Linda Acaster's Blog, page 24

Wednesday Writing Prompt #2

Here's the second in the series. 



He stood on the opposite pavement, a tall man in a calf-length overcoat



Now read it again, and this time think about that phrase. List the questions it throws up. This is the sort of thing you should be aiming for:



The He denotes that someone else is seeing this person - and give the reader a break... please don't make the narrator an off-page

Micro Businesses (including writers) told to 'break the law'

Oh dear, the writing life gets worse. Now we are being advised by our own UK Government to break the law - so long as we don't go moaning back to it when we get hit by the consequences.



This follows on from my blog about imminent price rises on ebooks due to a change in the way VAT (Value Added Tax) is applied to sales throughout the European Union, all 28 countries. Businesses making digital

Readers Beware - Imminent Price Rise on Ebooks

If you are a reader of ebooks and live in the EU - including the UK - be warned that from 1st January 2015 the prices of your downloaded ebooks are set to rise. How much by? By a minimum of 17%. And which supplier of whatever commodity could absorb such a price rise and not pass it on to its consumers?



This has arisen because the EU, in its wisdom, has decided to re-apply the rate of VAT (

Wednesday Writing Prompt #1

For those creeping - or screaming - over the NaNoWriMo deadline of 50,000 words, well done you! I hope you find the November Wednesday editing tips useful in the days to come.



For those who wished they'd had a go, it's never too late to start. For those who'd prefer a little hand-holding, my new series of Wednesday Writing Prompts could well help you out.



Each week I shall be offering a

#BlackFriday or Colourful Weekend? Book Sale!

This weekend - 29th & 30th November - are the final days to grab my Native American historical at 99p / 99c (or equivalents) at Amazon Kindle stores worldwide. And, yes, I'd forgotten about Black Friday when this was scheduled. But why fight over a TV when you can download colour and excitement at the mere touch of a button?



This multi 5* reviewed novel came from a passion, held from

#Editing Tip 4: Reading A Writer's Mind

This is the last in the mid-week series running concurrent with #NaNoWriMo, though there are more editing tips in Reading A Writer's Mind. Many writers work hard polishing speech in their fiction, but...





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#NaNoWriMo Alternatives: Retreating to a Retreat 2

In Retreating to a Retreat 1 Jex Collyer and Alan Wilkinson
shared their reasons for escaping their normal writing spaces. In this
concluding part they explain what they get from the experience.


Focus

Yes, it really is that simple.


Writing has been Alan Wilkinson’s day job for the past 20 years, and when he’s writing fiction he schedules for 1,000 words a day five days a week. ‘That way

#Editing Tip 3: Reading A Writer's Mind

Continuing the series running concurrent with #NaNoWriMo, here is another question a writer should ask of a short story or section of a novel:





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#NaNoWriMo Alternatives – Retreating to a Retreat 1

Like most writers, I started with a pad and pen on the kitchen table
after my toddler was in bed and my spouse on his shift. From there it
escalated to a grocery box into which reference books, portable
typewriter, paper, etc, could be stored when we were eating. A house
move allowed me a small desk in the corner of a bedroom to site a
desktop computer. Our current house allows me an entire

#Editing Tip 2: Reading A Writer's Mind

Following on with editing tips from my writers' guide, here's the second in the series:



Is your story overloaded with description?

Do readers need to be aware of the different types of vegetation growing in every crack on the pavement, or the amount of rust on a beer can in the gutter? Or, indeed, that a character’s eyes are …a striking cornflower-blue… or …matched the rich cerulean of the