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Critical Voice Kills Take Two
I Wrote This As a Comment Response Yesterday… So thought it would be good to clean up my comment, expand a little and put here so more people see it. It is on the topic of critical voice shutting off your enjoyment of other author’s work. It is a matter of taste. Read the last post before reading this. When a book kicks you from the story, it is your taste, not the author’s fault. Always the case. What that author did is simply not to your taste, even if a craft thing. Why does that happen with craft? Because we writers have one way of writing something. When you…
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Critical Voice Kills Everything
Including Your Own Enjoyment of Reading (and Watching Movies)… For some reason, early on, writers think they must start being critical about all sorts of things. Books they don’t like because they are not to their taste, certain types of movies, the wrong use of one thing or another in a story by another author. This is the critical voice, the very thing that works to stop you from writing. And also makes you believe that everything you do must be perfect, therefore you must outline and rewrite and not put something out anywhere until it has been polished to a shine. The job of the critical voice is to…
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Been Reading and Watching Movies
We Writers Consume Story Everywhere… I’ve been doing that over the last few weeks in a number of places. First off, I have been reading challenge short stories and novels. Almost all done and will be sending out comments soon. Some really wonderful novels and stories, I must admit, from those who took the challenge starting in September. I am enjoying the reading a great deal. (And I might do it again for January. Haven’t decided yet.) And I have, when time allows, been watching Hallmark Christmas movies. Not for the plots, of course, but for the structure and the characters and the relaxing aspect of them. In other words,…
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List of Classic Workshops and Lectures
For Those Who Grabbed the Writer Gift Box… Anyone who got the writer gift box will not only get a bunch of writing books, but a Classic Workshop and a Lecture of your choice. Happy Holidays from WMG Publishing. Instructions and links to the books will go out tomorrow morning. Below is a list of the Classic Workshops now available. Five new ones have been moved over to classic now. How to Study, Edit Yourself, Secondary Plot Lines, Think Like a Publisher, and the Business of Publishing. Included in the list of lectures to pick from are the three quarters of Tip of the Week, plus the Advanced Business Lectures…
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Last Hours On Two Things.
And Some Fun Stuff… Very short time left on both of the Christmas Boxes from WMG. They end at NOON on Wednesday, the 19th, West Coast Standard Time. So if you get this after noon, never mind. (grin) Second, I have three in the Mentor Program for 2019, but I will take just one more. Kris and I have decided I can handle four without a problem and it will be more fun, actually. Write me if interested in the last spot. Details in a post a ways back. Do, if you get a chance, read that post from Steven Barnes I put up yesterday. Amazing. And if you want…
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A Post Very Much Worth Reading
From Steven Barnes… Steve put up this great post on Facebook talking about how a writer can kill his own joy and purpose in writing. Sadly, I know exactly who he is talking about. I met the person he talks about a number of times and it was exactly as Steve said. I even got that same card and was just as disturbed by it. I constantly tell people to not write to market, to write what they love, that doing anything else is a quick path to the end of your writing. So if you don’t listen to me on this, listen to Steve. He says it so much…
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New Pop-Up Available
The New Year is Coming… How to set goals and challenges and streaks and habits and so much more for the new year is in the 5th Pop-Up now available on Teachable. It is called “Remaining Focused” and has all sorts of things that can help you hit your writing goals in 2019. Plus it will be there for you for the entire year on your dashboard to review if you remember. — Also, a spot still open in the Mentor Program I am doing for a few writers for the entire year of 2019. Information a few posts back if you are interested. — Another thing on this late…
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Fun Day Started Early
Another Run… This 5k fun run was along a paved trail along a canyon in Henderson, NV (a part of larger Las Vegas valley.) Started at 9 am and I actually managed to run fairly comfortably over half it. I decided to not push yet, since I am still recovering from the fall in some ways, but it was a comfortable run walk. And fun. (A couple pictures below and Kris put a bunch more on Facebook.) A really fun breakfast at a nifty restaurant out in Henderson after the run, then home to just spend a nice day working here with pizza for dinner. (Yes, Las Vegas has fantastic…
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Various Stuff
Got A 5K Run In The Morning… So some quick stuff tonight. First off, still a spot, maybe two, in the mentor program. I might be convinced to go to four, but no more and right now there are two who are in. So still open. Write me if you want information. Information two posts back and it will be a lot of fun and learning, I can promise. Second, the January Regular Online Workshops are now on Teachable. Here is the list. Note they start on the 1st and 2nd. Class #1… Jan 1st … Depth #3: Research Class #2… Jan 1st … Author Voice Class #3… Jan 1st … Dialog…
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How to Think About a Challenge
New Year Is Coming… And many writers, me included, are starting to set up challenges to help us reach goals with our writing. But the question is how to make the goals large enough to be challenging and yet not set up for failure. So let me tell you how I do it, since I have started and backed off a challenge twice now that I will be starting for the third time on January 1st. I do not consider the two first false starts as failure. Not in the slightest, actually. They were learning. So that is point one… Never think about failure. Just think positive about the challenge…