Lesson Learned - from The Bride, Prejudice and the Red October

Why list this post as writing advice? Because I learned a valuable lesson this past Easter weekend. The lesson was an important one, but it took me two days of procrastination and time wasting to realise what an idiot I had been.

The backstory :) 
I was home alone. My husband, Francois, was away on a photographic excursion with some friends, and I thought here was my chance to write the 15 000 words I needed to get ahead in Camp NaNoWriMo for the week ahead. I do some freelance work and since they are deadline driven, I thought two birds with one stone! I get ahead while I have no other person's needs to worry about, and then I could focus on the freelance work and get those articles done on time. Yeah, right. My good intentions didn't go as planned.

I have my own office at home, and use an old computer (and I mean, really old) to play DVDs while I am writing. They are pure background noise, since I know the stories backwards! This computer is on a desk to my right, so I can only hear the soundtrack. If I want to watch, I have to move my chair 90 degrees, and then I cannot write.

The lesson :(

This past weekend, being alone and all, I relocated my writing laptop, my DVDs with my writing notes and pen, and coffee mug to the living room. I put on a DVD, the sound of the television is so much better than a computer after all, and settled in to write.

And then I didn't. I might write about a hundred words, but then I had to get up and walk around or make a cup of coffee or play with one of the dogs. I never seemed to be able to get going. It was a little better at night, but not much. For some silly reason I did this exact same thing for two days.

Then it hit me like fist to the forehead - I might have watched these movies to the point that I could actually recite the dialogue, of each character, and in order - it was the visuals that kept distracting me. What an idiot!

I relocated to my office, put the DVD in the drive of my old computer, let it play and wrote about 8000 words in one day.

I didn't make my 15 000 word count target for the weekend, but I learned a valuable lesson: I can tune out music and dialogue from the soundtracks to write, but I cannot tune out the visuals of these stories.

I am still ahead of my word count target, and have started working on the freelance articles, but now I have to juggle my available time with better planning and management.

Just goes to show you - even an old dog like me, can learn a new trick!

Planning for Pantsers - Visual Tools

I have always liked using Pinterest as a means to create storyboards for my book projects. Not only does it give me a great excuse to play around on Pinterest for hours, it also gives me inspiration for characters, scenes and sometimes even a story idea. But my boards are not real storyboards, they are just images of nature, people, art and some other interesting things that I came across the website of the social media giant.

As a sometimes visual artist - I love to paint and draw - the visual aspects of the images contribute quite a lot to my "seeing" my stories unfold.

Storyboard of a snippet from the novel

Until a few days ago, when I found actual storyboard software. Of course, the software has been around for a a long time, since cartoonists, writers of graphic novels, animators and many other visual artists have been using it for years. Only took me a few of those years to finally get it.

I registered immediately for a free option account to try it out. Hours later (not saying how many) I had my whole novel outlined as a storyboard. Since I started out playing, I stuck to doing the essence of each chapter, but there is scope to do every scene too. There are several options on how the look of the storyboard should be, but those are for paying customers only. The price isn't bad either, and they don't mind if you subscribe for a month, do your thing and then unsubscribe again, only to do it again some time later. Sounds like the ideal tool for a writer. Do the planning in the beginning of the process, and then write and edit until the project is done. When you're ready you can start again with a new subscription as you need it.

Even with only the free option, there are many little characters and scenes and add-ons to make the storyboard truly your own.

With my novel for April Camp NaNoWriMo properly planned, storyboarded and ready to write, I will test the storyboard idea to see if it helps when I write the words.

Here is the link to the website I used.

Planning for Pantsers - Characters

Even if you are a pantser (a write-by-the-seat-of-your-pants writer), it is advisable to do some planning before you start a new story. It helps you to get to know your characters. You don't have to do it for every single character in your story. Minor characters, or characters not referred to by name, for example the waiter, or the postman, need not be developed.

It is the main characters that you need to create, to flesh out, to make them real to your reader. You can only make a character real, if you know him or her from the inside out.

A simple list:

1. Physical characteristics - these define his or her eyes, colour, hair colour, height, weight, skin tone, shoe size, scars, lips, nose, chin, jaw line, shoulders, limp, etc. A list will suffice that you can refer to if needed. This list will help to prevent you from changing the hero from a muscular blond hunk, to a bulky carrot top with a weak chin.

