Blog Post Special Part 2: My 30 Day Hike Across the UK
Listen to this post on my Podcast! March 7th 2016 Day one in London and the Cotswolds, Southwest England We arrived at Heathrow International airport on Virgin Airlines painfully early Monday morning. The flight was perhaps the smoothest ride I’ve ever traveled via plane, six hours in total. As we landed, I remember spotting the giant ferris wheel made popular by the Sherlock opening credits, and that was when it hit me: we’re actually in England! In the first article of this blog post special, I discussed the ridiculously awesome opportunity I had to travel to England, Scotland, and Ireland for an entire month with my family. During that time, I visited the homes of the Greats like Shakespeare, the Bronte sisters, Charles Dickens, Robert Burns, and more. Walking across the very land that inspired their writing and learning how their famous works of fiction came to life, truly motivated me as a writer. I was fascinated with their lives and how the the land they lived in inspired unforgettable classics we as readers still hold dear today. I began to view the world with a romance I thought I had lost, and my writing blossomed as a result. I kept a daily journal during my journey. I didn’t want to forget a single memory made, but really, the fire inside me was raging, and as Charlotte Bronte once put it so perfectly, “I’m just going to write because I cannot help it”. With that determination in mind, each day was a new and exciting challenge. My eyes scoured the sites with the excited energy of a vacuum “hoovering” up any minuscule detail it could devour (wow, my choice in metaphor. Thanks England). I found that...Interacting with Indie Authors: Proper Etiquette vs. Poor Decorum
Listen to this post on my Podcast! Dinner Party. Social Gathering. Business Interaction. Day-to-Day Driving. What do all these things have in common? Etiquette. For every single one of these occasions, there is a range of decorum that is expected of others and of yourself. The range will differ according to the occasion, but the goal is the same: show respect and maintain dignity. So how does proper etiquette play into the life of an indie author and/or a blogger? How does a subscriber, a reader, a reviewer play into this decorum too? There seems to be an unspoken forfeiture of etiquette when people deal with other people online. It’s as if the decorum we’ve practiced at work, with our family, with our friends, is somehow thrown out the window when we take to our computers. For most indie authors, this is the main form of interaction we experience, business or otherwise. And it seems like many folks don’t know how to properly treat indie authors or bloggers. They don’t know that there’s a proper etiquette to follow when dealing with us, too. So let’s take a moment to clear the air and refresh the standard. Understand Our Lives: I’d say indie authors are normal people, but we’re not. We’re total oddities, in fact. We take on an incredibly challenging passion which requires total devotion from our heart, our time, our sanity. We hear voices in our heads- characters– telling us what they want to do with their lives at odd hours when we should be sleeping. We bury our noses in any book we can get our hands on instead of partying with friends. (Friends? What are f-r-i-e-n-d-s?) We...Blog Post Special Part 1: My 30 Day Hike Across the UK
Listen to this post on my Podcast! I couldn’t help it. These writers put into words precisely what I felt as I experienced England, Scotland, and Ireland. Their masterful words fully encompass the 30-day trek I took across the UK with my husband and my in-laws. This was the trip of a lifetime, and I understand fully now why the world’s most incredible writers come from the UK. England is a snow globe. A thick layer of tradition, charm, and culture encases the little island like preserving glass from the rest of the world. Inside, both quaint and regal enchantments flicker like glitter and celebrated history drowns the land like a blizzard of ornamental snow. If it were shaken up, the glitter and snow would simply fly about faster and England wouldn’t be flustered one bit. In fact, I’m certain some folks in England aren’t aware that anything exists outside of the lush, endless emerald hills and rows of humble cottages. And I’m incredibly glad for them. As far as I’m concerned, absolutely nothing better exists outside the world of wellies, three o’clock tea, and clotted cream. Oh, clotted cream. Death by clotted cream is my death of choice. Scotland is Narnia England’s border to Scotland is much like an unassuming wardrobe. You see the beauty and majesty that is England and you think that’s where the charm ends. Inside, it’s nothing but empty storage for fur coats, right? Well as we traveled nearly six hours over the border into Scotland, I found that we had stumbled into a fairytale land practically unchanged since the time of its creation. It was as if I had tripped, face first, into a world...Guest Post: 5 Strategies for a More Productive Writing Session
When you sit down for a writing session, it can either be a time of great productivity or great procrastination. Unfortunately, it’s not often find yourself somewhere between the two. Staying focused and getting stuff done tends to be more challenging than it seems. So what’s a writer to do? Here are 5 strategies to help you cut out distractions, stay motivated, and increase your productivity so you can finish your novel in no time! Create an Internet-Free Zone It’s so easy to get distracted by the internet when you’re trying to write. Trust me, I know—I spent an hour on Pinterest before forcing myself to sit down and write this post! But why is this? Why do we let ourselves get distracted when writing is something we love? Even though we might enjoy writing, it’s still hard work and it’s natural for humans to procrastinate and try to avoid doing work. On our toughest of writing days, Twitter and Pinterest may just be too tempting to resist. During your writing sessions, disable the wi-fi on your laptop and shut off your phone to avoid the temptation. Without access to these distractions you’ll be forced to focus on your work and get ‘er done! Create Goals or a Checklist Give yourself a visual of what you want to accomplish during your session by writing it down. This could be a goal like “Write for an hour” or “Write 300 words.” Or, you could create a check-list of smaller tasks you want to accomplish, like “Fix opening paragraph, Edit chapter 2, and Develop setting.” Seeing...Get Inside Their Head: Epic Fantasy
“Get inside their head” is about getting to know the audience you’re writing for. Once a month, I interview one avid reader of a particular genre, asking questions every author wants to know, or should know about writing for their audience through the eyes of one ideal potential reader. Today’s discussion is about Epic Fantasy. And my interviewee is twenty-four year old blogger, author, and avid reader, Dakota Lopez: Dakota Lopez Dakota is the founder and editor of Geekritique, a blog dedicated to reviewing genre works in book, movie, and tv forms. The blog also hosts a number of editorials and recommendations for geeky things across the board. Dakota is also in the process of writing his first fantasy novel, which you can read more about at TalesFromAtelinor.wordpress.com . Dakota does his best to stay up to date with the ever changing SFF community, and does well keeping his content new and entertaining. Twitter Thanks again Dakota for joining us on this feature interview about what readers are looking for in an epic fantasy genre. Thanks for having me. First of all: How long have you been an avid reader of the epic fantasy genre? My inclination is to just say “oh gosh, forever.” But that would probably be a lie. Although I’ve always liked the fantasy genre. What drew you to epic fantasy? I’d have to say that personality has a lot to do with it. I read a lot of different stuff. I love science fiction and science fantasy as well. Usually fantasy is a much more nostalgic genre, where SciFi is hopeful. I tend to lean more on nostalgia, as a fault in my personality. What is...I’m Rae Elliott: Author, Blogger, Geek
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