 Every new writer will go through a crisis. It doesn’t matter what type of writer you are. Every writer will think that they should give up. They will believe that they aren’t good enough, that their writing is lame, that it’s full of clichés, that their ideas aren’t original, that they will never have happy readers…. You get the gist (I’ve thought all of those things and more).
These thoughts may only last for a day, or they may come and go for years, crippling you emotionally. I want to say, “Don’t give up.” Stand up to these thoughts! Who are they to tell you to give up a part of yourself? Push them aside. Remember that writing is a journey which doesn’t end. Every story you write will be better than the last. Every experience you have will broaden your mind and allow you to create more elaborate settings, characters, and plot lines. If you read a story you have written and find a million things wrong with it, then understand that you actually accomplished something that many people find difficult. You wrote a story. “If you love writing, then write.” That is a favourite saying of mine. Don’t let pressure or negativity get in the way. Your first story will never be your best, but it would have been the best you could do at the time. Everybody improves with time and practice. If one particular story isn’t working out for you then don’t be afraid to put it aside and start something new. So don’t give up on writing, be strong and proud of your abilities. Later in life, you’ll thank yourself.
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 “An author knows his landscape best; he can stand around, smell the wind, get a feel for his place.” ― Tony Hillerman “Description is what makes the reader a sensory participant in the story. Good description is a learned skill, one of the prime reasons you cannot succeed unless you read a lot and write a lot." ― Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft If you’re interested in writing historical fiction one of the best ways to research the setting is to investigate the memoirs and accounts of people from the era in question. Encyclopedias, picture books and the internet can all give you information, but to transport yourself back in time nothing compares to eyewitness accounts. What did it feel like to be there? Personal accounts can also give you wonderful historical details or even character and plot ideas. Certainly they can help you create a believable scene. In other words, historical accounts are pure writing gold just waiting to be tapped for your own story. Famous events were often recorded by a number of people. By finding different accounts of the same event you can experience the scene from multiple viewpoints. Take for example these accounts about the arrival of Union soldiers at Gettysburg the day before the great battle on Tuesday, June 30, 1863. Tillie Pierce and Daniel Skelly were both teenagers who lived in the town. James Kidd was an officer with the Union cavalry arriving at Gettysburg. Note the details and the emotions of these accounts:  A great number of Union cavalry began to arrive in the town… It was to me a novel and grand sight. I had never seen so many soldiers at one time. They were Union soldiers and that was enough for me, for I then knew we had protection, and I felt they were our dearest friends… A crowd of “us girls” were standing on the corner of Washington and High Streets as these soldiers passed by. Desiring to encourage them, who, as we were told, would before long be in battle, my sister started to sing the old war song “Our Union Forever.” As some of us did not know the whole of the piece we kept repeating the chorus. --Tillie Pierce  Surely now we were safe and the Confederate army would never reach Gettysburg . . . General Buford sat on his horse in the street in front of me, entirely alone, facing to the west in profound thought . . . It was the only time I ever saw the general and his calm demeanor and soldierly appearance . . . made a deep impression on me. --Daniel Skelly  It was a gala day. The people were out in force, and in their Sunday attire to welcome the troopers in blue. The church bells rang out a joyous peal, and dense masses of beaming faces filled the streets, as the narrow column of fours threaded its way through their midst. Lines of men stood on either side, with pails of water or apple-butter, and passed a “sandwich” to each soldier as he passed. At intervals of a few feet, were bevies of women and girls, who handed up bouquets and wreaths of flowers. By the time the center of the town was reached, every man had a bunch of flowers in his hand, or a wreath around his neck . . . The people were overjoyed, and received us with an enthusiasm and a hospitality born of full hearts. --Colonel James. H. Kidd, 6th Michigan Cavalry How does one find such accounts? A good way of researching nonfiction is using Google Books. Each of the accounts noted here were published before 1923 and therefore within the public domain and available in their entirety on Google Books. Harvard University and other institutions have made copies of their rare book collections available for download. By typing in a key word on Google Books you will spread a wide net and catch many interesting things to explore. When researching for my book on Gettysburg, I was able to discover a number of obscure, long out of print and forgotten sources this way. A number of those finds turned out to be pure research gems for my writing.  Another good way to find accounts is to check the sources used in larger historical works in the end notes or bibliography. Tap into someone’s expertise. If you are writing a ghost story set in Victorian England, find someone who knows about that era. Ask them if there are any accounts from that era you can read. It will save you buckets of time. Remember that historical accounts do not have to be someone’s published memoirs, they could be diary entries, letters, unpublished manuscripts, accounts from newspapers, even captions or notations made on photographs. The key thing to remember is even a modest amount of effort to read historical accounts will reward you with a great deal of useful details, ideas and above all, a better understanding of the events and times you wish to write about. About Iain Martin Iain Martin was born and raised in Owego, New York. Currently he is the National Accounts Manager for Tantor Media, a division of Recorded Books in Old Saybrook, CT. Iain received a MA in American History from Southern Connecticut State University in 2000. He is the author of several books on military and American history. In 2013 he published a YA nonfiction title, Gettysburg: The True Account of Two Young Heroes in the Greatest Battle of the Civil War with Sky Pony Press. The book was selected for VOYA’s 2013 Nonfiction Honor List.
