Gotta love that Aftershock

Do you ever get that feeling after reading a particularly good book, that if you don’t move, you’ll absolutely explode??? That if you remain sitting for just one more second, you’ll absolutely pass out from the sheer epic-ness? I just finished reading The Assassin’s Blade by Sarah J. Maas and there are no words. What an amazing read that leads into a spectacular series. I think I’ve been slowly picked apart and pieced back together. And I loved it!!! This. This is why I decided to become a writer. Because books can so utterly move you and in one fell swoop, utterly destroy you. And without even realizing it, they can pick you up, dust you off and put you back together. I ran across a video a year or so ago that I think absolutely nails it on the head. Enjoy! ^^

 

Writitng Exercises

Hi everyone! It’s been quite a while hasn’t it? I hope you’re all doing well and getting plenty of good writing in. J So today I want to share with you a writing exercise I came up with while doing some brainstorming for my current WIP. I recently had the opportunity to do a group interview at one of the local retail stores here in town. They brought in six people, including myself, and had us all interview together taking turns answering questions and one of the questions they asked us was, “What two words would you use to describe yourself?” I thought, Oh this’ll be easy! Piece of cake! ^^ Not so. Have you ever tried to come up with only two words that would wholly encompass who you are and still do justice to your character? Well it wasn’t exactly easy, but while sitting at my desk thinking about my WIP, I thought, What if I tried to use just two words to describe my characters? It was actually a great exercise. I’m still working on it for a couple more characters, but it really makes you think about them and dig deep into what makes each character uniquely who they are. I’ll share a couple examples just so that you can see a few of mine.

 

Charming and Elusive

Swarthy and Cunning

Adventurous and Delicate

 

Of course these could be a little stronger, but you get the idea. Plus as you keep working on your story and your characters change, sometimes so should some of their words, but not all the time. In fact, because these words should describe the core of your character, these words will rarely change, but that doesn’t mean you can’t fine tune them a little more, not to mention that if you’ve got a seriously dynamic character who changes during the course of the story, his core could change a little too.

Try it out and see what you think. If you want, share one or two of yours in the comments below! ^^ :D

Happy Birthday, December IWSG, and a Movie Review!!!

Hey everybody! So it has been a crazy awesome week! Yesterday was my 22nd Birthday! I got to celebrate with family eating cake and ice cream, topping it off with a night at the movies. Woohoo! ^^ :D I have to say, I don't feel much older, but I've heard that doesn't start to set in until later. Lol :) So for my birthday movie, my brother and my sister-in-law took me to see The Hunger Games: Catching Fire for the second time (My mom took me to see it the first time on the day it came out lol). It was really sweet too, because the lady running the concession stand sang Happy Birthday to me. ^^

                And I have to say, it was AWESOME!!! Frances Lawrence did an excellent job! He created a world so intricate and detailed that even though it passes by in short little bursts, you really get a good sense of it. And the characters I feel got a whole lot better and deeper. The costumes were so great and some totally outrageous (lol Effie J). The first half felt just slightly rushed, but for the time they had, they covered a lot. There were a couple parts that made me giggle…really loudly. :] If you’ve seen the movie or read the books, all I have to say is. Johanna. Hehe. ^^ Of course there were a couple parts that had me tearing up. If you've read the books you know what parts those probably were. It was pretty funny too, because at the end where the big hurrah takes place, my brother and I were both pumping our fist saying Yeah!  

You can really tell the difference between fans of the books versus those that have only seen the movies too because my sister-in-law kept leaning over to explain little nuances to my brother because he hasn't read the books yet. Key word: yet. Between the two of us, I'm sure we'll have him reading them in no time! ;D

Overall, I would give Catching Fire 4.5 stars only because I felt like there was just a smidge where they could've done a little bit more, but like I said: Fantastic job. I'm so glad Frances is doing both Mockingjay part 1 & 2. And after seeing the second one, I'm really glad they split the movie into two parts because that will really allow them to dig into the story and honor those parts that really need it and are huge parts of the overall arc. In my opinion, Suzanne Collins is a genius. I also haven't read any of her other books yet, so I might be biased, but Hunger Games is my all-time favorite book series. Ever.

 

Anyways, before I go all Fangirl over you guys, today is the first Wednesday of December, which means it’s time for another IWSG! The Insecure Writer’s Support Group is a wonderful place where writers can share their worries and failures as well as their successes and advice. Led by our fearless leader Alex J. Cavanaugh, IWSG meets the first Wednesday of every month and you can join on his site here. There's also a brand new website now so be sure to check it out here.  