2. Choices they had made - people are defined by their behaviour and that includes their choices made or not. The same applies to your character. Choices such as career, car, house, location, country even. These can include marital status, social behaviour (is he a player? is she stuck up around men?) and so on. Write these down for the present and the past, since they will help shape the choices your character makes for the future.

3. Relationships - we are as much part of our relationships as our characters need to be. Best friend, ex-boyfriend, lover, wife, child, parent, colleagues, other friends, enemies, acquaintances, and the stranger that almost knocks her over on the street. All our interactions define us, and we need to focus on the most important ones to shape our characters.

You can add more information, or as much detail as you like, but having characters that are alive in your mind, will come to life in words. Your reader will want to know them, cheer for them or cry with their disappointments and be happy when they achieve their goals.

How much time do you spend making your characters come to life?

Morning Pages and Brain Dumps, a writer's musings

The creator of morning pages, Julia Cameron, states that you do this first thing in the morning. Dump everything in your head in a handwritten or electronic journal. Anything that comes to mind. The things that bother you, makes you cry, makes you laugh, makes you angry. The cat that didn’t want to eat dinner, the kids who are perpetually late for school. Anything and everything to clear your mind.

Lacking ideas? Feeling blocked? Do morning pages, and do it every day. Your life is full of issues, and morning pages will point you towards an idea for a story. Not sure if the idea is a good one? It doesn’t matter. You are writing. You are producing words on paper, the rest will follow.

If you are like me, there is no time to do my morning pages first thing. So I take a few minutes out of my day when I have a chance. While it might not be early morning pages, trust me, doing a brain dump does help to clear the mind. On Saturdays I usually visit my favourite coffee shop, park myself in a corner and do my morning pages. Also an excellent opportunity to observe people, and make a few notes or speculate on what ifs for story ideas.

Whatever time works for you, random thoughts, random words and ideas will flow if you don’t force it. Keep your notebook close to note a potential story idea to develop later. Morning pages are only to get the junk out of your head, not to develop or plan a story.

I can definitely recommend this exercise to keep my writing muscles fit!

Planning to Write - blog posts, articles, fiction...at the same time

As I wrangled with my morning pages, I came to realise that my writing is not efficient. I have a long list of things to do - blog posts,  freelance work, short stories, editing, non-fiction books - and yet I cannot seem to be as productive as I want to be.

I love writing, not only fiction, but prioritising doesn't seem to be working. Or maybe it is not enough to prioritise my non-fiction above editing my third novel.

I know which projects need to be completed first, deadlines are looming, and yet I am spending my time in such a way that progress on each of these projects is not what it should be at this stage.

I have an allocated writing time - check.

I know what to write, no writers block issues - check.

What I need is to get better organised about which project to work on at what time.

So here I went and put some thought into the details. I am not going to bore you with my reasoning, but I believe it can work.

I have came up with this plan this past weekend, and will try it out for a week or three and adjust it if necessary.

My freelance writing (marked as SEO in the plan) depends on my deliverables for the week or month, so on that I might need to be more flexible. The same applies to weekend writing. If the opportunity arises there will be more time available to write and I will then be able to work on a project that has me inspired at that time.

I don't rely on a muse to write, but it has been known to happen and then I can do whatever is absolutely pressing on my mind.

Do you have any advice to help me out? How do you manage to work on multiple projects at the same time and still manage to meet your deadlines?

Staying in the Game - Part 3: Recognition

The writer of the original post states that we as writers need the recognition from others to be seen as writers. It got me wondering why. Why do creative people - writers, visual artists, musicians, etc - need to be recognised as such, whereas other people in other professions do not?

Part 1: Discipline

I got my engineering degree and no one doubted my engineering abilities. I did not need to be recognised as an engineer to believe that I am one. All the years of studying definitely got that imprinted into my brain.

Sure, not every creative person has a formal qualification in the arts, but many do, so why the need to be recognised as such? Are we still dealing with a society that thinks that being a writer, a painter or a musician is not good enough? Or are we our own worst enemy?

Do I, Linzé Brandon, believe that I am a writer, an artist? For a while I confused recognition with validation, but no longer.

