Elana Johnson's Blog, page 78

Sucked Dry

Okay, so I saw Eclipse at 12:03 AM on Wednesday morning. Have you seen Two Weeks Notice? When Hugh Grant is playing chess with his driver and they're talking about women and the driver says, "You taIk about your feelings until your breath is sucked out your body."



That's how the conversations were in Eclipse. And that's how I feel in general. The breath's been sucked out of my body.



But in a good way.



WriteOnCon opened up for registration yesterday. We had over 360 people register...

Writers: Snack-crazed or what??

Okay, so last week I revealed the formula for writing. Remember that? Well, a whole bunch of you writerly types started throwing things at me, even though I asked you very nicely not to. And I noticed some themes...



Here's what writers (apparently) need to write:

Piedmont Writer said...

You forget the list of handy dandy chocolate snack thingy's right by the edge of the desk.



Jen said...

I think you definitely nailed it, however it doesn't always seem that easy... when the words...

WriteOnCon Goes...Apocalyptic?

Or grocery shopping? Maybe undercover? Oooh, I know! Clubbing!



Dude, you guys. Registration for WriteOnCon is tomorrow! That's right, tomorrow, July 1!



And you know you wanna find out if we're really going shopping or undercover or apocalyptic or clubbing, so watch this...







Check out the WriteOnCon website, where we've updated our participant list. Get ready to register tomorrow.



And, uh, any questions? (And not about my high voice or some such.) Email us at...

Quitting -- The Good Kind

So I've decided to quit. That's right. You read it right. I'm quitting.



Here's what I've given up in the past couple of months.



1. Farmville and Cafe World. I told myself to give it 15 days. Cold turkey. If I missed it too much, I could go back.



I haven't played since April 8.



2. Forums. I just decided to get off all the forums I visit. Just last week I decided this. I went into forced forum hibernation on Wednesday, June 23. I told myself 30 days. So far, I don't miss it.



3. I've quit a...

What Makes A Good Writer?

So most of you who read this blog are authors (aspiring, preagented, agented, published, whatever).



I've been stewing over something recently. Over the last week or so, I've had two separate conversations with people about writers -- and how "good" they are.



Things like, "She's a better writer than me." Or, "You're a great writer."



And I want to know: When you're reading a book, what makes you close your eyes and go, "Ohhh, man, s/he's a great writer."



And I don't mean good...

Time-Bound

So I'm a teacher. We set goals and stuff for the progress of our students. I'm a huge goal-setter. I've blogged about setting goals for your blog, your audience, etc.



Today, we're going to add something to that goal. A time limit.



In teaching, all of our goals are time-bound (it's what the T stands for in S.M.A.R.T. goals). So you should have a time limit on your goals as well -- real-life or writing.



For example, I made a goal to get published. I set a time limit of 5 years. Now I'm not s...

How To Write

Dude, I've got it down to a science. And I'm going to share it with you. You wanna be a writer? Publish books?



Here's what you do.



1. Sit down at the computer.

2. Open Word.

3. Type some words.

4. Keep typing until you get to the end.

5. Repeat for book #2.



That's it. It's not that hard, really. *dodges Coke cans* (Of course, there's more to it than that, but really, that's it, right? If you boil everything else away...you sit down, open Word and type. If you're struggling, try this...

Breaking Down the Fear

Today we're tackling the fear. Head on. No pads. Right between the eyes. So if you're not quite ready for that, you might wanna locate your mithril and pick up some extra chocolate.



Ready?



Let it be known that any author, at any stage, has fear. This thing, that, the other.



Me? What am I afraid of?



7. Mediocrity

6. The unknown

5. Ghosts

4. Sushi

3. Living up to expectations

2. Failing as a wife/mother/sister/friend/teacher/writer

1. Dogs



Yeah, so-and-so said "The only thing we have to...

First, then Second

Okay, first things first. Winners.



THE DARK DAYS OF HAMBURGER HALPIN by Josh Berk: Jemi Fraser!



SCONES and SENSIBILITY by Lindsay Eland: Sarah Fisk!



PRINCESS FOR HIRE by Lindsey Leavitt: Kathryn Jankowski!



Yay to you guys! I'll be emailing you later today to share the good news. WriteOnCon gets better by the hour, so be sure to join us on July 1 for registration. Check out the website for full details.



Second things second: Tell the Truth Tuesday



1. I'm summering. Yes, it's a verb. No e...

Blogging 201

Okay, so I've done a bunch of posts on blogging. Things I think make the blogging experience better for everyone. Well, I'm back after a convo last week with some fabu friends.



One of them asked (and I get this question a lot): "How do you have time to read so many blogs?"



Are you ready for the answer to that? I'm not sure I'm ready to spill (besides my speed blogging method). Instead I'm going to give you some tips that make me READ your blog.



1. Length. I can't remember if I've brought t...