OMG free stuff!

So I'm back to blogging... and to celebrate.. I'm giving stuff away! Yay!

I just finished reading the last installment in the Smoke and Bone series by Laini Taylor and since it's one of my favorite series, I think everyone should read it and I want to help you! So, I'm giving away your choice of the first book Daughter of Smoke and Bone in either paperback or ebook, or if you already have it, you can choose the ebook of either Days of Blood and Starlight or Dreams of Gods and Monsters.

And that's not all folks! My friend Angela's book The Forgotten Fairytales is out and I want to help you read it, too. Cause it's AMAZING! Think Mean Girls fairytale style :) The winner of the giveaway gets the Forgotten Fairytales ebook as well!

You read right! Two free books! Free! Who doesn't like FREE STUFF?!?!

Okay, enter already! :P

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To plot or not to plot...

It always happens. I come up with a new story idea about that I'm dying to write. The first 3k words or so flow so smoothly, I'm sure I'll finish my first draft in no time...

Then it slows down a little...

A little more...

Until I spend more time staring at the blank page than writing.

I've finally accepted that I am not a panster. I admire the people who can follow the unknown world of their story and push past the uncertainty.

I, however, am not one of those people.

Usually at this point, I buckle down and write an outline. Not a ridiculously detailed outline. More like a sentence or two about each scene. And then I can start writing again. The outline changes as I write, but it gives me the direction I need to keep my fingers typing. I guess this makes me a plotter, but more a half foot in, half foot in the sky type.

What about you? Where do you fall on the plotter vs. panster spectrum?

have a great day of thanks

slice the tension with a knife

tension

We all here about it when we're writing. If a scene is dragging on, and the reader's head has dropped to the table with drool dripping out of her mouth, then it's safe to say we have a problem.

So how can we tell if there's enough tension in our stories? We can look at the conflict. Conflict is opposition between characters or other forces that drives the plot of a story forward. Simply put, things need to be happening in our stories.

More importantly, things need to be changing.

Look at each scene in your novel. Where (physically or emotionally) is your protagonist at the beginning of the scene? Where is she at the end of the scene? If she's sad at the beginning, she needs to be happy or even sadder at the end. If she doesn't have the information she needs to find her sister at the beginning and that's what she's trying to get, she needs to figure it out or learn something significant to obtaining her goal.

risky business...

So, a few days ago, I graduated with a Masters in Writing from Spalding University. I should be proud. Excited. Patting myself on the back. But now I'm antsy.

I spent the last two years of my life improving my writing. I've worked with fabulous mentors, attended great lectures, and met friends I hope to stay in touch with the rest of my life. I've read a lot of books and written a lot of words. I've learned so much. But now I'm stepping off the metaphorical cliff of being a student and jumping into my future as an author.

And even though that's scary enough, I decided to dive head first and quit my job as a barista that I've worked while earning my masters. Now I'm basically unemployed with student loans kicking in after a few months. I should be freaking out.

But I'm not.

I'm allowing myself a few months to give my writing dreams all I've got. Eventually, I'll rejoin the real world, get a job again, and work my writing time in when I can. For now, I'm going to enjoy the chance to dedicate myself to writing. Hopefully, I can get an agent. Maybe even a book deal. Even if those things don't happen right away, at least I will know that I took a chance.

Carpe diem, eh? :-)

ready, set, go!

I just graduated from Spalding University with my MFA! Yay! Now it's time to get this blog up and running :)

More to come soon! Stay tuned!