When you look in the mirror, do you point a finger to your own image and say: you are a writer (recognition) and, at the same time, I write because I want to and it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks (validation)?

Part 2: Stamina

Being a trained engineer (now project manager) and a writer, this irony of being one but not the other still baffles me. Even the other day someone said that it was a nice hobby - writing books.

I didn't take exception, because I know this person meant it as a compliment of sorts. This is not always the case, and those words do not always come out as admiration of a creative talent. Sometimes people do look down their noses when I tell them that I am a writer.

Although I have been writing for almost fourteen years, published since 2011, it is only recently that I sorted out this problem for myself - I am a writer.

For many though the question remains: am I writer because I think I am, or am I a writer because others say I am? What do you think?

Staying in the Game - Part 2: Stamina

Stamina to my mind is something that professional athletes aspire to, especially those of the marathon and ultra-marathon persuasion. Come to think of it, anyone doing ultra-anything, probably has the have the stamina of a lion in mating season. Yeah, they go at it for days at a time - and without food!

Mating lions in the Chobe (c) Linzé Brandon

So where does it leave the writer?
Should we start getting fit to write for hours and hours at a time? Writing is an intellectual exercise and hours and hours of anything intellectual is bound to be crap because we are not built for effectiveness, productivity and concentration for hours at a time.
So I guess the answer isn't that. But it is time dependent for sure. We have to persevere. We are in this for the long haul after all.
Writing everyday to form the habit, but not just for ten or fifteen or thirty days. We have to do this...forever. If you want to be a writer, this is a lifetime commitment. Of course, when the first book is done, it's done. You move on to the next project: research, planning, writing, editing, until its done, and then on to the next.

Read Part 1 of Staying in the Game

Before indie publishing became a viable option with better quality end results, traditional publishing was the only way and many, many writers gave up because of that horrible thing called a rejection letter. And yet many didn't give up. They kept on going. Writing, submitting query letters and manuscripts, until they found a publisher.
They had the stamina to keep going, because they did not see the end in the rejection letter. They dug deep to keep going, no matter how many letters, no matter how long it took. And when it happened, they started on the next book.

Writing is a ultra-marathon with no winners post, only milestones along the way. Set your milestones (eg. write a novel or two every year) and your stamina will grow. We practice to hone our skills, so we must practice to grow our stamina, mental and physical, to keep writing.
Publishing isn't the end, it is merely a milestone on that ultra-marathon journey of being a writer.
So we apply the discipline we need to write everyday, to reach the milestones we set for ourselves, to gain the stamina to keep going.

On a personal note: I have had my share of rejection letters. At the time I had no idea what I was doing, and either ignorance or arrogance kept me going, because this was what I wanted to do.

In 2015 I am going to publish my third novel and two non-fiction books - my next three milestones on my journey as a writer.

Have you set your milestones on your writing journey yet?

Staying in the Game - Part 1: Discipline

I recently read an article written by an author and writing teacher on the things that a writer needs to ‘stay in the game’, as he put it. Since I have been in ‘the game’ for a while, and would like to stay, I paid attention.

He mentioned three things that a writer needs: discipline, stamina and recognition.

I am sure these words are just as familiar as to you as they are to me, but what do they truly mean for a writer? Google is my friend, so there I went.

Discipline often has a very negative connotation attached to it, and yet it is the very essence of the positive in people. Order, patterns and self-control are not only the tools of a writer, but the tools of a well-balanced individual.

Write everyday. Advice we hear from everywhere and anyone when asked. How do we establish that order, pattern and self-control? Is it difficult to establish this pattern of behaviour?

When we start out as writers, or bloggers, it is with all the good intentions of a new year’s resolution. Yes! This is the year that I will write that novel, or start a blog, or write my memoir. But good intentions alone seldom produce the results we desire. For all my good intentions, I still haven’t managed to loose the weight I have to. Sound familiar?

So what is the answer: you need an action plan. Something that will help you to write the book, or establish that blog.

