The Writing Process Blog Hop

This is my hand, holding a pen, one of my favourite writing tools!

The Writing Process Blog Hop is a great way for others to learn about the writing processes of authors, bloggers, and writers.

I actually have three different processes, depending on what I am writing! Today I am going to reveal them to you.

I am doing this for two reasons. The first is because I think this is an interesting topic. The second is because I have been asked to participate in a Writing Process Blog Hop. Actually, if truth be told, I volunteered! 😉

a screenshot of my conversation with Robert Price on Twitter

Writers are a great bunch of people, and I’ve met many online during the past year, including Robert Price, Robert is a poet and a storyteller. He’s got a way with words and with painting pictures in your head with his poetry. His blog, From a Clogged Mind, is where he shares his writing.

I’m not sure who started the Writing Process Blog Hop, but I can tell you that I like the “inside scoop” that is being shared by many across the web! Through our sharing, we can learn new tips from one another, from our individual experiences. I think that’s just great!

The Writing Process Blog Hop Rules

There are some rules to the Writing Process Blog Hop, which are:

1/ I must answer the four questions below.

2/ I must link back to the person who invited me to this Blog Hop.

3/ I must name four writers who will continue this Blog Hop and notify them. The questions are:

  1.  What are you working on?
  2. How does your work differ from others of its genre?
  3. Why do you write what you do?
  4. How does your writing process work? Read More

My Short Story “Firs and Angels” Won the Contest I Entered!

short story winner of december 2013 proofa

My short story, Firs and Angels, was the winner of the December 2013’s Short Story competition I entered via LinkedIn! Today I’ll share it with you, too. 🙂 Soon it will be a part of Aspiring Writers Short Story Competition Anthology 2014, which will be sold on Amazon.

Each month a short story contest is open to group participants. The Group I belong to is 810 members strong (as of this writing) and is called Aspiring Writers Short Story Competitions and Discussions. It is a subgroup of Aspiring Writers, to which I also belong.

In mid-January, I made sure to check the weekly notifications from this group. I was shocked and surprised to see that my short story submission won! Thanks, Ronnie Dauber, for choosing me! I particularly liked how you mentioned that it was “obviously edited for grammar and spelling errors,” too! This proves that I made a good choice to offer my editing services to others. 😉

Short Story to be part of Anthology

The really wonderful news is that my short story will be included in an anthology!

Hooray!

This reminds me of my other recent announcement of having a True Tale of mine included in an anthology!

For this, one, however, here is what was told to me in the group:

“All first, second and third place winners will have their stories included in “The Aspiring Writers Short Story Competition” yearly anthology published in soft cover and e-book format, and will be available at Amazon.com, Lebrary.com and Smashwords.”

Update: The Anthology Has Been Published

 

Aspiring Writers 2013 Anthology book cover

The Aspiring Writers 2013 Anthology is available now from Amazon and CreateSpace.

Firs and Angels: A Short Story

Since I retain all rights to this original work, which was written in accordance with the rules, I’m able to share my short story with you.

The rules for this particular short story competition are included below, in addition to the fact that the story was supposed to be about cutting down a Christmas tree. For each short story competition, a specific prompt is provided, to ensure that the stories are newly-written and original. For those of you who know what flash fiction is, you’ll understand this concept. For those who don’t, I think you get the idea of it now. 😉

The short story rules are as follows:

Read More

Roadblocks and Why I Prefer to Blog Instead of Writing My Book

Image courtesy of digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.netFreeDigitalPhotos.net

There is no doubt about it: I LOVE blogging. And writing. Reading, too. And basically anything that involves words, including doing crosswords and playing Scrabble. But I really, really love blogging.

In fact, I prefer it to writing my book because of the emotional pain I avoid. This is my biggest roadblock to writing. It’s not that I can’t write (I totally can!) but that I’ve been choosing not to.

I’m specifically alluding to my memoir book (still untitled) that I’ve started but have been ignoring for the past while; a few months, actually. I’m almost at the point where I don’t think I’ll ever finish it. It’s currently at about 15 000 words. How can I finish it when I don’t put forth the effort?

Now, for all you writers out there, this may seem like an old familiar story. For me, it’s usually not; I generally like to get things done. (Well, most of the time, I do.)

When it comes to writing lengthy pieces, we often feel like we’re facing a brick wall. Yet bloggers crank out thousands of words on a weekly basis. So why aren’t we writing and publishing books? Especially in today’s new self-publishing age? Read More

Time Management: Strategies Aid In Increased Guest Posts

In my attempts to become more productive and make better use of my time, I’ve been doing some reading, some planning, and some goal-making for my upcoming year. This largely resulted from past failures as well as the post I wrote last month, Overcome Writing Failure With a Personalized Writing Plan. This post has introduced me to quite a few new people, many of whom are writers and authors. (And bloggers, too!) 🙂

Planning has never really been my “thing” but it’s useful. The strategies I’ve been using and the tips that I’ve learned have helped me increase the amount of guest posts that I’ve been writing (and getting published!) and I wanted to let you in on a few sites and introduce you to a couple of people who can help you if you are struggling with planning this year. Read More