Short Story Benefits

 

Short Story Benefits by Deborah Lyn Stanley

Writing short stories is a great way to build skills and enrich our writing practice. Many writers use short story writing to develop a strong style and voice.

Free writing is a useful method for starting. Use prompts if you prefer. Anticipate that you will hit a kernel you can develop; go on with it and choose an inspiring image that relates. Paste the image to the top corner of your first page as a thumbnail. It will help you focus and to ignite your story.

Writers garner income from competition wins, and selling short stories to magazines. Competitions and Magazines expect short stories to be fiction. If you have a personal experience you want to use, fictionalize it.

Story starters or prompts work your imagination. You can use images, nouns from your life’s journey, nouns from the dictionary, or historical events; ex. While traveling to a new job, in a new town, he gets lost in unknown territory—a forest or desert, etc.

Now Write! Add structure, characters, descriptions, setting, dialogue to your story. You might select your characters based upon people you know. Describe interesting traits, habits, and looks---but mix it up so they are fresh characters. Stories are expected to have a crisis, a defining moment, that changes a character’s life or perspective forever. Build it.
(Check out Now Write: https://www.nowwrite.net/fiction/ )

Stories love structure!
The links below help empower your storytelling adventure!

Mia Botha, Writers Write
https://www.writerswrite.co.za/how-to-write-a-short-story-all-the-tips-youll-ever-need/

How to Write a Short Story That Captivates Your Reader, Jerry Jenkins
https://jerryjenkins.com/how-to-write-short-stories/

And my review:
How To Write Short Stories and Use Them to Further Your Writing Career by James Scott Bell,
a Book Review
https://www.amazon.com/Write-Stories-Further-Writing-Career

Each chapter of this book broadens our knowledge and paints an exciting picture for growth through short story writing. Its focus is crafting stories, fundamentally strong; flash fiction, short stories, or book length. It includes samples of five short stories to emphasize key points of structure that identify and analyze the strength of each story. Best of all, the book encourages writing short stories; it will improve our writing.
The author’s intent is to strengthen writers for a lasting career of productivity and publication. I used the book to learn the keys to story structure and to help me develop viable story ideas.

I recommend this helpful, instructive book to enhance our writer’s journey.

Deborah Lyn Stanley is an author of Non-Fiction. She writes articles, essays and stories.
She is passionate about caring for the mentally impaired through creative arts.
Visit her My Writer’s Life website at: https://deborahlynwriter.com/   
Visit her caregiver’s website: https://deborahlyncaregiver.com/

Mom & Me: A Story of Dementia and the Power of God’s Love is available:
at Amazon & https://books2read.com/b/valuestories

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The Frugal Editor & Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips || Combined Book Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Frugal Editor & Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips Combined Book Review of Carolyn Howard-Johnson's landmark Editing Books.    Reviews by Deborah Lyn Stanley

Book Review || The Frugal Editor, Do-it-yourself editing secrets for authors: From your query letter to final manuscript to the marketing of your new bestseller by Carolyn Howard-Johnson

Today I am sharing my favorite self-editing book. Carolyn Howard-Johnson is a friend and co-contributor to Writer’s On The Move (WOTM).  She is a consistent source of encouragement for the writer’s journey!

Carolyn’s delivery style is down to earth, illuminating, & frugal in its time saving, headache preventing approach. My favorite aspect of her book includes the basics required for an effective writer’s practice, and the seven thorough Appendices:

*Appendix One, “Editing At A Glance”,
*Followed by Recommended Reading & Resources,
*A Generous Agents List,
*Sample Cover and Sample Query Letters, and
*Formatting for Kindle Made Easy.

The Goal of the book is to equip aspiring and accomplished authors with the best self-editing skills and tips for successful publishing.

I highly recommend this book. It’s refreshing, informative and empowers our writers' journey.

Thank you Carolyn Howard-Johnson!

DON’T MISS THE FOLLOW ON …

Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips for Writers, The Ultimate Frugal Reference Guide for Avoiding Word Trippers and Crafting Gatekeeper-Perfect Copy by Carolyn Howard-Johnson  *second edition

My favorite self-editing book just got better, with its second edition addendum book of Great Little Last-Minute Tips. I enjoy Carolyn’s down-to-earth and humorous writing style. It enlightens, is a kick and prevents headaches too.