Iain’s blog, “Touched With Fire” http://iaincmartin.blogspot.com/ Amazon http://amzn.to/1Li8hG1 Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1PvlCk6 Twitter: https://twitter.com/IainCMartin Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1EVpkbi Part of my business as a freelance editor, proofreader and indexer is educating people about why they need an editor and how they can hire one more affordably than they think. Why didn’t we see that error or typo in our writing before we clicked on Send? It’s almost inevitable. You need a fresh pair of eyes. Proofreaders are trained to catch those mistakes and save you embarrassment: I recently proofread a 281-page book with typos on 30 them. Unfortunately, it was already published… [Proofreading is done at the end of the editing process and concurrently with the end of the publishing process. I only discuss it first because most writers begin their inquiries by asking for proofreading and then editing.] So what is editing, anyway? Let me tell you what it isn’t: it’s not a Mean Teacher type scribbling all over your pages with red pen (and most editing is done electronically now). It’s not a ‘quick look’ and it’s not a one-email reply. Good editing is an ongoing, collaborative, creative process. An editor should take time to get to know a little about you and about your written project, and then he will be able to tweak things that will make your writing even more polished. Your voice should be maintained, not stripped away. Basic errors will be corrected, but the writing itself should stay yours. A lot of writers feel they can’t afford editing. In the case of those seeking to be published and sell books, they can’t afford NOT to have an editor. Well-meaning friends and relatives are great for initial feedback, but you need a trained editor to work on your manuscript if you want a chance to be printed or to make sales. So here are some tips to reducing the number of hours, and dollars, required to get edited. 1. Keep all emails and take notes from all discussions so that decisions can be easily reviewed. That way, nobody is wasting precious time trying to reach each other and ask what had been decided about certain plans for the manuscript. 2. Send a tidy manuscript. Would you send a pile of messy, loose, mismatched papers in an envelope? An electronic file needs the same as a hard copy: a system of filing, order, identification and professional presentation. It’s hard to get started on the actual work when you have to sift through disorganized information first. 3. Strip out some basics on your own. A horror story need not be set in Gothic type. Someone who is going to closely read some 50,000 words needs a streamlined type such as Arial and a sensible font size ~ something that renders an average of 250 words per page. Also ensure that other elements of your manuscript are editor-ready: standard margins, black print on white background, properly formatted foot/endnotes and bibliography, and most importantly the whole manuscript! Adding more text later will elongate the editing timeline and the invoice will reflect that. 4. Send a style sheet along. Save time corresponding with the editor by making an alphabetical list of names and special spellings and other writing conventions that you used; the more you explain up front, the less time is spent consulting. 5. Share some concept art about your text. Do you have art, music or film examples of the mood and atmosphere you’re trying to evoke with your writing? Help the editor get inside your head by sharing them. 6. Respect the terms of payment. Don’t balk at a deposit to secure your place in line, and pay promptly for even better service: I give one of my clients a 25% discount because she routinely pays her invoices within the hour. 7. Don’t rely on computer programs to fix spelling, check grammar and make indexes. That’s like using Easy Bake Ovens to make delicious food. The market is saturated with writers all competing for exposure and sales: you need to stand out right from the start of the publishing process or you’ll stand less of a chance. Do you want to be the author of the book on Amazon where a reviewer writes, “Needs editing”? Editing is an integral part of writing a book. If you’d like more information about what an editor can do for you, contact me or your local branch of a freelance editors organization. About Vanessa Wells Vanessa was a Latin and English teacher for almost twenty years. Although it was hard to put down the textbooks, she is now happily ensconced in copy editing, proofreading and indexing, with more dictionaries than ever. She lives in Toronto, Canada with her writer husband and her cat, the children having flown the nest.
