Bev Pettersen's Blog, page 20

Make Sure to Save the Cat!

Have you ever started reading a book and wondered if the awful person you have met is actually the hero? Surely it can’t be the jerk who seems to have no redemptive qualities. Yes, a hero, as well as a heroine, needs to grow and change to make a story, but sometimes one of them seems so terrible that we don’t really want to watch their growth through a whole book. If a reader thinks the same, he/she will close the book. Don’t let that be your book.

Blake Snyder wrote SAVE THE CAT: The Last Bo...

Winter Writing Festival check in #5

This is really Kate Parker hiding behind Elisa’s better photo.

Only two weeks to go! Can you believe it? This is the warning bell for all the procrastinators out there. If  you’ve been moving steadily along, you’ve not only been amassing points, you’ve been amassing words in your work in progress. That’s what it’s all about. Putting one word in front of the other, trying out new images and techniques, practicing craft tips you’ve picked up. In other words, growing as a writer.

Have you seen g...

Some NaNoWriMo Wisdom on Revision

The wonderful NaNoWriMo website publishes all sorts of pep talks from established authors, including lots of wise advice about revision. Today, I’ve snagged a few of my favorite bits to share with you if you’re one of our Winter Writing Festival participants who’s primarily focused on revision right now:

“Believe it or not, I LOVE revisions. It’s always easier to tinker with something that is already finished than it is to get “stuff” on that blank white screen. And that is how I think about...

Put a Little Love in St. Valentine’s Day

 

As writers of romance, some might think that we have St. Valentine’s Day all planned out and perfected. Rose petals and candles, sentimental handmade cards exchanged while we listen to memory-filled songs from a specially created playlist. Sexy lingerie and of course steamy ruby-colored stilettos. After all, we have “written the book” (or many books) on love and romance so Valentine’s Day must be a sultry breeze for us.   Uhhh…nope. As you may have learned from other Ruby posts, we are as...

Winter Writing Festival – Check in Week 4

 

The Ninth Annual Ruby Slippered Sisterhood Winter Writing Festival is in high gear. Come join us today and let us know how you’re doing, meeting your goals and enjoying fellowship with other writers!

Yesterday we completed our FOURTH FULL WEEK, so today it’s time to officially check in!

If you’re reading this on the Festival website (the blue site), jump on over to the regular Ruby Slippered Sisterhood blog ( the ruby-colored site, at rubyslipperedsisterhood.com) and leave a quick...

Patience is a Virtue…isn’t it?

Hello, friends, and welcome to a glimpse inside my head. Are you scared yet?

You know how everyone had a word of the year? Okay, maybe not everyone, but lots of people start off the new year with a guiding word, something that will encapsulate all they desire to achieve. It may be PEACE or JOY or CONTENTMENT. Whatever a person chooses, it’s the ideal he or she is striving for. I love the idea of a guiding word or phrase.

Usually, as I consider the new, fresh year before me, a word or phrase c...

Winter Writing Festival – Check In #3!

 

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the third weekly check-in for the Ninth Annual Ruby Slippered Sisterhood Winter Writing Festival! The festival is going strong and we’re eager to hear how it’s going for you! Are you hitting your goals? Feeling the writing fellowship? Need a pep-talk to get going again? Join us today and check in! Yesterday we officially completed our THIRD FULL WEEK, so tell us, how’s it going?

If you’re reading this on the Festival website (the blue site), jump on over...

Time to Share a Snippet!!

We’re 20 days into the 2019 Winter Writing Festival, and participants have spun out thousands and thousands of new words, whether joining in the rsswwf.com writing sprints or working in the privacy of their own writing caves. 

I love hearing folks in the Chat Room come back after  20 or 30 or 45 minutes of sprinting and say, “I wrote 673 new words!” or “I finished a chapter of my time-travel romance!”

All that wonderful writing didn’t exist before the Festival began, and now it’s HERE!!

Five...

Talent vs. Skill

Several years ago, Dr. Carol Dweck, a researcher from Stanford, published a book titled Mindset, in which she discusses how a student’s mindset can impact their success. In her book, she discusses two basic types of mindsets: Fixed and Growth. In a fixed mindset, qualities such as intelligence, charisma, and virtue are all set traits. You have a certain amount and you can’t get any more. In a growth mindset, however, those traits are all things that can be developed. Learned. You can get smar...

Winter Writing Festival – Check in #2

The Ninth Annual Ruby Slippered Sisterhood Winter Writing Festival is in high gear. Come join us today and let us know how you’re doing, meeting your goals and enjoying fellowship with other writers! Yesterday we completed our SECOND FULL WEEK, so today it’s time to officially check in!

If you’re reading this on the Festival website (the blue site), jump on over to the regular Ruby Slippered Sisterhood blog ( the ruby-colored site, at rubyslipperedsisterhood.com) and leave a quick comment a...