This little book is powerful with pointers from the depth of her knowledge, writing and editing expertise. This is NOT a boring grammar/editing book. Carolyn’s Word Trippers are full of surprises and fun to make us better writers, better communicators, and better at doing the job we set out to do.

I highly recommend this book, too!
Thanks again Carolyn Howard-Johnson!

Thank you, Carolyn Howard-Johnson for providing me a review book copy of “Great Little Last-Minute Editing tips for Writers”.  I was not required to write a positive review, I receive no compensation, and it was my choice to write this review. All comments and opinions are solely my own.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson has been promoting her own books and helping clients promote theirs for more than a decade. Her marketing plan for the second book in the HowToDoItFrugally Series of books for writers, The Frugal Editor, won the Next Generation Millennium Award for Marketing. The just-released third edition of The Frugal Book Promoter, published by Modern History Press, is New, Expanded, and Updated. Her poetry, fiction and nonfiction books have been honored by the likes of Writer’s Digest, USA Book News Award, the Irwin award, Dan Poynter’s Global Ebook Awards and more. Learn more about Carolyn and her books of fiction and poetry. Each of them helped her learn more about maximizing marketing efforts for different writers, different titles. Learn more at www.howtodoitfrugally.com
Links:
https://howtodoitfrugally.com/
http://www.writersonthemove.com/

 

Deborah Lyn Stanley is an author of Creative Non-Fiction. She writes articles, essays and stories. She is passionate about caring for the mentally impaired through creative arts.
Visit her My Writer’s Life website at: https://deborahlynwriter.com/   
Visit her caregiver’s website: https://deborahlyncaregiver.com/

Mom & Me: A Story of Dementia and the Power of God’s Love is available:
https://www.amazon.com/Deborah-Lyn-Stanley/
& https://books2read.com/b/valuestories

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Different Types of Writing

 

by Mindy Lawrence

When someone discovers you’re a writer, the first thing they ask is what books you’ve published. Novels are one form of writer but not the only type by any means. All forms of writing are valid. A journalist is not less important than a novelist. Neither is a business writer less important than an essayist. Each type of writing has its reasons to be. Each type of writing has its goal.

Here are five types of writing with an example for each:

Narrative Writing
James Baldwin reflects on his life as a Black man in early- to mid-twentieth-century America with his narrative essays. He tells about the way he was brought up, where, and what it looked and felt like.

“Notes of a Native Son” by James Baldwin
“Harlem, physically at least, has changed very little in my parents’ lifetime or in mine. Now as then the buildings are old and in desperate need of repair, the streets are crowded and dirty, there are too many human beings per square block.”
https://www.skillshare.com/blog/5-examples-of-narrative-writing/

Immediately there is the visualization of a place that is crowded and untended. In just a few words, Baldwin shows us the whole of Harlem at that time.

Descriptive Writing
In descriptive writing, a writer tries to paint a word picture of an event or a place. In this piece, Joyce Carol Oates describes an upper New York classroom.

"Inside District School #7, Niagara County, New York"
by Joyce Carol Oates
"Inside, the school smelled smartly of varnish and wood smoke from the potbellied stove. On gloomy days, not unknown in upstate New York in this region south of Lake Ontario and east of Lake Erie, the windows emitted a vague, gauzy light, not much reinforced by ceiling lights. We squinted at the blackboard, that seemed far away since it was on a small platform, where Mrs. Dietz's desk was also positioned, at the front, left of the room. We sat in rows of seats, smallest at the front, largest at the rear, attached at their bases by metal runners, like a toboggan; the wood of these desks seemed beautiful to me, smooth and of the red-burnished hue of horse chestnuts. The floor was bare wooden planks. An American flag hung limply at the far left of the blackboard and above the blackboard, running across the front of the room, designed to draw our eyes to it avidly, worshipfully, were paper squares showing that beautifully shaped script known as Parker Penmanship."
https://www.thoughtco.com/model-descriptive-paragraphs-1690573

Persuasive Writing
Persuasive writing shares information or attempts to entertain or persuade. They are closely related to argumentative essays. It attempts to persuade a person to a certain point of view. Click the link for a sample.
https://youtu.be/O2dEuMFR8kw

Expository Writing
Expository writing Is nonfiction. It explains a topic logically without emotion or opinion. The writer assumes that the reader has little or no information on the topic so must make the reader aware. Types of expository essays include: Cause and Effect Essay, Problem and Solution Essay, Comparison and Contrast Essay, Definition Essay, Classification Essay and Process Essay.