 

So every year at the Central Oregon Writer’s Guild, we hold two annual readers showcases where members can volunteer to read their work to the guild and on December 19^th is our next showcase and I volunteered! I’ve never been able to read my work out loud in public before so I’m super excited and absolutely terrified! I’m not a great out loud reader. I tend to skip words and mix up letters within words. I don’t want to read too quickly or slowly especially since I only have eight minutes to read, but for those that have had the opportunity to speak before groups and share their work publicly, what have you found works best and helps you present better? Let me know in the comments below and thanks for stopping by! J

 

Happy Writing! ^^ :D

November 2013 IWSG

Happy Wednesday everyone! And seeing that it’s the first Wednesday of the month, that means it’s time for another IWSG!

 The Insecure Writer’s Support Group is a wonderful place where writers can share their worries and failures as well as their successes and advice. Led by our fearless leader Alex J. Cavanaugh, IWSG meets the first Wednesday of every month and you can join on his site here. There's also a brand new website now so be sure to check it out here.

So I’ve got something on my mind I want to ask all of you out there. I am almost finished with a short story that I have been working on for what seems like ages. I’m thinking it’s going to end up being somewhere around 10,000 words and it is a Science Fiction piece that is very close to my heart. Since I am almost done, I’ve been going back and forth on how I want to publish it; traditionally or self-publish. If I go with traditional publishing, I won’t have to worry about paying for a cover or the editing (I don’t think so anyways. Please correct me if I’m wrong). BUT I also don’t have anything else published yet which means that it could be a little bit more difficult to place than I’m anticipating. Since it is such a long piece for a short story, I’m also worried about where I would publish it, because it would be way too long for a magazine. Maybe an anthology, but I don’t know.

My second option which I’m leaning towards the most right now is self-publishing. If I self-publish, I will definitely need to spend the money to pay for a professional cover as well as an editor. I’m liking this option more because I will have more control of my work on this particular avenue, but here is the crux of the matter. I don’t have anything else out there yet so I am currently an unknown and I don’t have a decent work sample I can offer for free yet. Should I let this be my free piece or should I put a price on it? I’ve worked so hard on it and right now I could really use the money, but with paying for a cover and editing, I don’t know how much to expect or if I should expect any returns all. I don’t know.

What do you think? How did you publish your first piece and if, like me, you haven’t been published yet, what avenue are you planning to use?

 Thanks for stopping by and Happy Writing everyone! ^^ :D

Beyond the Edge Launch Party

I’m a little late to the party, but yesterday was the official release of M.Pax’s fourth book in her Backworlds series Beyond the Edge!

 

Some truths are better left unfound.

In the far future, humanity settles the stars, bioengineering its descendants to survive in a harsh universe. This is the fourth book in the science fiction series, The Backworlds. A space opera adventure.

For two years Craze’s dear friend, Lepsi, has been missing. The murmurings of a haunted spaceship might be a message and may mean his old pal isn’t dead. The possibility spurs Craze and Captain Talos into space to uncharted worlds. Searching an unfamiliar region of the galaxy beyond the Backworlds, they stumble upon a terrible truth.

Meanwhile, Rainly remains on Pardeep Station as acting planetlord, dealing with the discovery of her man’s dark and brutal past. Alone and questioning her judgment, her introspection unlocks more than heartache. Latent protocols in her cybernetics activate, forcing her to face a sinister secret of her own.

Read the first chapter on M.Pax's website here.

 

Ebook

Amazon / AmazonUK / Nook / Smashwords /  Kobo

AmazonDE / AmazonFR / AmazonES / AmazonIT / AmazonJP / AmazonIN / AmazonCA / AmazonBR / AmazonMX /

 

Paperback

AmazonUS / AmazonUK / AmazonDE / AmazonFR / AmazonES / AmazonIT/ AmazonIN / 

September 2013 IWSG

Hey everybody! So today being Wednesday means it’s time again for IWSG!

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group is a wonderful place where writers can share their worries and failures as well as their successes and advice. Led by our fearless leader Alex J. Cavanaugh, IWSG meets the first Wednesday of every month and you can join on his site here.

So this week I want to ask all you lovely folks out there about creativity, and to put a twist on a used and abused question we writers get all the time, I want to ask you, not where you get your inspiration, but where you get your creativity. Or rather, how do you feed your creativity? At a writer’s group about a year ago, I got talking to a gal about getting those creative juices flowing and she said that she loved pottery and that when she worked on her pottery that she found she had more creativity to put towards her writing as well. I suppose you could translate that into something along the lines of: Creative things breed more creativity. Whether that’s true or not remains to be seen, but I wanted to see what all of you found helped you tap into your creativity and apply it towards your writing. Let me know in the comments below and thanks for stopping by and reading! ^^ J