Bev Pettersen's Blog, page 43

The Hour a Day Challenge Starts Friday!

This is your final reminder that the September Hour a Day Challenge begins this Friday, September 1. You can find all the details in my post from last week, right here. The basic idea is that you join a nice, friendly, low-key Facebook Group for the month, and, along with the other members, pledge to carve out ONE hour a day for your writing for the 30 days of September.

If you’re still in the summer doldrums, or if your writing has been taking a back seat to your other responsibilities for...

Crazy Town…Or Should I say “Crazy Business”?

A few weeks ago I as I rolled through the flat, hot backwoods of Louisiana, a song by Jason Aldean came on the radio – “Crazy Town.” Now if you’re a country music fan, you’ve probably heard it. As I listened to the words, it occurred to me that while I don’t live in Nashville, I exist in a pretty crazy, confusing, heartbreaking, soul stirring world of publication.

Now, some of you might not be published yet, and that’s cool because if you’re a smart writer, you’re paying attention to what’s h...

My Low-Key Book Release Plan

Those of you who read my last blog post on redefining success realize I’m not necessarily apt to follow conventional publishing wisdom because I don’t publish often enough for conventional wisdom to apply. That said, on October 9 I’m releasing my first book in four years.

Allow me to introduce Tia and Wyland!

They say that opposites attract, but this is ridiculous…

Vampire journalist Tia Quinn is young (by vamp standards), curious (even by reporter standards) and sitting on some information t...

Who Wants to Join the September “Hour a Day” Challenge?

And….once again, the long lazy days of summer are behind us, school is back in session, and autumn is on its way. For many writers (especially those with kids at home), autumn means a return to order, the end of summer chaos and distraction, and a big relief. But I’m a teacher, and that means (much as I love my job), my productivity tanks once I’m back running my classrooms.

As those of you who’ve been hanging with the Rubies for awhile know, for the past three years, I’ve been issuing a chal...

Eyes on the Skies!!

I don’t know about all of you, but I’ve had today marked on my calendar for well over a year now! More than 30 years ago, I read Annie Dillard’s fabulously beautiful essay Total Eclipse (which The Atlantic has made available online until tomorrow…seriously, check it out!!!). Dillard’s description of the otherwordly, mindblowing experience of viewing a total eclipse struck a chord with me way back then, and seeing one with my own eyes has been on my bucket list ever since.

The part I’ve been m...

Emotional Milestones

Like many of you, I wear my heart on my sleeve, unable to disguise my moments of joy or sorrow. I weep my way equally through births, deaths, weddings, graduations, pretty sunsets, rainbows, and Hallmark movies. You name the occasion, I’ve cried during it. And if I’m in a room with you and you are laughing, I share your laughter. If you are crying, I share your tears.  Each life carries all sorts of milestones infused with overlapping, even conflicting emotions. Somehow, I can’t keep myself f...

Which Potion Would You Choose?

Several versions of this question were making the social media rounds in the last few weeks. This is the one I saw on a friend’s Facebook feed:

I saw a few others versions of the question as well, with slightly different options (a popular version made the Red potion “1 billion dollars in cash” and the Purple potion “ability to time travel at will”).

The whole question is ridiculous, of course. Nobody’s really got those potions on offer (Dang it!!!….with my eldest heading off to college on t...

Connecting with Readers

In today’s writing world, it isn’t enough to just write a book. (LOL! As if “just” writing a book is easy, because it totally is NOT easy.) With the inundation of daily online information readily available, modern readers really want to connect with their favorite authors, whether through social media, snail-mail, or in person (and all three). They want to know their authors, and even though we should always guard our personal information, we should also reach out to have conversations as muc...

MY DRYWALL HAS A HOLE IN IT!

I was going to title this blog ‘I’m pissed’ but it’s not about me being pissed as a writer but more so as a reader who recently mentally threw a digital book I bought for $5.99 against the wall. Why? Because the author totally, blatantly portrayed the book to be romantic suspense and she stated that even though there was a love triangle involved and there was sex, it was not erotica. COUGH Right? As romantic suspense fan she hooked me with the first chapter, but after that… hmmm The only thin...

Attitude is Everything

Do you ever have one of those weeks where it seems like the universe is banging you over the head with a message?  Lately I seem to be having a lot of conversations about attitude and how it can drastically impact our success or lack thereof.  The universe’s barrage on the importance of attitude culminated this week when a friend of mine shared the following TED talk with me about Grit.

Angela Lee Duckworth and her team studied successful people in a variety of fields and they found that the...