Sample Expository Essay on the Silk Road:  https://academichelp.net/samples/academics/essays/expository/the-silk-road.html

Creative Writing
Creative writing includes fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. Here’s an example from The Hobbit.

The Hobbit
J.R.R Tolkien
“Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
https://www.quotes.net/mquote/1096347

Review Writing
Aside from these forms of writing, there is also Review Writing. It’s a combination of descriptive, objective, and subjective writing designed to let readers know if they are interested in a particular book, author. It also can be the review of a product to interest an individual to buy or not buy it.

In book reviews, A review will offer a concise plot summary of the book. It will offer an evaluation of the  work. It will also offer a recommendation for the audience.

Kirkus Reviews: The Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison (Excerpt)

“An extremely powerful story of a young Southern Negro, from his late high school days through three years of college to his life in Harlem.

His early training prepared him for a life of humility before white men, but through injustices- large and small, he came to realize that he was an "invisible man". People saw in him only a reflection of their preconceived ideas of what he was, denied his individuality, and ultimately did not see him at all. This theme, which has implications far beyond the obvious racial parallel, is skillfully handled…”
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ralph-ellison/invisible-man/

Read the type of writing you are interested in and learn from it. Keep on writing!

LINKS to helpful information:
5 Types of Writing Styles, Skillshare.com
https://www.skillshare.com/blog/the-5-types-of-writing-styles-with-examples/

Different Types of Writing, Different Types.net
https://www.differenttypes.net/types-of-writing/

10 Different Types of Writing styles: Which One Do You Enjoy, Software Testing Help.com
https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/different-types-of-writing-styles/

6 Persuasive Writing Strategies, Grammarly
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/persuasive-writing/

What Aristotle and Joshua Bell can Teach Us About Persuasion, YouTube
https://youtu.be/O2dEuMFR8kw

17 Review Example to Help you Write the Perfect Review. Reedsy Discovery
https://reedsy.com/discovery/blog/book-review-examples?gclid=CjwKCAiAg6yRBhBNEiwAeVyL0PnD6vrNVVPYFogNFgFyvRycANklwyd5tZZ7jRMKiIGsVvDrLJNhchoC60QQAvD_BwE

Mindy Lawrence is a writer, ghost blogger, and artist based in Farmington, Missouri. She worked for the State of Missouri for over 24 years and moved to Farmington in 2020.

She proofread the Sharing with Writers newsletter by Carolyn Howard-Johnson and wrote “An Itty-Bitty Column on Writing” there for ten years. She has been published in Writers' Digest magazine and interviewed by NPR’s All Things Considered.

Marketing Tips for Writers

 

 

 

Marketing Tips for Writers, by Deborah Lyn Stanley

Promotion is sharing what we find important with people who appreciate hearing about it. Marketing is about the reader; who are they and what are they are looking for? The answers help develop your target market and competition awareness.  

It’s all about getting readers to find your writing.

This path helps guide to best planning. Whatever stage you’re in, it’s always a good time to outline and review our Marketing Plan. Whether you write fiction or non-fiction, consider where readers would find books or articles like yours, and make sure they can find yours as well.

Ways to market & promote —
Make the task frequency doable, choose what works for you:
•    Create your web-presence, aka an author’s website—your platform
•    Blog actively & often
•    Collect the best keywords and category designations for search optimization—in bookstores, online searches, and for your web-presence
•    Social Media posting—choose the social media platform that works best for you.
       -LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter
       -Post often using images and videos
       -Always link back to your website post/page
•    Create a newsletter and use email blasts each month or at least quarterly
•    Start a Podcast: see link below for details to get started.
•    Publish an audiobook
•    Some suggest blogging daily is the best. I suggest listening to your readership and follow their patterns. I become annoyed receiving daily posts overloading my email and unsubscribed when it occurs. Also, daily blogging doesn’t work with my schedule.

