspired you.  Tell us about it.

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The Writing Life- May 19 plus a pretty exciting announcement.

So, I had an aha moment this past week.  I realized that I’m doing a lot of good things to help set myself up as a full time writer.  I have a few e-books in the works. I’m very nearly done with my first novel, Broken Patterns.  I was published twice last year.  I’ve got this awesome site right here that helps me meet and interact with so many other like minded people.

But I didn’t have any real, tangible step by step goals to quitting my day job, and becoming a full fledged full time writer.  My plan, so far, has been ‘write, edit, submit, repeat.’

That’s a great basis, but I need something more.  I realized that I couldn’t visualize what it would take for me to be comfortable leaving the day job and writing full time.  How would I ever know if I was making enough to insure we weren’t going to starve to death?  Writing isn’t a guaranteed paycheck, what if something happened, and I lost all of our income?

The answer came back to Dave Ramsey.  Have you heard of him?  I love the guy.  He’s got the best, most down to earth and easy to follow money advise of anyone, ever.  Have you heard of his debt snowball plan?  It’s awesome!

I decided that the first step down the path of being a full time writer was planning to fail.  I needed to achieve the first three parts of Dave Ramsey’s baby steps.

  1. Save $1,000 in an emergency fund.
  2. Pay down debt with the debt snowball method.
  3. Put 3-6 months worth of bills and expenses in saving.

That’s step one.  I can’t even think about quitting my job until I’ve done those three things.  Well, two things, actually.  Fortunately I’ve managed to live debt free.  My savings, however, is nothing.  Not a dime.

So, while I’m saving my pennies, here are some other things I’m doing to prepare for full time writer-hood.

  • I’m finishing Broken Patterns.
  • I’m setting specific work hours every week, and sticking to them the same way I stick to my day job hours.
  • I’m considering other revenue streams, like ads on this blog, super sweet writing tools I can create, and investing.

So I was thinking, maybe this might be something that we could do together.  I’m starting a newsletter for writers who want to start writing full time, but don’t know how feasible it’s going to be.  If you want to come along, and share your story as you go, please sign up for the newsletter below.

Subscribe to our mailing list

I’ll be sending out a letter probably about once a month, so please don’t feel like I’m going to flood your inbox.  Please, I do not have the time.  However, I think you’ll be pretty excited about what you do find in the newsletter when it comes out.  Here are just a few awesome things I have planned.

  • Even more paying freelance markets than I post on Paper Beats World.
  • Some money saving tips, because frugality is a step on the path to full time writer-hood.
  • Some links to posts from other sites that helped me out on the path.
  • And, once I get to the point where I’m selling my e-books and writing tools, you’ll get heads up, pre-ordering, freebees and discounts.

It’s been really exciting for me to have a clear, attainable goal.  I hope that it is for you, too.

Things That Rocked This Week-

  • I finished up a new piece to send to Every Day Fiction.  Hoping that ends well.
  • Wrote the rough draft for my Second Hand Smoke piece.  It was really hard to write, I don’t mind telling you.  But I feel better having written it.
  • Also wrote a clever piece for the Stingy Jack Anthology I told you about last Friday.  I think it’s a solid piece.

Things That I’m Looking Forward to This Week-

  • The Tipsy Writer twitter chat is tonight, and every Tuesday night at 8:30.  Just follow The Tipsy Writer on twitter, and join us.  Hope to see you there.
  • I got a ton of books off Amazon by some super fantastic indie authors.  I’m going to read them, and tell you all about the good ones in coming Check This Out posts.  There are so many great indie books out there, and so many that make me want to slap the authors for making the rest of us look bad.  I want to tell you more about the good ones.

So, what did you do this week?  What are you pumped about?

2

Geography, Maps and Weather, and How They Effect Your Story

It was a dark and stormy night. The sun was shining in the sky and the birds were singing. The mountains loomed in the distance.

If you start reading a book with any of this information, you probably have some idea what kind of story it’s going to be. Your geography and weather have a huge impact on your story.

Or at least, it should. Here’s a handy list of ways to work weather and geography to your advantage.

Set The Mood

A story told about a dark night,in which the rain is hitting the windows like so many stones, so hard that your antagonist believes that it might shatter, sets the reader up for certain expectations. It is probably not a happy tale.

But then, it might be. Maybe the fury of the storm matches her passion for her lover. Or maybe she must go into that storm to visit her dying mother. Either way, the rain helped to set the mood. It would have been a different scene if the sun had been shinning.

Abundance, or lack, of food

Depending on your story, how much food is available might be a huge plot point. Maybe your character has been left alone, with nothing but a gun. In the forest, with the right kind of character, that might be just fine. In the mountains, maybe less so. In the desert that poor sucker is screwed.

Or maybe your setting your story in a small fishing town. The fish are migrating away because the waters are getting colder. Maybe there are no good farming lands, and this country has to trade heavily with other countries.

Battle

If you are writing about a war zone, you need to know the lay of the land. More importantly, your character does, or at least someone in charge does. It is vital for battle strategy to know where the high ground, low ground and nearest water supply is.

Plot twists

Plot bunnies abound! If you are stuck in your plot, send a big rain storm that washes up some evidence of wrongdoing. Need more action, tornado. More tension, let’s have a flood.

And finally, maps. You need two.

Yes, two. One is for you, to give you an idea of where your important places are, what they’re geography is,and how long it will take for your characters to get from point a to b.

If you write fantasy, you need a nice map too. For the inside cover. If you’re going the traditional route, the publisher might do this for you. If you’re self publishing, do not skip this step. Fantasy readers have come to expect this. Don’t disappoint them, most of them have replica swords.

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Writing Prompt Saturday, Favorite food

Remember how I like food?  It’s kind of my thing.  But it is not just me.  Food is a really important part of every country.

So for today, let’s free write about the most popular food in your country.  What does it taste like?  Why is it so popular?  Most important, how does your main character feel about it?

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What I’m reading, May 2015

Don’t forget to check out the other fine blogs that participate in Modern Mrs. Darcy’s online book club here.

So I just downloaded a metric ton of indie e-books, which I will be ploughing through over the next few months. If I like them, you’ll hear about them. If I don’t, I’ll spare the author my disdain.

Before I did that, though, a lovely friend from my day job loaned me Insurgent, the second in the Divergent series.

I’m not done yet, but I really love it so far. The discription of the people in the different factions is just so enthralling. Like everyone else, I have to play ‘what faction would I be?’ Well, not Candor or Abdication, that’s for sure. Maybe Erudite. Not Dauntless, I’m too lazy.

When I was in high school I had a great teacher who said that the curse of reading too much is that eventually you know what’s coming in every book. That goes double for writers, because we know all the tricks from plot bunnies to guns on the mantle that must go off. So when I say that this book has kept me guessing, understand how impressed by that I am.

If I could ask it of you, if you haven’t seen the movie and haven’t read the book, please read the book first. For the sake of our people, please. But do, for your own sake, read this book.

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