Category: motivation

Today’s Writing Advice from around the Web

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Today my inbox is full of bloggers who are on the ball.

on-the-ball

 

Like they all collaborated in some underground writer bloggy meeting and bounced ideas off each other

much-yes

until they decided, Hey. Let’s all give practical advice today which shall inspire the words right out of our unsuspecting followers.

Today subscriptions are on target, people. Hitting straight to the writer heart.

(I was going to include a Boromir GIF, but it’s too soon.)

I link to three of them after the jump. Go read ’em.

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In the [Writing] Zone

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pinterest

Bridgid Gallagher just tweeted about using Pinterest as a writer. I have a secret board for each of my writing projects, filled with images to inspire me and links to resources.

On her blog, Bridgid shares four more tips on how she gets into the writing zone, including having a writing playlist. I’ve shared my writing playlist for WORLD SONG before, but I’ve also heard good things about SoundFuel, a blog for writing music, and Skye Fairwin’s YouTube channel of music sorted by scene or mood.

All of them are great tips! My only problem is #2—it would take me all day to clean off my desk. Instead I escape to a library to write.

Head on over to Bridgid’s blog to read 5 Tricks for Getting into the Writing Zone.

Year 28 Creative Goals

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Jackie Lea Sommers posted twelve creative goals at the beginning of the year and just updated her followers on how she’s been doing on them (Spoiler: She’s killing it). Can you believe 2015 is already a quarter of the way through?

I loved her idea and that she did a visual post.

April is my birthday month, and I have a couple traditions I try to do yearly:

  1. Celebrate both our birthdays by doing something Shakespearean
  2. Visit the zoo to see the baby animals
  3. Create New Year’s Resolutions

I’m turning 27, so this will be my 28th year. Here are my creative goals:

Creative Goals 28th Year

From top left:

  1. Brainstorm 6 New Ideas—Novel, graphic novel, and picture book ideas that I haven’t already started drafting
  2. Launch Newsletter in Summer—I have so many blogs I had to create a new one just to curate what’s going on each month. When it launches, you can follow that one rather than following me on all the different platforms. Simplicity and organization!
  3. Launch YouTube Channel—I am really excited about this. Frequency of vlogs will be low as long as I have toddlers in the house, but each one will be packed full of goodness and giveaways!
  4. Vacation to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter—Captain and I were going to go for our 5th anniversary last year, but we had to cancel for his brother’s wedding. (Totally worth postponing for!) I’m really hoping we can get away this summer. We haven’t had a break in 4 years.
  5. Outline Second Graphic Novel—This is my Middle Grade novel, which I have to wait to start until I hear back on a writing grant I just applied for.
  6. Attend AWP 2015—I’ll cross this off the list next weekend! Very excited to attend. I’ll be live-tweeting my experience (@larathelark) and tweeting the advice and tips I gather (@laraedits).
  7. Tour the Awesome Indie Comic Shops of the Twin Cities—I need to network with fellow comics geeks. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do!
  8. Blog Weekly About Books—This is an eventual goal I’ll be working up to. Right now it’s monthly.
  9. Complete Graphic Novel Adaptation—I’m adapting a classic novel into a complete graphic novel to keep practicing the form.
  10. Join Comics Experience—This is a community for comics creators. Again, I have to wait to hear back from the grant before I can join (if I want it paid for)
  11. Host my First Writing Contest—Check out 70Pit, coming the first week of July!
  12. Secure Writing Time—In other words, I need to finalize a preschool for my 4-year-old and find regular, reliable part-time childcare for my toddler.

#pg70pit—A New Kind of Pitching Contest!

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Note: due to some nasty spam hijacking the #70Pit hashtag on Twitter, please use BOTH #pg70pit and #contest in your tweets, and when searching for tweets, enter “#pg70pit #contest -click -watch -video -movie -followers” into the search bar. Then save that search. Hopefully that will eliminate spam!

This July I’m hosting a new type of contest and pitching opportunity for writers with complete, polished novels (Middle Grade, YA, or NA/Adult) in any genre except erotica.

What makes 70-pit different?

  • No 35-word pitch, no query, no first page.
  • Age categories are submitted on different days and will be given equal attention.

Find out more about this contest on the #70pit page.

You have until July, so get those manuscripts critiqued, read by beta readers, and revised.

 

wizard-read

 

Interested in co-hosting or reading through the slush? Contact me on Twitter. To be considered, you must be agented, have prior experience working with a literary agency, or have a degree in English, writing, or literature. You’ll need to read through all slush entries and choose seven titles from each category to post on your blog.

Stay tuned for more information! I also hope to host a GRAPHIC NOVEL contest later in the year.