the care and feeding of your muse

The Crazy Beauty of Critique Partnering

04.20.2012
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I found my critique partner through a website (Ladies Who Critique) about eight months ago. We exchanged a chapter to see if we would be a fit. We decided to chat on Google a week later and about five minutes in she said, “Can I just call you? I hate chatting.” Feeling slightly awkward about [...]

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Tagged as: craft, process, the care and feeding of your muse

Museum of Idiosyncrasy | Link Licker Pick

11.09.2011
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If you’re under 18 or easily offended, you absolutely should not check out this site; otherwise, go there and see for yourself.

I go there to get inspiration when I need to write sexy scenes. Every image, to me, tells a story. It evokes a feeling. Every quote speaks truthfully. And, I love it.

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Tagged as: because we all need a way to waste an hour, let's talk about (writing) sex, online aids, the care and feeding of your muse

Brainstorming with Tarot: An Update

07.13.2011
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So, I’ve had my cards a week now.  First impressions: the cards I chose (the Vanessa Tarot) are small.  I was expecting big and… important.  But they’re small, like regular playing cards.  But once I had them out, handling them, shuffling them–I didn’t mind the size so much. Using the tarot was both harder and [...]

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Tagged as: character development, process, the care and feeding of your muse, writing tools

A New Way to Brainstorm

07.05.2011
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So, I needed some creative inspiration. I keep coming back to these characters. Their story stalled on me. It lacked direction, I think. But the characters. I love these characters. Then, a series of blog posts came across my computer, on Tarot cards and writing from Raelyn Barclay (@raelynbarclay on Twitter). I remembered a Material [...]

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Tagged as: books on writing, character development, plotting, process, the care and feeding of your muse, writing tools

Do We Have Too Many Choices?

06.30.2011
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I grew up, and still live, in a small town.  Not small town like less than 5000.  Small town like… 265 people live in my town.  Not that it’s much of a town.  I have to drive 5-10 miles to the nearest 7-11.  Another 40 to Wal-Mart or McDonald’s. It’s 55 miles to the nearest [...]

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Tagged as: all writers are readers, because we all need a way to waste an hour, kindle, life and other details, the care and feeding of your muse

Watching TV Makes You a Better Writer

04.15.2011

I learned a few years ago, when I lost an entire weekend to the time-suck that was Seasons 1 and 2 of Grey’s Anatomy, if you watch a television series in order, for at least a season, you can actually learn a lot.  A season of television (good television, anyway) has story structure, character arc, [...]

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Tagged as: because we all need a way to waste an hour, character development, craft, plotting, structure, the care and feeding of your muse

Brainstorming 100 Ideas Resurrected My Story

04.07.2011

I read a post a few days ago.  It’s not the one linked below, because I had Kindle Klipped it to myself and read it there.  In fact, I can’t track it down at all, because a Google of “brainstorming 100″ comes up with lots of posts from different sites.  It didn’t even hit me that much [...]

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Tagged as: books on writing, character development, GMC, process, the care and feeding of your muse, writing tools

A Time to Write

03.25.2011
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In my experience, which ordinarily involves a great deal of slapping myself on the forehead and muttering, “Why’d I do that?”, a writer who is serious about writing has to write everyday.  Did you see how  many times I use the word write or a variation thereof?  Yeah.  That’s because this is some serious writing [...]

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Tagged as: craft, process, the care and feeding of your muse

You Can LOAN Kindle Books?

03.17.2011

Yes, apparently, you can LOAN your Kindle ebooks.  At least, some of them.  I find this awesome because it allows you to say, “Hey, I think you’re going to love this author.  Give this book a try!” My nephew and I are finding that our reading preferences cross in strange places.  So, we’re a little [...]

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Tagged as: all writers are readers, kindle, the care and feeding of your muse, use me

Prewriting is NOT a Waste of Time

03.05.2011
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And the birds sang, the trees swayed happily, and I was free.  Free to spend as long as I needed filling in character, backstory, synopsizing scenes, and outlining. I have this from very reliable sources.  I recently took a Write It Forward workshop from Bob Mayer (on Twitter @Bob_Mayer) on Plot and Outline.  He says: Failing [...]

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Tagged as: books on writing, character development, i'd recommend, plotting, process, the care and feeding of your muse

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