Michell Plested's Blog, page 50

Get Published Episode 93 – Putting Experiences into Your Writing

I’ve been thinking a lot lately, about how my own experiences have affected my writing. I have looked at several of my better stories and I have been able to pick out things I’ve learned, people I have known and even different events in my life. That is not to say I’ve recorded those things [...]

Life…Not Much More to Say

I am learning never to expect things to go the way I plan. I was going to have my blog post up yesterday, but lo and behold, my hot water tank died yesterday, flooding my basement. That meant my attentions were redirected to replacing said tank and drying out basement. I’m sure you have all [...]

Book Review: Dreadnaught (The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier, #1)

My rating: 5 of 5 stars I fell in love with Jack Campbell’s series “The Lost Fleet” and knew at its conclusion that I would have to read “The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier” when it was published. I did not get the chance to start reading the series until just last week. As was [...]

Building an Author’s Signing Survival Kit

Let me begin by saying, the ideas that follow are not wholly mine. The idea of the survival kit was given to me during the “When Words Collide” writing conference. A very nice lady came to talk to me while I was manning the publisher booth and she asked me if I had a kit [...]

Get Published Episode 92 – Starla Huchton Talks Covers

Covers are a very important part of any book. A good cover can intrigue and encourage readers to try a book they might not otherwise look at and a bad one might just cause that same reader to pass it by. In today’s show, I talk to Cover Designer, writer, voice artist and podcaster, Starla [...]

Learning as I Go

There are days when I think I know quite a lot about being published and the trials and tribulations of being a writer. That is largely because I’ve had the grand opportunity to meet and speak with many fantastic authors and edits and publishers and…well you get the idea. Then there are days when I [...]

Stupid Horse

I know I usually try to be ridiculously upbeat but there comes a time when life beats you down, pure and simple. When that happens, your writing and everything else in your life suffer. That’s just the way it goes. I know, I’ve been struggling the past while. I’ve been questioning my own decisions to [...]

Get Published Episode 91 – Mike Talks to Publisher of New Independent, Tyche Books

When I attended the 2012 “When Words Collide”, I had the opportunity to speak with a number of old friends and make a few new ones. One of the old friends is Tina Moreau. When I first, she was a young writer who also read slush for a local press. Shortly after that, she started [...]

Change is Inevitable

We all live in change and it can be both a good and bad thing. For example, my daughter is off to University this week. Yes, I capitalized “University” on purpose to emphasize what a big change it will be both for her and for me. It wouldn’t be such a big deal if she [...]

Word on the Street

I have seen other writers have a great deal of success with word-of-mouth promotion. Essentially, one person tells two people (or more) about a new book who in turn tell two people (or more) about the new book  and so on. This is known as viral marketing or having a street team and it is [...]