Another cool contest

Here is another cool contest I wanted to share with my followers and friends. Valentine's Day Book Massacre Giveaway: http://j.mp/dlRXmj Click link and check it out.

Write What You Love

This will be a short blog, and one that you all are pretty well aware about, but I wanted to just remind the writers (published and non-published) to always write what you are passionate about. It is so important, and not only that, but you will see the difference in your writing…in your voice.

My current finished manuscript, Dark Abyss, is a perfect example. It follows a young girl who is a witch, but has no clue. The one person who clues her in to her special ability is a…vampire. That’s right, I said it--a vampire.

Oh, no…not a vampire, the market is saturated with vampire this and vampire that. Vamps that drink synthetic blood and are brooding over young high school girls. Vamps that are the only one lefts and vying for human blood. Vamps that are warring with werewolves shape shifters, each other.

And I know what you are thinking, “Why are you writing about vampires?” The book should have been steampunk or a rendition of a fairytale.

The answer is because I am passionate about it. I love vampires, witches, werewolves, anything that has to do with the supernatural. That is why. What other reason is there?

A good lesson that I remember in school is the required assignments that I would have to complete. Maybe a story or a report or even a thesis or maybe a (insert whatever appropriate here). And I can remember the difference of how much I enjoyed whatever assignment VS. how long it would take, how good it was, and my grade.

A huge correlation could have been read.

1) The more I enjoyed writing the piece directly correlates to my grade.
2) The less I enjoyed writing the piece directly correlates to my grade.

If I was to try and force myself to write something, well I’ll just say point blank, it wouldn’t work. It would be long, boring, forced sounding, and I doubt the reader would make it past the first paragraph much less a whole page or book for that matter.

Sure, most people probably want to be published--me included. But for me, writing is more than that. It is something that takes me from my life and projects me to another place, to another university, where endless possibilities lie. And it is usually me that is the hero or heroine that meets interesting characters and saves the world or dies trying.

Just remember, no matter the trend, market saturation, or maybe a boring topic, just write what you love. Write how you love. Write the characters you love. Breathe life into your story.

Yes, Dark Abyss is about a witch. It is about a vampire. I love my story.

Another great contest to join and have fun. :) http://lovetoreadforfun.blogspot.com/2010/01/100-followers-contest.html

Being Heard--networking

Whether your a published author or an aspiring writer, it is important to network.

When I first started writing, I didn't network at all. Didn't really know about it. Or even think about it.

And then one day, I queried an agent who actually gave me some advice on places for writers to go. I followed her advice and went to these websites. One was writers.net and the other was absolute write water cooler. I went, had my first few pages critiqued, cried, and then rewrote.

I can never thank that agent enough.

I continued to join sites and eventually hit twitter (where I would like to add you actually win contests--I even won a contest to have my first ten pages critiqued by a wonderful agent and my first pages are much, much better).

From twitter, I ventured to Yalitchat hosted by Georgia McBride which is a wonderful site full of helpful advice and the most awesome peeps ever who have a common interest with me--writing for middle grade, young adults, and new adult genres.

I also met peeps that we exchanged manuscripts and critiqued them. It was a wonderful way to learn, to see others peeps writing, to give advice, and to even rewrite small segments to maybe help them get an idea on how to improve.

And even though I was an avid reader to begin with...the best advice I ever got was to read. Only this time I didn't read for entertainment (well actually I did) but I read to really study the novels. The way these published authors wrote, their voices, their imagery they used. The best learning tool there is.

My novel might never get published, but I do know one thing, My writing has improved drastically.

So be sure to get out there and get involved. It really does help. :)

A short post for the day, but one I wanted to share and hopefully can read your comments.

For some reason, I have not been able to get back into the full swing of writing, like I was before the Christmas holidays.

Why? I think a whole lot of things contributed to my dry spell.

Plenty of reasons to choose from: kids home, kids wanting to go places and do things, here a kid there a kid. Holidays stuff to do. Cooking, cleaning, shopping, wrapping. Holiday stress. I thought it would end after the holidays were over and the kids returned to school.

Nope, days and days passed with writing becoming hard for me to do. The words, visualization, everything seemed to be a struggle as I fought to form the story playing in my head into words.

And today--finally--nine days after the kids went back to school, I was able to write without the struggle. YAY!

My six week dry spell is over. At least I hope.

Anyone else had this problem?