Ask yourself a few questions:

1.      What do I want to accomplish with this project?

2.     When does it need to be finished? Or in the case of a blog, how often do I want to post?

3.     Am I committed to putting in the time and effort to do it?

4.     Am I a morning person or a night owl?

5.     Where can I make some space for my writing?

6.     How am I going to keep myself accountable?

7.      What support network is available to help me?

Here is what works for me:

1.      When I started to write, I wanted to write romance stories and publish them. I ended up writing fiction in several genres - short stories, flash fiction and novels - as well as two non-fiction books to be published in 2015. It didn’t happen overnight. Decide what you want to write and start there, finish the project and then move on to the next one.

2.     I set a deadline for each project. One novel per year. A short story takes about two months from start to publication. Flash fiction – one week per story. Since there is no one watching over my shoulder, keeping to these deadlines are not easy. If you want to be a blogger, the next date is your deadline. Posting twice a week – there you go, your deadline is set. How often you post is up to you, but to have a successful blog you need to be consistent and post on schedule, your readers and followers expect it.

3.     When I started to write, I did it for my own pleasure, in fact I still do. Since I work as project manager full time, writing is my escape from the stress that defines my working hours. I need to write. In the beginning that hadn’t been the case, until I realised how much I liked it, and how much pleasure I got from finishing and publishing a story.

4.     I am a night owl, although I get up very early in the morning, thanks to being married to a morning person. My husband works in another city, so to reduce his stress of battling traffic, he leaves home just after 5am. As a result I am early at work too. This early time gives me the opportunity to do a lot of things before my daily schedule of meetings kicks in. One thing I learned very early in my working life, is to leave work at the office. And it is this exact mind-set that helps me to write at night, even after a long day. After dinner, making lunch boxes for the next day, taking a shower and checking my email, I sit down and write for two hours before bed. Every day, including weekends.

5.     I have an office at home where I do my writing. My husband is an engineer, but he takes his photography very serious – so he has a studio at home where he can hide away to do his thing. I also like to write at a coffee shop, especially over weekends to get away from the distractions at home. It is a quiet place, and the staff and owners (knowing me and my habit) will leave me alone for hours at a time. There aren’t many such places, so I not only support them, but refer as many people as I can to them. They serve the best coffee!

6.     Being accountable is difficult and to help myself, I started a writers’ group in 2011. We meet once a month at the coffee shop I mentioned before. We support each others efforts, and even published a short story anthology in 2014. It was hard work, but all worth the effort to hold that beautiful book in my hands at the end. I also belong to groups on Facebook where holding myself accountable helps me to keep going.

7.      A support network is very important to a writer. Family, friends and online friends too, for which I am truly grateful. When deadlines loom, or NaNoWriMo is upon me, my social life takes a back seat, and the people in my life give me the space I need. I am not sure they truly understand what drives me, but I am grateful for them allowing me to hide in my writing cave at these times.

I have been writing consistently since 2001 and my routine is well established by now. But you need to find out what works for you. Get up earlier to write before work, or after the kids have gone to bed, or maybe lunch time at work. Talk to you family and friends about your writing time being your own, and join a group. Groups are different, and you need to ‘shop’ around until you find one where you get and give what you need.

How disciplined are you when it comes to your creative acitivies? Please share in the comments below.

How a 31 day challenge turned into a 365 day habit

Thank you, Jeff Goins, for issuing this challenge and introducing me this wonderful group of people.

365 days ago, I joined a group of writers and bloggers in a 31 day challenge issued by Jeff Goins. He started the group on Facebook to encourage people to get into the habit of writing at least 500 words every day.

As with many other writers’ groups on Facebook, I joined but was not overly enthusiastic about its success, because of past experiences. How wrong did I turn out to be!

The 31 day challenge sparked a lot of interest, but that is not what I base my opinion on, quite the opposite. It is the continued support and encouragement from the group’s members that makes it such a wonderful group.

I will go so far as to say that I have formed friendships with people that I may never meet face-to-face in my lifetime.  While I may never have the opportunity to share a cup of coffee or a hug, when I don’t see a regular post or a comment from them, I do wonder if they are alright. Of course, I have real life friends in the group too, and we share the same views, our online friends…are friends.

One year have now passed since we started the group and not only has it grown in numbers, but also in maturity. It does take time for a group to form, even if we share the same goals. Sensitive topics have been debated, and while we don’t always agree, I love the respect we show towards each other.