Vanessa Wells can be reached at Wells Read Editing by emailing wellsread@editors.ca, connecting to her LinkedIn profile at ca.linkedin.com/in/vanessawellseditor/, or following her on Twitter @vwellseditor.  Editing is the monster under the bed for many writers. It’s not fun for the most part. The first time I read through a new manuscript of mine I think, “Wow! I wrote all that?! YES!” Then I go back for the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th…. You get the gist. Every time I read through my work I see more mistakes, I find another plot hole, and I find paragraphs of useless wordsmithing which I know must be deleted.
This is one of the hardest parts of editing for me. I feel like I worked so hard on this masterpiece of a manuscript just to be forced to cull a load of my lovely words. Even if I know it is for the best, it still hurts. The rule I try to go by is, “If it doesn’t aid the story, get rid of it.” But sometimes this is difficult to know. As a writer, most of what I write feels like it is necessary. I feel like I need to give that added detail. It is hard to separate my imagination from the story and remember that it is up to the reader to imagine the story how they see fit. This is where I find new eyes are very helpful. Whether this is an editor or beta readers, or just some friends you give your work to. Honest feedback will help you to understand what parts of your manuscript are just not working or unnecessary. It won’t make the actual deleting part any easier on the heart! But at least you will understand what needs to go. Scarlett Van Dijk What strategies do you use to get rid of those unnecessary words? Generally when we think of fantasy novels, we think of epic volumes similar to the 1500 page Brandon Sanderson novels or the 14 book Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (later taken over by Brandon Sanderson). So when I wrote my first draft of Falls of Redemption several years ago and it came out to 160,000 words (roughly 600 pages), I thought I was off to a good start. I was keeping it short-ish, since this is recommended for new authors, and yet it was long enough to meet the standards of fantasy novels. Over the years of the revision process, my book changed drastically (as a book should), even to the point that I decided to publish it as 6 "Episodes," of about 100 pages each. "What-the-what?" you may ask. Here's my logic: Two main influences on my decision to go the episodic route were the "Self-Publishing Podcast" and watching how gaming companies are making a successful model out of episodic games. Self-Publishing Podcast: If you read my books (Creative Writing Career) or blog posts (CreativeWritingCareer.com), you know I'm a big fan of the Self-Publishing Podcast. The guys over there are prolific and amazingly open with their process and advice. They advise pushing out your episodes every week or two, but for many of us, that is a tight schedule. Since I am not as well known as them, I'm starting off with once a month for my Falls of Redemption serial, though I'll consider their schedule in the future as I pick up traction. My reasoning here is that this will allow me to properly market each book as they come out, and I can always push my last 3 or 4 books to a weekly or bi-weekly schedule if the demand is there. Some good points they make is that you have to still do proper editing and find professional looking covers, because you want to showcase yourself as a professional. The hard part there will be that if you are publishing 5 or 6 books in your "season," as serial books are often broken into, you don't want to have to pay someone to do 5 or 6 covers. Instead consider one cover with different color schemes, different enough to make it clear that they are different books. The Chronicles of Steele: Raven books do a great job of this, and I'd love to work with the cover artist of those. Games: One main reason I see episodic games being successful is that they break up the level of commitment into chunks. Some of us feel that a 40 hour game, or even a 15 hour game, is too much time to spend in front of the television hacking away at pixels. But if you give me 1.5 to 2 hours a month? Sure, I can manage that. So it works for parents and people with jobs, anyone really who finds that time is scarce. Maybe it works better for kids with lower attention spans? Like a game, fantasy novels can be huge commitments, but if you tell me I only have to read 100 pages and I'll be done with the first episode, I'm intrigued. I can give you enough time to read 100 pages, and if I don't like it, I don't read the rest. But it also works better for the producer of the material, because instead of waiting until the whole 12 hour game is developed, which would likely take a year or two, now the company can publish something every couple of months, and keep the audience engaged and excited. Likewise with a novel, instead of trying to edit a massive beast, now you can edit 100 page chunks -- and I would argue this could make your story better, because you're considering the pacing and plot in a specific part of your story. Like the screenwriter, you really should give this kind of attention to each scene, while keeping the bigger picture in mind the whole time. Pricing: Pricing is another factor here. With an episodic game I may have only spent $4.99 an episode, compared to as much as $60 for a traditional style game. While $10 for a novel may not sound like a lot, if I read a lot I'm going to go broke after a while. With serials I can charge $0.99 to $2.99 an episode, and give people a fun experience for much less money, time, and commitment. Now it's up to my story to pull them in and get them hooked. Returning to Your Roots: But if you want that massive fantasy novel, or whatever other genre novel, don't worry. After publishing your serial, or episodes, you can follow what other authors are doing and publish them all as one. If you do this, you'll have your 5 or 6 episodes, plus your book that contains them all, for a grand total of 6 or 7 books on Amazon helping you to get exposure. Serials may not be the way you want to present your book, but I hope I have given you something to think about. As an author who has done both, I can say there are some books that work better for it, and some that are great as standalone pieces. You have to make the call as the artist. To follow my adventures in the serial business, check out Falls of Redemption on Amazon. My other novels and non-fiction books can be found on Amazon as well, and the audiobooks are available on Amazon, iTunes, and Audible.com. Enjoy! About Justin M Sloan Justin Sloan is a video game writer at Telltale Games, where he writes on Game of Thrones. As a novelist, Justin has published several MG and YA novels, and is about to publish his first literary novel. He is also an optioned screenwriter. Justin studied writing at the Johns Hopkins University MA in Writing program and at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television's Professional Program in Screenwriting.
