A colleague recommended the The King's Own to me because his friend is the author, so I bought it and gave it a shot. The first critique I have is that there is no synopsis on the back cover, which makes it look a little amateur and provides a potential reader no clue as to… Continue reading Review – The King’s Own, by W. Marshall
Editing. It's such a dirty word for authors because it means returning to place you've already been, going back over something you've already done, and performing the tedious task of proofreading, grammar checking, rephrasing, rewriting etc. In short, it's a chore, one most writers despise. I've read some articles and heard a lot of people… Continue reading Editing tricks that don’t cost a dime
Writer's block happens to the best of us, it's inevitable. We go strong for a bit, churning out page after page and then suddenly we get to a place where the creativity takes a vacation. I've been stuck on one scene for about four months. Four months! That's a long time to be stuck in… Continue reading Writers Block 😦
One thing I've learned over the past several weeks is that life is full of surprises, excitements, and disappointments. Sometimes life seems dull, but others it's like an emotional roller coaster. Those moments, the tough ones, the emotional ones, are an invaluable source of inspiration for your novel, in particular: character development. I'm now several… Continue reading Soul Searching for Character Development
Every writer is inspired by another's creativity, it's just inevitable, yet everyone wants to have an original thought or idea, and no one wants to plagiarize, unless they are specifically writing fanfiction, but even that, as E.L. James has proven with her Fifty Shades series, originally a Twilight fanfiction, can be considered original enough with… Continue reading Treading the line between Inspiration and Plagiarism
I was speaking with an associate recently about motivation, finding time, and just making progress on a goal, and he shared a technique with me that is helping him achieve what he wants. For myself, this goal would be finishing my novel, Isle of Elandia. Chapter 3 is complete, and now that the new school… Continue reading No Zero Days – The Key to Finishing Your Novel
A couple of years ago I reviewed Vixen by Sarah Catherine Muth. This author has recently published a new novel under the name Catherine Labadie, and I was stoked to receive her request to review it! I purchased the 427 page hard back edition of Long Grows the Dark and finished it in 3 days. … Continue reading Review: Long Grows the Dark, by Catherine Labadie
A couple of months ago I stumbled across Inkitt.com, a reader directed publishing platform that has seen popularity in the UK. After researching a few publishing houses and having already tried my hand at self-publishing, I was open to new ideas. Inkitt's premise is that writers can publish on their site for free. The books… Continue reading Inkitt: Is it worth a try?
I was very thrilled to receive an email from the author of Eye of Verishten requesting a review of her second book, The Immortal Serpent last year. Due to having a baby and some other life changing events, I haven't had the opportunity to review it until now. I'm also very flattered that she gave… Continue reading Review: The Immortal Serpent – K.E. Barron
This past weekend I had the privilege of attending a writing workshop in South Carolina. I learned so much about writing, publishing, agent pitching, and even self-publishing. As stated in my last blog post, I don't know very much about being an author outside of typing words into a manuscript, and I feel like I've… Continue reading 2018 SC Writing Workshop Takeaways
