Category Archives: A blog about the topics of writing

A blog about the topics of writing, An author and her thoughts on writing

Writers Conference : My jam

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This is the week that the writing conference will be upon me. I have checked my draft to the WIP that is required for one of the classes I am taking. As mentioned before I have avoided classes like this in the past that were run out of a conference.

I am not sure how many pages I should bring but will bring a good sample. These are my peers and it will be a learning experience for me.

This will be the first time I attend one of these without knowing someone off-hand that is going as well. This will be perfect for me.  For when you think about it we are all like-minded people who have the same goal. I’m really not alone.

The problem with conferences is most times I want to go to majority of the classes and that is just not possible. We have to make a decision on what works for us now, right now, with our writing career.  I chose “ Writing Speculative Fiction” which in part will help me learn on how to build worlds. That should be fun. My other class is “Stepping Back from Your Writing” which is about defamilarizing myself from my work so I can see it clearly and do a better revision for it.

That last class is the one where the members will read their draft they brought it for the others to help with critiquing. Joy. Serious, joy. LOL

They are feeding us breakfast from one of my favorite places to eat in the city, Bisquitville, which we eat  from anytime we are in this area.

This is my jam.

 

A blog about the topics of writing, It's my birthday, Make your birthday your own

My birthday week: It’s all about me like it should be all about you on your birthday

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My birthday falls this week. I am fortunate to have people in my life and around me that will give me gifts, cards and feed me to celebrate my birthday. But I take it a step further.

First of all I won’t do any chores at home on the actual day. I will do the basic but not anything heavy lifting or time-consuming. No, not doing it. I will do things that I normally don’t do. Things that through the year I find excuses to say I will do it next time.

I will always go to the used book store and hopefully find a Stephen King book I may not have. Granted I go to this store a lot but it is still something I do. I will also go to the big named bookstore and buy me a King book. Granted his books are ridiculously priced, yes he has earned it, but doesn’t mean Sharon has to pay full price. It is my treat to myself. And by the way I have just about all of his books so it is not often I find one.

I will always go to Olive Garden for I love their Zuppa Toscana soup sooo much and their tiramisu cake is the best in this area. The refillable soup bowl fills me up leaving the main meal for another day.

I always try to buy something new or try something different if I can. Discovering two beauty schools in town, and having their list of what they offer, I will drop in and pick something.

A movie is usually on tap. I have no problem going to the movies alone I just as always don’t make time for it like I use to. But this week I will.

I always take my camera out and go somewhere in this area to just walk and take pictures. Happily one of my friends from LA bought me wide lens for my camera so this puppy needs to be tested.

Yes, it is all about me. But it is more about me making time for me. Once this week is over I will go back to how I am making time for everyone and making reasons why I can wait to do something for me. I hope you all do something similar and that is make time for yourself and if you don’t at least do it around your birthday.

This is a great week. I may be older, slower and x and y and z but I am still moving forward for at least once this year thinking of me.

A blog about the topics of writing, Writing topics

Creating your book cover: Is it important to you?

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How does one go about finding the right cover for their books? If you have a publisher that helps. I was fortunate to have one that worked with me in getting a cover.

When it came to my self published stuff I had to come up with it on my own. For my Squirrel Mafia book the pictures on the cover and inside the book were photos I took. The book was non fiction so it worked. Other covers I have tried to come up with pictures I could take that would work there as well.

There are sites that sell book covers for a variety of prices. There are sites where you can create your own. There are sits that sell stock photos that you can use.

What cover you use can determine how well the book is looked at. The old phrase, “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, is not one you want to adhere to. The cover is what gets your book picked up and looked at. Not taking the time to do so may not work out for you.

A few sites that people have used are

–Carva www.carva.com

-Sparks https://spark.adobe.com/make/book-cover-maker

– Shutterstock https://www.shutterstock.com/

These are just a few that other writers have used.

Apart from that here is a blog post that goes into what you think about as you make your own c over.

https://blog.reedsy.com/book-cover-design/

Take the time to work on your cover. It can make the difference in your book being looked at or overlooked.