Tag Archives: Author’s life

A blog about the topics of writing, Writing ways

Do you have a space to write?

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Do you have a space to call your own where you can write? Do you have a place where you can close a door and do the many aspects of writing?

I am fortunate that I do have an office with doors that can shut off the rest of the house. It is in my bird room. Yes, bird room. I been rescuing and adopting birds since 1998. Though my birds are no longer in this space when anyone in this house refers to this room it is not Sharon’s office . It is called the bird room.

It is a place for me to have space for my books on writing which can be extensive if one is not careful. I have space for file cabinets. It has space for two huge bookcases to load my favorite authors and new ones, to me, for me to check out.

It has my cork board and a nice size calendar to note when I need to put up a blog post, when I need to send out information through my author’s platform, deadlines on interviews, reviews and the likes.

Now while all one needs is paper and pen, tablet or a laptop to write, having a space to spread out is amazing. I can shut out the world, turn on some good music, have a glass or sweet ice tea or Pepsi and go for it.

The bottom line is I hope you have a space, regardless how it is defined, to write and do the magic you do when you create your WIP. A place that makes you sing internally, and maybe externally, and gets you excited to write.

A blog about the topics of writing, Writing ways

Are you growing as a writer?

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Are you growing in your craft? Just because you have a book published, regardless how, that doesn’t mean you are the expert in all when it comes to being an author.

One can always learn and move forward just like any other business. You see people getting certified and getting additional knowledge. This also applies to writers.

When I attended my first writing group it hit me fast how behind I was and how much I needed to learn.

I have taken classes on character development, writing fiction, learning how to craft and engine a story line and more. This has taught me that there is always more to discover.

If you are trying to get published that alone comes with its own set of rules- self published, vanity or traditional.

Once you are done your book you still have to maneuver how to market it through the rapidly changing field of social media.

And for me, someone whose English grammar was not the best, I had to learn how to write in a way that was not riddled with errors- past tense, commas, run on sentences and more. Though my biggest Kryptonite is past tense. I am the Queen of past tense.

If that is not enough than you need to learn how to do pacing, setting, dialogue, character development, story line development and the list goes on. No one knows how to do this 100 % from scratch. It is a learning process.

Hey, if you get to the point your book is published I commend you. For I truly know the work that is involved in getting this down.

But to grow as an author one must continue to learn the different avenues of writing. Else you risk the chance of getting stagnated.

A blog about the topics of writing, Writer Spotlight

My most recent interview: By the lovely Cheryl Holloway

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I was interviewed last Friday by the lovely author and blogger Cheryl Holloway. As with other interviews when they occur I place the link to as many social platforms possible.

It was fun to do. Some of the questions I had to pause and think on how to answer them. That’s a good thing. A new way to learn about my brand and myself and share with others is always a good thing.

What was cool is how she incorporate all the volumes of the series so far as part of the post,

So, I will leave some of the questions and answers from the interview but the rest you can find at the link to Cheryl’s site.

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CH: Can you tell us about The Rainforest Adventures (Books 1-3) with Jasper the parrot, who is not the ordinary bird?

SCW: Gladly. The Jasper, Amazon Parrot series is based on my rescued bird, Jasper. It starts off with his birth and the make up of his family. Throughout the series you see Jasper and his brother interact with different species, encounter dangers and learn how to work together to get things done and to keep them safe. But you also learn about family values and what it means to care for each other and those around them.

In each volume in this series, one will find a new animal introduced to the boys. One also learns about the Amazon rainforest and the features that makes it amazing.

I am trying to place in this series, the dangers that this region is dealing with. So far, I have included the logging issue and have touched briefly on the poaching situation. I will expand on this later in another volume.

CH: Where did you get the premise for this book?

SCW: My first lesson was write on what you know. Thinking and thinking on what I did know, it hit me. To that point, I had been rescuing and adopting birds since 1998. As for Jasper, we rescued and adopted him at the age of five in 1999. I continued this trend for a nice while. So, I knew about the birds in my home.

Jasper, being as colorful as he was, was a topic I could work on. With him being an exotic pet and birds of his type being in the Amazon rainforest, I thought it be a wonderful educational tool for the children.

CH: Did you have to do a lot of special research to write this book?

SCW: With the mannerisms of parrots, I was good. But when it came to placing him in the Amazon rainforest, I had to do a lot of research. I had to make sure I had the right animals in that setting. I learned about their mannerisms, the flowers, the colors and the atmosphere that all makes up this amazing environment. I wanted it as accurate as possible. In fact, I was obsessive about it. Each fact I learned I made sure that I triple checked it.

I have notebooks just for my research of this series. I know this will grow as the series grows. I listened to videos to try to make as accurate, as possible, the sounds I was describing. I watched, oh my gosh, so many documentaries from National Geographic and BBC. I was hoping to learn more, regardless how small, that I could incorporate into the books or confirm a fact.

My reason was simple: children are going to be reading these books. I want them to be factual. Just because they are children, doesn’t mean they deserve any less. Yes, it can be fun and entertaining. But it can also be educational.

CH: Which character was your favorite to write?

SCW: Jasper will always be my favorite character. I mean, I live with my main character. His personality, I just incorporate into the book. By just watching and interacting with him, his character development was being played out before me. Plus, that is my boy. Having a rescued animal is special. Having a rescued parrot to me is beyond special. It was my favorite for I was showing to the world our bird. People have told me that birds can’t really be pets. I always answer, ‘You are right. Birds are better.’ I just get giggly and happy, when I write about him, because I get to share with the world how amazing birds can be. It is truly not work, as the words write themselves when I talk about him in the volumes. It is a topic and subject I love and adore.

It really isn’t work, it is more love when I write about him in any of my books.

The rest of the interview can be found here:

http://www.cherylholloway.net/blog/2020/01/24/guest-author-sharon-c-williams/