Critical Details for Reader Searching & Finding your book or article:
•    Genre, choose the most applicable genre listing—listen to your readers and where they search
•    Price to fit the market
•    Metadata is also a vehicle for promoting your work. Metadata is information about your book, the title, sub-title, sales description, categories and author bio. Optimize its use.

Find the perfect promo fit. Make marketing work for you consistently.

Book List & Podcast Link:
*Successful Self-Publishing & How to Market a Book by Joanna Penn https://www.thecreativepenn.com/

*The Frugal Book Promoter by Carolyn Howard-Johnson https://howtodoitfrugally.com/ 

*Starting a Podcast: https://www.thepodcasthost.com/planning/how-to-start-a-podcast/
 

 Deborah Lyn Stanley is an author of Creative Non-Fiction. She writes articles, essays and stories. She is passionate about caring for the mentally impaired through creative arts.
Visit her My Writer’s Life website at: https://deborahlynwriter.com/   
Visit her caregiver’s website: https://deborahlyncaregiver.com/
Available on Amazon --- Mom & Me: A Story of Dementia and the Power of God’s Love ||  www.amazon.com/Deborah-Lyn-Stanley/

Facebook: Deborah Lyn Stanley, Writer    https://www.facebook.com/deborahlynwriter/?modal=admin_todo_tour 

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Tips for Journal Writing

We push forward to reach our writing goals, experience the pains, and grow through the struggle.  Let’s journal to settle in, put thoughts in order, and explore ideas that can springboard into article, essay or story—stepping closer to our milestones. In addition, journal writing relieves stress and provides a private place to work out issues.

Nine Tips:
• Write for yourself. Write daily, even just a little.
• A digital or handwritten journal is great for recording your thoughts, experiences and observations.
• Journaling helps develop your writer’s voice, write more conversationally, and practice.
• Continue from where you are right now. Capture the myriad of thoughts by free writing, working a book outline, or resolving what your character does next.
• Explore new ideas for promoting your business, your website or your blog. 
• Consider writing a series of posts to connect with your readers.
• Break down goal expectations and schedule milestones in doable pieces, baby steps too.
• I recommend, “The Story Within” by Laura Oliver. Chapter 9 titled “Journal to Freedom”. I find her book and particularly this chapter meaningful in my quest to enlarge my journaling experience and writing practice.
• You might find idea sparks at Creative Writing Now: https://www.creative-writing-now.com/what-is-a-journal.html

Steinbeck was a champion of journaling.  https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/03/02/john-steinbeck-working-days/
Working Days: The Journals of The Grapes of Wrath Paperback – December 1, 1990
“John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath during an astonishing burst of activity between June and October of 1938. Throughout the time he was creating his greatest work, Steinbeck faithfully kept a journal revealing his arduous journey toward its completion."

How do you use journal writing and what tip would you add to the list?

Deborah Lyn Stanley is an author of Creative Non-Fiction. She writes articles, essays and stories. She is passionate about caring for the mentally impaired through creative arts.
Visit her web-blog: Deborah Lyn Stanley : MyWriter's Life

Time Management Tips

First off, I want to wish you a very Joyous Holiday Season from all of us at WOTM ! We appreciate you all and wish you the best!  

Time Management is a hot topic periodically. Today I want to offer you two ideas to consider if you haven’t already done so. We juggle meetings and deadlines, step-out goal plans, and handle a myriad of correspondence tasks each day. How do we keep track of all of this? It takes experimenting until we find the best system that fits for each of us. Almost every system requires modification to work well. So, we need a flexible system.

I set up a color highlighted Goal Plan spreadsheet on Excel to list my: 

•    Year End Completion Goals
•    Monthly Deadlines
•    Meeting Commitments
•    Weekly Progress
•    Columns for notes

Does it work well? Yes, as a birds-eye view for the year. I keep it on my desk but only refer to it periodically. But, does it help guide my work day by day? No. I need something more.

