Birthright

I go to Barnes and Nobles, not too often, which is sad, but often enough and I buy this journaling book/magazine called, Bella Grace, Life's A Beautiful Journey. It's got beautiful pictures, and thought provoking readings that get you to write. I came across one of it's pages called, Tips for making your writing come to life. So, I thought I would share them with you. * Throw out everything you learned about writing in school. This includes forgetting about five-paragraph essays, introductions that drag along, and long-winded sentences. * Delete your opening paragraph. Some of the most compelling stories drop you right into the middle of them. * WRITE MORE. * Get to the point. Simple sentences are often the best way to go. *READ MORE. * Don't overly complicate things. * Use your true voice. Write your story as though you are telling it to a friend. In fact, try recording it first. This adds an air of authenticity. * Don't be afraid to make up word...

      New writers are often advised to "Show, don't tell." Many have no idea what this means.   Mark Twin instructed: "don't report that the old lady screamed. Bring her on and let her scream." More recently, bestseller Janet Evanovich wrote: "If your character walks out of his apartment, pulls up the collar of his coat, and goes searching through pockets for his gloves, you don't have to tell us it's freezing."   Both Twain and Evanovich are known primarily for their fiction. When it comes to nonfiction, though, while you don't want to list everything that happened to you from birth on, there are often compelling and necessary reason you should "tell" factual elements. Here's why you might need to show and tell when writing essays-and how to strike the perfect balance. WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?   "Showing" can be described as painting a vivid picture of what's going on, using the kind of physi...

Once a year our writing group, WriteOn Joliet, participates in the Open Mic at the Book and Bean Cafe. This year, as always, I read one of my Southern Shorts entitled, OPEN MIC EVENT.  Enjoy!

BryonySeries First Blog Tour Sue Midlock Vampires 1. What makes your vampires different from those that you've read? The characters are well-developed and three-dimensional. No doe-eyed teen romancers. No mindless, senseless blood debauchers. All four vampires (John Simons, Henry Matthews, Kellen Wechsler, and Ed Calkins) were once "real" people and are now undead. 2. Are your vampires completely fabricated or do you follow the mainstream...typical vampire? If by mainstream, you mean: super-violent and gory, romantic, misunderstood, vegetarian; and/or alive and infected with a virus...then no. If you mean created from existing vampire lore, then yes. Here's what 1970s teen protagonist Melissa Marchellis learned from her library book: Creatures of the Night: Witches, Werewolves, and Vampires. All of these elements appear in the BryonySeries. * By day, vampires repose in their burial places; at night, they rise to feed, either to kill or control. * Once under t...

I went to a special last night for Marketing ideas, what works and what doesn't and it was really good. A lot of good came out of it and though we all would like to do well with our books, we know that can't always be possible. I know I never will and I'm happy with that. I'm happy for those who do my books and that I have a small fan base in Utica, Illinois. I'm happy! What I'd like to discuss with you is writing. Just write for the love of writing if nothing else.  "There's no question that only through persistent writing will you generate a lot of good idas. But joy and fun are important, too. We must find a balance." (Writer's Digest) I'll be quoting tons of stuff that I read from Writer's Digest Magazine, because the article was very informative. "Unfortunately, there is no magic elixir we writers can brew to conjure ideas from the air, and though we've been told many times we're so creative, we often don't fe...