Yes, our aim is still the same: write at least 500 words every day: be it blog posts, fiction or journal entries – and hold ourselves accountable for doing so. The group has grown to be more than a writer’s group, and it will probably be the last group I leave on Facebook, if ever.

On a personal note: I don’t write fiction every day, although I aim to write every day, with the exception of December. Even I need a break sometimes :)

What does 2015 hold in store for this awesome group of writers and bloggers? I cannot predict the future, but if the past is an indication of what the future holds… it will grow in depth and maturity and I will grow along with it, not only as a writer, but also as a human being.

What some of the awesome people who have been with me on this journey of 365 days have to say:

Vanessa Wright's Humouring the dark
Roslynn Pryor’s Pushing the Bruise
Stella Myers’ Stella’s Starshine
Amy Bovaird‪'s Amy's Adventures‬
Crystal Thieringer’s Muse and Meander
‪Carryl A Robinson‪’s Echoes from the Cave

Becky Williams Waters' A Novel Creation
Laura Hille's For The Love of Storytelling

Wishing all my friends from the My 500 Word groups, a successful and blessed 2015!

May your writing dreams come true in every way!

Creative Journaling - The Beginning

by Linzé

Welcome to my new weekly series on Creative Journaling!

Do you know how long people have been keeping journals? I have been keeping a journal from a young age, and while those have long since been relegated to ashes, I continue to keep up the practice as an adult.

But the journals we keep today are not exactly the same style as those from long ago. Modern day journals are more about personal thoughts and experiences, whereas those from the earliest days were not. They did include personal observations, but about the world around them, transactions people engaged in, and of the world during their travels. Their observations had been directed outside of themselves, if you will.

Today, or since the Renaissance to be more precise, our journal entries have been directed more inwardly. Of course, the world and its problems and joys impact on us, but our observations are no longer about being a pure observer. These historical journals have taught researchers a lot about that time.

So what will our journals today tell future generations about the people we are today?

So what makes creative journaling different from keeping the kind of journal we are all used to?

You know the kind where you pen your gripes and pains and frustrations with the world at large. Or slap yourself on the back for a job well done. You know that thing that you hide from everyone, because it has all your innermost thoughts and secrets, that are meant for your eyes only.

The answer is simple: nothing. There is no difference.

Whatever your reason for keeping a journal, whether it be for yourself, your children, or anyone who wishes to learn about your life experiences, the creative journal will not change that.

It enhances the experience for you as the writer, and your reader, if you are so inclined.

Creative journaling adds a visual dimension to the traditional journal. You might ask what the difference is to the doodling that have filled your journal pages in the past.

In the creative journal, those doodles are not time wasters, they become part of your entry of that day.

Artists have been using their skills to create their entries in a pure visual way, as it is the way they best express themselves.

Whether it be a pencil drawing of a person they met that day, or a watercolour miniture of a particularly beautiful sunset that touched them, the visual artist is the prime example of keeping a creative journal

To my mind, however, there can be so much more to either the artists’ way or the traditional way of keeping a journal.

I invite you to take this journey with me. A journey where we explore my take on keeping a creative journal.

A journal that can be used (and explored) by artists, crafters, writers and ordinary people alike.

Oh, by the way - if you subscribe to my mailing list you will get the practical handbook, that accompanies the Creative Journaling for Everyone book, for free when it is available in December. The handbook will not be made available otherwise.

Infographic Thursday: Punctuation...a reminder

Infographic from www.visual.ly

Issuu Sept/Oct Edition

In this issue, cover author New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Dianne Duvall shares with us about her Immortal Guardian’s paranormal romance series. Join us as we chat with Dianne about her work, then take a sneak peek at Night Unbound, the latest in her popular series.

Many more wonderful authors including A.L. Jackson, Quinn Loftis, Mary Manners and more.

Don't miss these entertaining columns -> Our New Column Debut
Bestseller’s Secret
FROM DYSLEXIC TO BESTSELLER...

Chic Trends in Romance
SEXY GOES BUMP IN THE NIGHT

The Hot Hunks of History
DARK DUKES OF HISTORY

The Heat Diva
HOT SUMMER WRAP UP

Ali B. and the Forty Spaceships
TO READ, PERCHANCE TO DREAM...

