Bev Pettersen's Blog, page 6

Goals for the Creatively Good

Im a planner, and one of the things that always makes me feel better when there are parts of my life that I cant plan for is to focus on the things that are under my control which means throwing myself into writing.  If I can fall into the world of my books, even for a little while, then Im a calmer, happier me.  So how do we do that right now?  How do we set goals that work for us in this moment?

I was listening to the Scriptnotes podcast recently and they offered this advice to writers, ...

Keeping Your Crap Together

No, this is not a blog about how to weather the psychological currents and eddies of the current pandemic.  Its an article about a subject that came up in the Ruby Slippered Sisterhoods chat room last weekthe issue of series bibles and organizing continuity information.

[By the way, there is an ongoing sprint-chat every weekday morning in the chat room from 9:00 12:00 Eastern time.  All are welcome.  We get a lot of words written and chat all the time about author stuff.  Its been a lifeline...

Strong Opening Paragraphs – Pandemic Edition

Welcome to another episode of Wordsmith Wednesday: Strong Opening Paragraphs! Im your host, Tamara Hogan.

In this monthly feature, we  analyze opening paragraphs from both published books and unpublished manuscripts.

Whether were talking about the opening paragraphs of a book, of a chapter, or of a scene, the authors job is the same: ORIENT THE READER, QUICKLY. To me, this means being able to answer the following four questions in fairly short order:

Whos the point of view character? Where...

FLASH FICTION FRIDAY REBOOT

Welcome to another round of Flash Fiction Friday!

Today, lets talk a little bit about what flash fiction is and what it isnt. As stated a few months ago, flash fiction is defined as any work of fiction that is under 1,000 wordssometimes. Definitions vary greatly. Some say FF is as many as 2,000 words, and some say it is as few as 50. Okay, but what is it? Fiction editor at Atticus Review, Michelle Ross, says, Good flash fiction is sharp, tight, and precise. Its immediate, cuts to the chase....

Tagline Wednesday – What are you writing?

At this moment, people across the US and around the world are kept at home in isolation. Libraries are closed, beauty parlors are closed right after I got a haircut, or I wouldnt be able to see the screen, coffee shops are closed. Life has developed a new and strange pattern.

Were all stuck at home with our loved ones. Hopefully, theyll still be our loved ones after this much together time. For writers who have a love/hate relationship with computers, pens, and the voices in our heads, this...

RUBY TUESDAY W/ DARYNDA JONES

WELCOME TO RUBY TUESDAY!

Originally, the lovely Kim Law was going to interview me for the release of A Bad Day for Sunshine, but I just couldnt do that to her. She has so much on her plate right now, so I offered to do the interview myself. How, you ask? Hold my coffee. DARYNDA: Hello, all, and welcome! Today we have a very special guest on the Ruby blog. The incredible Darynda Jones. DJ: Oh, stop. DARYNDA: Darynda is an amazing writer. DJ: Stop it. DARYNDA: She has been called brilliant on...

Mentor Monday – Quarantine Edition

Welcome to Mentor Monday, first day of the month forum where we talk about issues with our books, the publishing journey, and whatever else is running through our minds.

We have a lot running through our minds, dont we?

Things are changing so fast and yet we have all this time to do the things we thought we couldnt get to, but now maybe dont want to because the world has gone crazy.

How do we find our inner peace? How can we mine our creativity? How do we see the positive amid the chaos?

So...

FLASH FICTION FRIDAY IS BACK!

WELCOME BACK!!!  Sorry for the hiatus, all. My trip abroad left me a bit befuddled, but Im back and my befuddlement is lessening by the moment. For todays Flash Fiction Friday, how about we keep it simple? Give us your best story in 50 WORDS OR LESS about current events. It can be about the virus, sheltering-in-place, face masks, the toilet-paper hysteria . . . whatever you want to write about. Had to wash my hands for the umpteenth time today but not because of the virus. This time, it was...

First Line Wednesday – It’s All in Your Head !

Crafting the right first line of a story is one of the most difficult things most writers will tackle. I say most because there are those authors who just know. They sit down and that first line rolls off their fingers like water off a ducks back. And we are happy for them. Truly, we are!

Okay, maybe not happy, but it is what it is. For those of us not quite so gifted, the struggle is real. VERY real. And a big part of crafting that first line is deciding where our story begins. Which on an...

Self-Care in a Pandemic

Since we started the Ruby Reboot a few months ago, the fifth week of each month has been dedicated to goals, self-care and discussions relating to the writers life and lately it seems like none of those are quite so important as self-care.

Right now, many of us are social distancing, self-quarantining, or just plain hunkering down as my own mayor put it.  For some of us, that means kids home from school, spouses working from home, and other new obstacles to our writing.  For some of us its...