Justin was in the Marines for five years and has lived in Japan, Korea, and Italy. He currently lives with his amazing wife and children in the Bay Area, where he writes and enjoys life. www.JustinMSloan.com www.CreativeWritingCareer.com @JustinMSloan www.facebook.com/JustinSloanAuthor During a recent interview I was asked what I do if I get writer's block. At the time I didn't have an answer because it had never happened to me; writing had always come easily, although some days more easily than others. But a few months later–after I put my first young adult novel out in the world–I suddenly found myself either staring at a blank page or feeling like I was squeezing words out drop by drop. What had changed? I asked myself. It wasn't an issue of process; I'd already written several books before. It wasn't an issue of time; I had the same amount of time as I'd always had. I finally realized that the “block” was all in my head. My mind was literally getting in the way of the creative process. The truth is it's a scary process putting your work out into the world, particularly a novel like WISH, which is a very personal story. The book received wonderful reviews for the most part but there were a few that were not-so-stellar. After reading a couple of them, my inner critics went wild and the results were crippling: every time I sat down to write, nasty thought bombs were going off in my head:
The bombs just kept coming. No wonder I couldn't get anything done. I couldn't even hear myself think over the noise. Something had to change. I gave myself a few days off and did things that make me happy: yoga, dance, walks along the beach, other kinds of creative projects. I talked to other artist friends about how they keep going in the face of criticism. I noticed that every author gets bunk reviews–even those I most admire (award-winning authors!). Lastly, I revisited the reasons why I write in the first place. Although writing is hard work, there's a special kind of magic that happens in the process. It's amazing to experience... and highly addictive. Writing is like painting with words; each story an opportunity to spread more light in the world. All of these things helped me recalibrate and get the creative flow moving. It simply isn't possible to satisfy everyone... some will like it, some won't. Who's really qualified to say whether something is good or not? It's all subjective. But digging deep within myself to find the heart of the story, saying it with unwavering honesty, finding pleasure in the act of writing...that's what keeps me coming back. As long as I keep going, I know I'll get somewhere. About Grier Cooper Grier Cooper has performed on three out of seven continents with companies such as San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet, totaling more than thirty years of experience as a dancer, teacher and performer.
She blogs about dance in the San Francisco Bay Area and has interviewed and photographed a diverse collection dancers and performers including Clive Owen, Nicole Kidman, Glen Allen Sims and Jessica Sutta. She is the author of the new ballet-based young adult novel, WISH. Grier can be reached through her website at http://www.griercooper.com Follow Grier:  Have you ever been good at something without knowing how? ‘How’ is the right question because you know why you’re good. You’re good because you stay up all night working, and re-working scene after scene. You’re good because editing is something that you have to do. It just has to be right. The ‘why’ is easy, though it would be embarrassing if people knew how much effort you had to put into a short story to be this good.