The Scrying Eye
GHOSTS OF THE PAST... DEMONS OF THE PRESENT

Forever Young
THE RETRO SCREAM: HORROR NOVELS THAT NEVER GET OLD

BTS Goes Hollywood
ALEX BLEDSOE

The Impact of Words

“Make a list over several weeks of the words or thoughts that people have said that have really helped.”

The above quote came to my inbox via the website where my personal journals are hosted, Penzu. Since I have three journals at that site, I get these prompts daily. Most of the time I just ignore them, but upon occasion, something triggers inside of me that I have to share.
I belong to several online writers' groups, including a few on Facebook. Over time I have reduced these for the simple reason, time. I feel guilty for not taking part in a group and after a while I decided that it was better to leave the group than to stay around, and not contribute anything.
There is one group that has had a huge impact on my writing - and that of other people as well. It is called My 500 Words. It was started with the intention to inspire writers and/or bloggers to write just 500 words everyday. But everyday.
As a writer I try to write everyday. Some days are easier than others, and there are days (as has happened in recent weeks) where I write...nothing. In my defence (or lame excuse, depending on your point of view) being away from home for work, is exhausting and finding the time and energy to write anything more than a tired journal entry, is not easy.
In this group I have made new friends, and continued friendships that started outside the group. Not everyone in the group is a novelist, most are bloggers, but I have learned a lot and sometimes things I have not been ready to confront in myself as a writer.
Until a few weeks ago where my FB friend, James Prescott, posted a piece about why we write. It touched on something that new writers often struggle with, and those of us who have been penning books for a while need to be reminded of.

This is an excerpt of that post: "But they [online writing resources about the elements of writing] aren’t about the art of writing. And they forget the most important thing - that our security and identity needs to come from something far deeper than what we do, know or achieve. We must know and accept our value, worth and security is already taken care of. We already have value. We are already secure. We already have infinite worth. Right now."
Of course, I have learned a stack (still do everyday) about writing, publishing and marketing my books, but the most value I have ever had from any online site, was the friends I made and the lessons and support I have received from them.

Join groups that add value to you as a person and a writer, but leave when you do not contribute or do not spend the time. It is not the number of groups that matter, but the contribution you make in the group that will help you grow.

Infographic Thursday: Why Self-Publish

Source: www.visual.ly

There is a bit more to it than this, but the infographic does sum it up fairly well :)

How long does it take to choose a book title?

How long does it take to choose a book title?

You might rightly wonder why I asked this question. As I had mentioned in a previous post, I had already written book 4 in the Nations of Peace Series, when I got the idea to write Michael's Mystery.

This story's title has been the only one of all that I have written published or not, that baffled me. In fact, I was planning on asking beta readers to help me figure out a title, because for some reason I couldn't get it right.

It went from Exquisite Pleasure to the Future Master, to Adrian's story (dull, huh?) to being Untitled.

Then it struck me this morning at work, while I was thinking about my tasks for the day. An Aha! moment indeed.

When I wrote it down (otherwise I would surely have forgotten) it just made perfect sense. It encompasses the fundamental issue in the whole story.

No, it is not a new 50 Shades (shudders) of anything. It will simply be titled: Waiting for Adrian, the first book of the sub-series The Future Masters.

And the most baffling thing of all - it took me three years to get to this point. Funny how the mind works, but it is the only option so far that not only makes sense, but feels right for the story.

Now I am so excited that I can barely wait to finish Michael's Mystery, so that I can dig into Adrian's story.

I sincerely hope that you have not encountered this problem, but if you had, please me tell how you overcame it so that it doesn't take me another 3 years if it happens again.

Infographic Thursday: Proofreading vs Editing

Source: www.visual.ly

Feeling disconnected from my story: Is this normal?

Being a writer can sometimes be an odd experience. Case in point: my third novel, Michael's Mystery.

It wasn't planned to be the third novel, in fact I had already written the third novel (untitled thus far) when I came up with the idea for Michael's Mystery.

Aside from publishing STORM, and a few other short stories, I have not done with Michael's Mystery that I had done on the first two, or even the now new number four, five and six. Yes, they are already drafted, and only await the heavy hand of editing before publication.

I didn't sit down and write the story of Michael and Andesine beginning to end, I stopped and did other projects in between. And now it is coming back to bite me.

