More on my journey

I have been incredibly remiss on sharing my personal story about writing and getting published. I hope to remedy that this month by posting regular updates.

My daily vlog for April showed me that I can complete a challenge, so this month, I will be writing regularly and posting on this blog to let readers know about my journey, my frustrations, my successes (hopefully), and even setbacks.

What sort of story can I make of myself? I often wonder if I were a character in a book, would ‘she’ be a hero or villain? Would people care to follow along in her adventures? Does she even tackle her problems to overcome adversary and find her destination? That sort of shook me a bit.

No more excuses. Its go time! Carpe Diem! Tally-ho! And all that. I need to share more about my writer’s journey, and let my readers hop aboard to join in the ride.

I haven’t decided on details on how often to post, or what I’ll be posting exactly, but I will share more in future posts.

Wish me luck!

“Sharon mentally took inventory of the proper grammar, story lots, characters, and other tools she’d need on her journey. Time, creativity, and other abstracts intermingled with the inner editor, unceremoniously shoved into the inner pocket. His muffled protests went unnoticed, while the creative muse sat on the top, close to the ear, to whisper ideas and share her magic.

Taking a deep breath, the would-be author set fingers in the proper placement on the keyboard. “Let’s begin.” She whispered….”

Technorati Tags: writing,frootbat31,a writer’s journey,author,blog,stories,novel,fiction

Writer Wednesday: Becomingawriterblog.com

I found this site the other day, and felt its streamlined, straight-forward style refreshing.  The author, Angela Greenfield, offers posts on so many writing topics, including prompts.

She covers such topics for fiction writing as character development, inspiration, and dialogue, but also includes a category for non-fiction as well.

I think she needs to add more in the way of posts, of course, but the site is easy to navigate and get where you want to go.

Technorati Tags: wednesday writer,author,blog,character,inspiration

Top 10 Things I Learned About Writing (includes video)

I’ve been working on this April Daily Vlog Challenge I put to myself, to vlog every day. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to talk about just one subject, but I decided to pick a few days out of each week to talk about writing.

The video “Top 10 Things I Learned About Writing” includes that which I discovered as truths to the writing process.

They are;

1. Doubt is part of the writing process.
2. You don’t need to start at the very beginning of a novel.
3. Good spelling, grammar, and punctuation are the tools of our trade- don’t underestimate them!
4. Learn the writing rules to better understand when and where you can break them.
5. Feedback is essential to the writing process.
6. There is no secret (no special trick) to writing.
7. Rejection is a part of the publishing process.
8. Self publishing is quickly losing its stigma as a publishing cheat.
9. Different genres of writing often have different rules.
10. Final drafts are crap (and should you shouldn’t expect them to be perfect)

In the video, I go over a bit more depth over each, but bear in mind that I’m still getting used to the vlogging medium, and a bit nervous still about presenting myself. I’d appreciate ideas, comments, feedback (constructive), and hope you enjoy the video.

 

WordPress Tags: video, writing, author, publishing, frootbat31, blog

Windows Live Writer- Awesome blogging tool

I find blogging through the Blogger or WordPress sites lacks certain formatting features I use on a regular basis.

Windows Live Writer (free download program) provides those features, and works with a number of blogging services. 

The features:

- Backups- I found a number of times, I lost my blog posts due to a browser crash when using Blogger or WordPress web sites. Using the Live Writer lets me backup on my computer, or save as a draft (not published) to the web site. Once saved to my hard drive, I can back up to flash drive or cloud drive as I wish.

- Formatting- I like adding graphics and embed videos into my posts, and the Live Writer makes it easier. I can also include HTML that Blogger/Wordpress might otherwise not allow me.

- Choices for add ons- You can download extensions to Live Writer that will create tag/labels for you, make graphic appear as Polaroid’s, notifications to social sites, and more.

- Allows choice- The blog services provide features, which are still there if I choose to use them, but I prefer to back to hard drive. I enjoy using the Live Writer program in addition to the blog post features the web sites provide.

Do you post directly or do you use a third party program to do your blogging? Post in comments.

Technorati Tags: writing,blog,live writer,third party blog software,live writer add on,blog formatting

The Blog Writer…thoughts on bloggers

While exploring the medium of video blogging on Youtube, I’m also exploring what appeals to the viewer in the way of blogs and youtube channels.

For instance, most blogs have a shtick, or specific topic. Here are some examples of vloggers (video bloggers):

Freddiew- Freddie Wong is an American movie maker who focuses his youtube channel on entertaining short films. He also shares the behind-the-scenes movie making videos.

Real Life Mario Kart

Gamer Commute

CGP Grey, on the other hand, focuses informative and educational videos, crammed full of facts. He does this with a wonderful flare of humor as well.

Coffee, The Greatest Addiction

How to Become Pope

Although the medium is video, I find the content entertaining, and even informative.  The channels are, however, specific to something. Viewers go there, subscribe to them, anticipating more of the same.

I found some amazing author vlogs as well;

Vlogbrothers- With bestseller author, John Green, and his brother, Hank Green, vlog back and forth to one another.  You’ll find tons of topics, but their theme touches upon sharing thoughts and information to one another. He shares his experience as a writer on his video A Day in the life of a writer (who has no friends).

JacksonAPearce- This author shares her opinions as well as her experiences as an author. Her video Misconceptions covers author misconceptions people have about writing.

Although the non-writing topics can be interesting, its their experiences with becoming authors that bring me back.

Other blog, not writer related, includes the same gimmick with sticking to a theme.

Some examples include:

The Featured Creature- This blog posts regularly interesting animals, often adding photos or even video. You can find other blogs talking about animals, but this offers stunning photography with amazing animals. You’ll find the exotic, the gorgeous, and even bizarre creatures at this site.

The Bloggess- Although she writes on a many different topics, her gimmick includes a special snarkiness and humor. She is, in fact, the Queen of Snark, and well worth reading her popular post, And here is why you should learn to pick your battles which left me in stitches. Its hilarious.

My youtube channel is a bit too  mix-and-match. I talk about homeschool, my spirituality, my pets, and sometimes tutorials on word processing. I don’t have a shtick. I’m not that entertaining. I’m not sure how informative I am, and doubts continually scream at me to just stop. I have to wonder if other blogger and vlogger feel the same.

What are your thoughts? Are you a fan of a specific vlog/blogger? What keeps you coming back? What’s the appeal? Post in comments.

Technorati Tags: vlog,blog,youtube,jackson pearce,john green,the bloggess,writer,author

 

 

 

Writer Wednesday: The Write Turn

I have enough trouble figuring out left from right, east to west, but The Write Turn certainly provides helpful information in which direction to go as a writer of short story fiction.

You see what I did there? Using a play on words…yeah, whatever…

It’s a streamlined site, easy to navigate, and includes pages on ‘how to’, story idea, writing exercises, publishing, the writing life, and competitions. The Write Turn offers tons of basic information on writing, offering plenty of reading material as well as exercises and food for thought.

Planning a short story

5 Basic Ways to Self-publish a Book

How to Write Using Writing Rituals (I needed this one)

That’s just a few of the posts you can find there. The author also offers a free book of writing prompts if you sign up for updates.

If you know of any bloggers, vloggers, authors, or other writers, post in comments or email so I can share on my Wednesday posts.

Technorati Tags: wednesday writer,author,blog,fictions,short story writing,competition,self publish,plot device,planning