I began writing with just enough grammar knowledge to know a subject, verb and predicate. Just the stuff you could pick up from School House Rock – Lolly Lolly Lolly get your adverbs here. I was good though. No degree, or any special classes, but I had a “good ear” Mike told me. Mike was my boss, and my job was to write Copy. Copy is extreme. I’m sure that Mike knew I barely finished high-school at the time, and knew nothing about grammar, but he never mentioned it, and maybe he didn’t know. He told me that Copy was the edge of writing. It wasn’t literature, it wasn’t poetry (unless that was what was going to sell), but it was the edge of fast hard writing that lived or died within five seconds of the reader’s eyes touching on the text. It was the art of the 30 second seduction. Within that moment my job was to make an emotional connection, push aside your disbelief, deny all doubt, remove all hesitation and make This Puppy Chow, the only Chow Tappy’s mother would ever consider. Everything you want to put into a novel, in 350 words or less – except it’s not a dark handsome stranger holding the evils of the world at bay – it’s dog food. Like every armature, the Idea stressed me. For hours at work and until 4AM, I hunted for the twist, the angle, the nuance of human nature to ‘make it happen.’ Two ads a day came off my desk -- three if I was lucky while Mike was kicking out eight to fifteen every day. And they were good too. “Just follow the rules and write,” he would tell me. “You’re good enough. Stop stressing and make it happen.” The rules were easy to read, a little hard to understand.
Where have you been all my life? I recently asked myself this very question when I came across something I hadn’t realized had been in existence for about 40 years. I’m an English major and with all we learned, I had never heard this term: Deep POV. I even thought I might have been the only one until a couple days ago. Another author asked me what is Deep POV? My twitter response: 1st person POV + 3rd person limited omniscience = baby (Deep POV). I know this sounds weird, but I promise to make you understand as easily as possible. Last spring I took a senior seminar class with Allen Weir. He taught us four points of view (POV): 1st person, objective, limited omniscience and omniscience. Every book you have ever read using “I” or “we” is in 1st person POV. Objective, limited omniscience and omniscience are typically told in 3rd person (“he,” “she,” or “it”). With objective everything is told from an outside view. Kind of like the way we would describe people we watch through a one-way mirror. Limited omniscience tells the story from the view of one or two characters. Omniscience tells the story from every character you meet (two or more). What then is Deep POV? Jill Elizabeth Nelson described it as remaining “firmly inside the POVC’s (point of view character’s) head, nothing in a scene can be presented for reader consideration that is outside that character’s head.” Is your mind blown? Mine was and still it made so much sense. Deep POV takes away all the telling and forces an author to show. Take for example the following two sentences. Which do you think is Deep POV? 1. He had to think hard about what to do next. 2. What should he do next? If you guessed #2, you’re right. A lot more happens in Deep POV. Since I can’t cover it all, I’ll give you a couple more examples. In Jill’s book she includes a worksheet. I’m going to take one sentence from there and change it to Deep POV and I’ll take one from my own current project - Destroyed. 1. (Jill’s WS) Shallow: He wondered whether she would show up for his birthday party. Deep: Would she even bother to show up for his birthday party? 2. (Destroyed) Shallow: He stared at Gervasio and wondered when they finished how much of his family would remain intact. Deep: He stared at Gervasio. What would be left of his family when everything was said and done? Hopefully by now you get the general idea. If you’re a new author or trying to break into the business, Deep POV is what readers want. Challenge yourself and find all of those telling words and throw them out the window. Make your book strong. For more information check out Jill’s book Rivet Your Readers With Deep Point of View on Kindle for $3.99. About Krys Fenner Krys Fenner was born and raised in Florida. All her life, she has been a bit of an outsider, even in her own family. In 2010, she moved to Tennessee where she knew no one and had no familial support. Despite the distance, she is now closer to her family than she ever has been before. With encouragement from one another, she and her younger sister both returned to school. Krys is currently working on her Bachelor's degree and plans to continue on to Graduate school. Although school has come a bit later in life, Krys hopes to use her experiences to make a difference in the world.