Two writing friends referred me to the Best Self Journal goal and scheduling strategy. (Check it out: https://bestself.co/products/self-journal ) It’s an interesting and effective way to stay on top of your schedule and increase your efficiency. 

My schedule has several areas of repetition each day. Because of this, the daily log didn’t work for me. I used a spreadsheet to adapt a weekly schedule.  The graphic above is what I set up to incorporate several areas of the Best Self Journal plan. After a few weeks, I found I wasn’t relying on my plan but rather continued to scratch notes here and there.

Talking about the Best Self Journal with another writer brought up her scheduling strategy—The Bullet Journal. She showed me how she was successful in using the Bullet Journal over several months. So, I tried it. I set up my Index, Future Log for the next 6 months, Monthly Log and Daily logs (as a ‘week at a glance’). I liked how it flowed for a month and have continued. It’s working! 

It is hand written, but I find that setting up my pages at the beginning of each month helps me re-focus and doesn’t take long. I use a dot grid notebook (~5.75” X 8.25”) and insert tabs for the Index and active Month. Check out the Bullet Journal: http://bulletjournal.com/ .

I’d appreciate hearing about your time management strategies. Please comment. Thanks much.

Deborah Lyn Stanley is a writer, artist, and editor. She is a retired project manager who now devotes her time to writing, art and caregiving mentally impaired seniors. Deborah writes articles, essays and stories. She has published a collection of 24 artists’ interviews entitled the Artists Interview Series. Careful editing preserves each artist’s voice as they share their journey. The series published as monthly articles for an online news network, can also be found on her web-blog: Deborah Lyn Stanley : My Writer's Life . Her “How-To” articles have appeared in magazines.

“Write your best, in your voice, your way!”

Easy Tips to Achieve Your Goals

Last January, my husband and I received pedometers as a New Years gift from our son.  He was nudging us towards more exercise.  It worked.  Why?  I think there were two reasons--we had daily visual cues and a goal buddy.  Our fitbit pedometers provided us with a daily visual of the amount of exercise we were getting.  We set a target of 15,000 steps a day.  My husband was my goal buddy and we held each other accountable for reaching the 15,000 steps.  Six months into this experiment, I lost my pedometer.  Within a month, my steps took a significant drop.  I had lost my visual cue and when my husband couldn’t see my steps, he stopped holding me accountable. I just bought a new pedometer, I’m sure I’ll once again reach my exercise goal.  

I’m someone who needs to build support and structure around my resolutions.  This applies to most areas of my life.  I’ve used similar strategies to achieve my writing goals.  Creating visual cues and having a goal buddy has kept my writing on track.

Here are a few strategies to boost your writing life.

1.       Create visual cues that remind you of your writing goals. 

a.       Design a vision board.  Put pictures, words and phrases that represent your story and your publishing goals.  Are you hoping for a book contract?  Draw a contract on this board. You can create a vision board for one manuscript or your whole writing life.   Enjoy the process.  Arts and crafts are good for the soul of a writer.

b.      Stick post-it notes all around your house...on your nightstand…bathroom mirror…computer.   Write the title of the book or project and your goal. (Finish first draft by Feb 1^st; identify two ideas for marketing plan by Friday)

c.       Use mind mapping to outline all your projects.  See the post by Shirley Corder on mind mapping and writing.  She hand drew her mind map.  I prefer using software like freeplane or freemind.  Below is a mind map of my children's writing projects.

2.       Find a goal buddy to connect with once a week or every other week. 

a.       Find an online partner.  Instead of exchanging manuscripts, share a weekly goal and then check in once a week to discuss your progress.  A goal buddy should help you establish achievable goals for the week.

b.      Phone a friend.  Select a friend that you’ll call the same time each week to discuss your weeks accomplishments and set your goals for the coming week.

These techniques provide me with the structure I need to stay disciplined in my writing.  What strategies have you used to boost your writing? 

Mary Jo Guglielmo is a writer, teacher and intuitive life coach. She helps clients push through their blocks, envision their path and take the necessary action to live their True North. 

