Monthly Archives: May 2017

Twitter Gems…

Cruising my TweetDeck dashboard…

  1. Always get to the dialogue as soon as possible….Nothing puts the reader off more than a great slab of prose at the start. P.G. WODEHOUSE tweeted by Jon Winokur [@AdvicetoWriters]
  2. The Seven Differences Between Professionals and Amateurs by Jeff Goins
  3. “To gain your own voice, you have to forget about having it heard.” —Allen Ginsberg  tweeted by Jeff Goins [@JeffGoins]
  4. 35 Book Marketing Ideas That Will Sell You MORE Books by Joel Friedlander [@JFbookman]
  5. Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on. LOUIS L’AMOUR  tweeted by Jon Winokur [@AdvicetoWriters]

Note to self: Great to spew the wisdom of others. It’s another whole ballgame to follow through.

The 90-Day Rewrite–My Takeaways

My takeaways from The 90-Day Rewrite by Alan Watt, also author of The 90-Day Novel

  1. The instructional heart of the book consists of his 90 ‘letters’ to the reader/rewriter. This approach evoked a more conversational tone to each ‘day’.
  2. Watt gives ‘rewriters’ a short ruminating or writing assignment that reinforces that day’s letter.

Some examples:

Day 46: Today–Write for five minutes beginning with ‘My story is about…’. Surprise yourself and be willing to write the forbidden.

Day 57: Today–Where you choose to reveal information can alter the pace and meaning of your story. Are your story’s revelations placed as effectively as possible?

  1. I like Watt’s Week 1 prescription of creating a new outline.

“If it seems strange to simply be re-outlining something that we have already written, that is not what we are doing. Rather, we are allowing ourselves to imagine the most compelling version of our story, which may contain large swaths of existing material, but also material yet to be written.”

  1. Quote from Day 69 letter: “Ultimately, the decision [on how to divide the novel–chapters, sections, etc.] is an intuitive one. Each story has its own unique way of being read.”

Watch ‘The Kindness Diaries’

I’m keeping this short so you can follow up. Great series that can launch us from the funk of everyday life and the other media we consume.

The episodes, on Netflix, are just over 20 minutes.  http://www.leonlogothetis.com/netflix/

It’s based on the book of the same name by Leon Legothetis.

soldier-kindnessWho knows–it might even set us on our own course of kindness.

Perfect photo for Memorial Day…

 

 

 

 

“Produced With Genetic Engineering”

Yep, that’s the claim on the back of the Oreo Mini bag. [The breakfast of champions, I might add. Nature’s most perfect food.]

And that’s our lead story in today’s edition of ‘Neither Here Nor There’. [NHNT]

“Produce with Genetic Engineering”. Sure I could have looked it up, but frankly I’d rather muse over what it might mean, or make fun of it, or come up with my own explanation.

Next item: Coffee, the life blood of many. My favorite coffee maker: The Clever Coffee Dripper. I bought one about five years ago from Sweet Maria’s. Haven’t been without one since. The grounds steep in the hot water for an ideal four and a half minutes. [Stirring at the 1:30 and 4:00 mark is strongly suggested.] You set it on top of your mug and the contact with the mug’s rim releases the coffee via a weight-controlled valve.

clever coffee

Heaven. Arabica heaven.

Next item: Fueled by the ***aforementioned Oreo Minis,  I reverted back to pen and notebook this morning. Felt great. Seems to weave right into the whole mindfulness thing that’s marched [though methodically, with rhythmic steps, and perhaps some John Tesh music drifting in the background] into our consciousness of late. [But with good reason].

*** Perhaps the snootiest word I’ll be using this month.

 

Update on my other project…

Stealth Students

 

Tasks/Chores/Challenges:

  1. Went to online photo sources to try to get some working images of my characters.
  2. Not sure if I need to pick up the pace of the action. [Keeping in mind the age and preferences of readership.] It always feels like it’s dragging to me, but details are needed.
  3. I generally don’t provide enough description, so I have to balance that with keeping the action moving.
  4. Just recently local writer Gary Corbin reminded his audience that each scene needs to lead to some kind of change in character or action. Will try to keep that in mind.

Here’s a question about photographs…

So, I took photos of folks in a parade years ago.

I looked into acceptable uses of the photos and this page provided some clarification.

One key point: You need permission from the subject if the picture is used for commercial purposes. Okay, no problem there.

But what if the person is NOT recognizable? See below. Do I still need permission from this Chewbacca clone? [Not that I have any clue who or where this person is now. Hey, even fingerprints wouldn’t help. ;->]

If anyone can clear this up, I would appreciate it.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Curation Station, May 18th

A few favorites I’ve come across recently:

curation image magnifying glass

  1. http://www.mykitaab.in/ I’ve enjoyed these instructive podcasts on writing/publishing. Episodes have included a number of Indian authors, but also Joanna Penn and Paul Brodie, who churns out a number of well-targeted ebooks.
  2. Though the title is a little deceptive, Consistency Will Make You Feel Like a Loser should give you a quick jolt of inspiration to hang in there.
  3. Daily sub-ten minute podcasts from https://sidehustleschool.com/ are not only interesting, but they are thought-provoking and inevitably spur a fair amount of ‘Gee, I wonder if…’ kind of thinking. This is one of Chris Guillebeau’s latest ventures. He’s currently in Amsterdam, but will soon be back at work on the 2017 World Domination Summit in Portland, OR this July.