website: www.krysfenner.co How would you like to travel to a new place and discover that your room is actually a cottage in the woods or even a furnished apartment in a century-old stone building? What if that cozy living space came complete with hot meals and interactions with other writers? Welcome to the world of writing residencies. First, know that there are two broad types of residencies. The first are called residencies but are technically writing retreats. These intensive workshops, often about a week long, are led by a famous (or semi-famous) author or editor. They always cost a ton of money, they always schedule every minute of your day, and they don’t always include a place to stay. As for meals? Um…rubber chicken, anyone? The other type—the kind we’ll be looking at here—embody the original concept of residencies. These programs are hosted by organizations looking to bring authors and artists into their communities. Although you can find residencies that are only a week or two long, most span 4 weeks. A good portion offer 8 or even 12-week residencies, while a few extend as long as a year. Writing residencies are everything you’ve dreamed of. They offer long stretches of time uninterrupted by the usual demands of work, family and home. Since the hosts understand that art is created in settings that stimulate the creative mind, often your rooms will be decorated with original art and beautifully furnished. Even in rustic dwellings, though, the most inspirational part is the setting. Residency programs can be found in major cities, small towns, and national parks. Among urban offerings, authors might be housed on a university campus, in the heart of downtown, or within walking distance of the historic district. Rural residencies can land you in a log cabin on a mountain, a tiny house in the midst of working farmland, or perched atop a promontory overlooking a lake. Interweave your writing time with plenty of walks, and you have the perfect setup for success. Before you consider residency programs, though, be aware of a few expectations. You might be asked to provide something for the local community like a public reading or a short workshop. Although most programs provide you with kitchen facilities, you might be housed in a building with other artists. Many residencies do not allow overnight guests, even spouses or life partners, so be prepared to go without your main squeeze for a time. Although most locations now have wireless, take your laptop and be prepared for abysmal internet speed and potentially frequent outages. So, considering all you give up, what do you get back? Thirty blissful days where your only decision is whether to have breakfast before or after writing your first pages. Mornings that streak by because you’re not being pulled in eighteen different directions. Afternoons that glide seamlessly into evenings where you can engage with other authors and artists. Connections with other dedicated authors. And, of course, the validation of adding a residency program to your artistic bio. Links: The Anderson Center, Red Wing, Minnesota http://www.andersoncenter.org/ Ucross Foundation, set on a 20K-acre working cattle ranch in Wyoming http://www.ucrossfoundation.org/ Residencies available inside national parks http://www.nps.gov/getinvolved/artist-in-residence.htm Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, on 400 acres of the Blue Ridge Mountains http://www.vcca.com/main/index.php Writing Between the Vines, residencies at vineyards! http://www.writingbetweenthevines.org/ The Rensing Center, an environmentally forward-thinking program on 20 acres of farmland in South Carolina http://www.rensingcenter.org/ About Laine Cunningham Laine Cunningham is the author of two paranormal thrillers. The first, Message Stick, takes place in Australia’s outback. The novel won two national awards and was created during two month-long arts residency programs. Her second, He Drinks Poison, was shortlisted for national fiction awards and was supported by two additional writing residencies. Both are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Google Play. Laine is also the owner of Writer’s Resource, and helps authors enhance their work, pitch manuscripts to publishers worldwide, and sell their published and self-published books with Amazon bestseller marketing plans. Currently 47 titles are under contract with agents or publishers. Laine’s book website: www.LaineCunningham.com Writer’s Resource: www.WritersResource.us Publishing and book review blog: www.WritersResourceBlog.com Personal blog with book reviews: www.DancingTheBlade.com
Christmas holds a very special place in my heart. It was always the one time when my family got together, celebrated and just rested. The resting was always the best part for me. Once the gifts had been exchanged and the big meal had been shared amongst all, everyone just let go of their fears and worries. Following this, there was only a complete sense of peace. This year, letting go was a real learning curve for me, when my own family turned from three to two unexpectedly. But despite all of this, it has been a fantastic year as I found my passion for writing again. It amazes me how many stories a writer can keep hidden inside for years. I completed one Sci-Fi thriller and am also in the process of writing my second novel, a story for children, which is such fun. So, what will I be doing for Christmas this year? Editing! My Sci-Fi novel is really gripping and dark, but requires more review. And when I wrote it, I needed to be careful not to get sucked into the essence of its main character. I gave it a month to settle and I am now ready to tackle the challenge. Unfortunately, discipline is not my strongest point when it comes to editing. So, my fellow writers found the perfect solution for me “Writing in a Hotel Room Lockdown”. I will be booking myself into a secret location, somewhere in the middle of Ireland and will not come out of the hotel room until the story has been completely edited. It is definitely going to be painful. On the plus side: There will be room service, no distractions, I can write till the early hours and sleep when I like and the spa will be the ultimate prize. If for any reason, you may be traveling to Ireland soon and you hear desperate cries from the hotel room next door, that could well be me. Wish me luck & Happy Christmas. About Claire Capary Claire Capary has been writing since the age of 10. She has recently completed her first Sci-Fi novel and is a great fan of Hemingway, Kafka and coffee. Claire lives with her son Ben and her creative coach, Harvey the cat, in Dublin Ireland. For more info, feel free to visit www.clairecapary.com
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A Writer's TaleScarlett Van DijkWriter of young adult, fantasy series, the Sky Stone series, poetry and short stories. Categories
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