Blair Cousins's Blog, page 5

My First James River Writer’s Show

This past Wednesday I finally got a chance to attend my first writer’s show, hosted by the James River Writers. The Writer’s Show brings authors and professionals from the writing industry to talk about a wide variety of topics, from novel writing to marketing. Ever since I joined the JRW back in January, I’ve wanted to go to a writer’s show, but as life will happen something always popped up, preventing me from attending. This month, however, despite my crazy day at work and little time to g...

A Day In The Life

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It’s That Time Again

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Dress-Up Games: An Unlikely Writing Tool

As I traverse the bottomless pit that is my writer’s block, I’ve picked up one too many distracting habits. For example, I’ve rediscovered my love of dress-up games. You know, those flash games 90s kids were crazy about. Well, those blast from the past have come a long way, and they can be great tools for visualizing your characters or just a fun way to pass the time. I’m currently playing on a site called Doll Divine. They have a huge selection of free games, spanning various genres, includi...

Getting to Know Your Characters

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Just the other day I was speaking with a friend about how to get to know your characters better. As writer’s, it’s assumed that we should already know everything about our characters before we write, but that is far from the truth. More often than not, we get to know our characters as we write, but what if you wanted to get to know them better before you start writing? How do you go about doing that?

What I’ve found that really works for me, is starting a relationship with your characters, t...

Taking a Break

Now that my writer’s block is in full swing, I’m going to step out of my writing shoes and revisit one of the hobbies that got me into writing in the first place. I’ve always drawn inspiration from watching television and in my youth as a writer of fan-fiction, I love to dive right into a show. It’s a great way to give your brain a break. So this week I’m taking a vacation in the exciting world of Sam and Dean Winchester from the CW show Supernatural.

Now, I was a little hesitant to start re-...

Financing Your Self-Publishing Project as a New Author

I see the question come up a lot on forums, how does a new author come up with the money to fund a project? If you Google the question of how much it cost to self-publish you’ll get a variety of sites telling you pretty much the same thing. They all lean towards the opinion that it depends on you and if you’re like me and found that answer unhelpful don’t fret. Those online bloggers aren’t trying to be vague to throw you off. What they mean is the process of self-publishing is completely cust...

A Review: Poppy by AVI

Before I begin,

I retain very few memories from my childhood, but I remember the nights my mom sat up with me reading this story. That moment is one of my fondest memories, and just the other day, in passing, my mom took one glance at the cover of the book and smiled as she remembered reading this to me also. Truly, this story has had a profound effect on me. I have never forgotten about Poppy and her many adventures, even in my writing, I am inspired to write daring tales about courageous cr...

Ready, Set, Go…

I know very few authors who haven’t had a case of writer’s block, it kind of creeps up on you, like a spider crawling on your bed. It can strike at away time and solutions for it include clichés like “Just power through it” or “You just gotta sit down and write.” Well duh, obviously I know I need to sit down and write, but how can I if the words are all clogged up? Unfortunately, there is no plumber we can call, there are however some daily practices you can do to encourage the words to flow....

A Review: The Unlikely Tale of the Royal Elite Squad by D.A. Alston

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The Unlikely Tale of the Royal Elite Squad follows four ordinary girls who gain superpowers after a mysterious accident. However, with great power comes great responsibility. How will they balance their new gifts in between their busy lives?

I really enjoyed reading this. The author takes you into the lives of four young high school girls struggling to find themselves. The story is structured in first person of each girl giving you an interesting perspective into all of their lives. The dive...