As a pantser, I don't plan my stories in detail, my "planning" attention goes into my characters and their environment.

Keeping that in mind, I had to go back and reread what I have already written to pick up the trail of my story. Now that is normal practice for me, except that this time I ran into a wall. The internal editor wall.

The more I read, the more I wanted to sit down and fix the plot gaps, the grammatical errors and streamlining it with book 2 and book 4. Being consistent is after all very important in a series.

I have no idea if this ever happened to anyone else, but this is a first for me.

Is the story done and ready for editing? No.

I estimate that it needs about 15k words more. The word count is not that important, but it definitely needs the battle scene that has been threatening for a chapter or two and of course the ending needs to be done too. And knowing my characters, they won't be able to keep their hands off each other either, so a scene with an intimate encounter might also happen somewhere.

What do I do now? Write? Procrastinate? Edit?

For the short term, ie. Camp NaNoWriMo, I am working on another project to keep going on my target.

I have not decided yet on the course of action come August, but the deadline for publication of Michael's Mystery (a novel of the Grandmasters) is coming closer at a rapid rate.

And so I keep plotting ...

International Authors' Day Blog Hop

Thank you to Debdatta of  http://www.b00kr3vi3ws.in who is hosting this blog tour to celebrate International Authors' Day.

A short while ago I asked for articles about being a writer, but it seems that my fellow South African authors are very shy when it comes to sharing their stories.
From experience, and having some great friends outside my home country, I decided that we all could benefit from a compilation of our stories.

You may submit a maximum of 2 articles, between 1500 to 2000 words each, on YOUR experiences, or YOUR advice on writing or being a writer. This is not a project on general advice, it has to be from a personal perspective. First person POV is recommended. Only English language submissions will be considered.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:
1.    Time Management
2.   What made you decide to write/publish
3.   What to write - fiction or non-fiction
4.   Which genre is best
5.   Sex or no sex
6.   Collaboration projects - multi author and/or anthologies
7.   The positives/negatives of alpha and beta readers
8.   What you expect from a reviewer
9.   Book blog tours
10.  Choosing an editor
11.  Book cover design
12.  Author Branding
13.  Marketing
14.  Social media
15.  Ebook or print?
16.  Children’s books
17.  YA and NA books
etc.

Please submit your articles/stories to blog.tour.info@gmail.com as a .doc, .rtf or .txt file.

Deadline for submissions: 30 September 2014, 12pm, South African time (GMT+2)

We are looking for around 45-50 essays to publish in ebook format to distribute for free via Smashwords and Amazon. It will be uploaded to Goodreads, and you will be tagged, if you have a profile.

If your article(s) are selected, your author bio, book links, social media links, and blog / website details will be requested for inclusion in the publication.

Please ensure your work is edited before submission.

We reserve the right not to select every submission for publication.

The project is open to any and all published authors.

So here is your chance to share your story, and inspire many others to gather their courage to face their fears, and take that final step into the world of being a published writer.

Infographic Thursday: Hooow tooo beee Moore CREATIVE!

This is one long, long, long infographic :) Creativity is something that many people take for granted, simply because it is the way we are, but it does not have to be only that way.
Anyone can be creative, and it is not even that difficult.
Okay, shutting big mouth here, because the creative writing process is different for everyone. I am sure artists will agree that the argument holds true for them too.
I often get the weirdest ideas at the oddest moments, and 'what if' is the one phrase my brain seems to love above all others. Don't get me wrong, some of my brainwaves do not deserve to be mentioned, while others are explored in some or other story that I am concocting at the time.
Once in a while, the idea sticks and grows to become a short story or a novel.  Sometimes it even ends up worth reading.
May your creative endeavours give you hours of pleasure, and satisfy that deep dark need to ... write!


The infographic can be found on www.visual.ly

Invitation: Share your experiences and advice with others

The South African market is small and a challenge at the best of times. If you are a published author (indie or not) what advice, anecdotes and tales would you like to share with other writers? Drop us a line if you are interested - details in the graphic 

Help build your audience by taking part in this project, aptly named FEARLESS, because our journey may not easy, but neither could we give in to the fear that prevents us from fulfilling our dreams.

Come on, you have always wanted to!