For more information check out 

http://theadvantagepoint.wordpress.com

http://helpingchidrencope.blogspot.com

http://twitter.com/do_north

http://facebook.com/DoNorth.biz

Tips for Writing Engaging Romance

I asked Romance Author Amber Lea Easton to sizzle up our blog today with some tips on writing romance. This is a growing market with all types of sub-genres, allowing the new to experienced writer to spread their wings and add some love to their book.

With Valentine’s Day only a few days away and lots of inspiration peeking around corners…maybe this little guest post will give you some new manuscript ideas.

Tips for Writing Engaging Romance

By Amber Lea Easton

All novels, regardless of genre, need captivating characters and hooks that pull the readers into the story.  Romance, in particular, is a character driven, highly charged genre.  In all great love stories, there needs to be an emotional connection, not just between the characters, but between them and the readers as well.  How do we novelists write engaging/believable romance without being cliché, crass or cheesy?  After all, emotion can go over-the-top if we’re not careful. 

 Flawed characters.  No one is perfect, even if the hero looks like a Greek God and makes you drool.  In order for the reader to connect, there must be a vulnerability that makes the character human.  Why root for someone if we think they’re superficial or mean?  

Attraction.  You may think that’s easy to write, but it isn’t.  Saying, “wow, he’s hot” is lame. Think about it...when you’re attracted to someone, don’t you have a physical reaction?  When I write attraction, I don’t tell the readers I show them through nonverbal cues.  In Riptide, when Lauren first interacts with Noah, I write, “little earthquakes of desire rocked through her until she thought she’d fall off the stool.”  For attraction to jump off the page, the reader needs to feel what’s happening, imagine being on that stool and talking with that man.  Non-verbal physical reactions are key to engaging the reader in this area, which we all know is a key element of any romance novel. 

Conflict. Nothing worth having comes easily, isn’t that the saying? Even though there is the attraction, there needs to be a conflict to overcome whether it’s trust issues, betrayal, or, because I write suspense, a life and death situation.  Even though I have the suspense in my novels that provides a natural plot conflict, there are still human conflicts that need to be worked out to make the characters believable.  We all have baggage--past heartbreaks, abandonment issues and what not--so the characters need those as well.

Sexual tension and sex.  The sex needs to come at a natural time in the evolution of the relationship, just like in real life. Now this timing varies from story to story depending on character development, but the readers truly need to be saying, “will they ever just rip each other’s clothes off already” before I give them satisfaction.  Writing sexual tension is fun...prolonging the actual act, building up to it...not only do the readers shift in the chairs with anticipation but so do the characters, which makes it all that much more rewarding when the sex scenes finally happen. 

Engaging romance readers is all about tugging at their heartstrings and making the characters as believable as possible.  We all want to be rooting for the happy ending and smiling when we turn the last page.  

Amber Lea Easton is a multi-published fiction and nonfiction author. For twenty years, she's worked in the fields of journalism and advertising with a brief detour into the financial industry.  Although she holds a BA in Communications & Journalism, she is a perpetual student of life who enjoys taking courses on a wide variety of subjects when time allows.  Smart is sexy, according to Easton, which is why she writes about strong female characters who have their flaws and challenges, but who ultimately persevere.

Easton currently lives with her two teenagers in the Colorado Rocky Mountains where she gives thanks daily for the gorgeous view outside her window. She finds inspiration from traveling, the people she meets, nature and life’s twists and turns. At the end of the day, as long as she's writing, she considers herself to be simply "a lucky lady liv'n the dream."

The World of Ink Network is touring author Amber Lea Easton’s contemporary romantic suspense (adventure) novel, Riptide throughout February and March 2013. You can find out more about Amber Lea Easton, Riptide and her World of Ink Author/Book Tour at http://tinyurl.com/a2azncg

To learn more about the World of Ink Tours visit http://worldofinknetwork.com

 

Visit Amber at:

Website - http://www.amberleaeaston.com

Blog - http://amberleaeaston.blogspot.com

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAmberLeaEaston

Twitter - @MtnMoxieGirl