Bev Pettersen's Blog, page 9

Tips and Tricks – January

January seems to be all about goals. For some people, goals are stressful, but I love them. It doesn’t mean I always achieve them, but at least I feel like I’m aiming for something. I make quarterly goals (because my yearly ones end up all being looked at in Q4 since I forget about them). This is how I go about setting my goals up.

1. I start by thinking about the months the quarter encompasses (January, February, March) and what I’m currently working on.

2. I choose three big things that I...

Winter Writing Festival Check In – Week 1

The Tenth Annual Ruby Slippered Sisterhood Winter Writing Festival is off to a roaring start. Join us today and let us know how you’re doing, meeting your goals and enjoying fellowship with other writers! We’ve completed our FIRST FULL WEEK, so today it’s time to officially check in!

Leave a quick comment about your progress so far. Not only do we want to cheer you on, but leaving a comment will put you in the running to win some of today’s Check-In prizes!!!! (See info on SWAG you...

Quick revision tip: relationship arcs

Today should be Wordsmith Wednesday, but I’ll put elevator pitches on hold during the Winter Writing Festival–and give a revision tip instead.

Give relationships an arc

Just as significant characters should have arcs, I like to give significant relationships an arc. During revisions, I write a mini-synopsis of the protagonist’s most important relationships. For each major pairing, I consider:

How do these two characters feel about each other at the beginning? Are they close or estranged?...

Does Anyone Care If It Wins Or Not

If you glance on the side bar, you’ll notice today is Indie Buzz day. As an established Indie author, no subject is more interesting to me than marketing. Back in November we discussed what I believe is the cornerstone of your marketing platform. You can check it out here. I’m always on the lookout for new ways to reach readers. And I’ve no doubt that the matter is also of interest to traditionally published authors. They also need to market because their publishers put their budget dollars...

Let the 2020 Winter Writing Festival Begin!

We now declare the Tenth Annual Ruby Slippered Sisterhood Winter Writing Festival OPEN! Let the Games begin!! Let’s do this, writer friends! To get your BONUS point for today, Friday January 10, add a comment here in which you: 1) define how *you personally* will earn your Festival “points”

and

2) declare your commitment to earning 50 points by Feb 28, 2020. (Further details on goal-setting follow below).

Leaving a comment today on the Ruby blog also puts you in the running for some cool...

Logline for the WWF

Since Friday begins the 2020 Winter Writing Festival, I thought we could all warm up our minds with a logline for whatever each of us is working on for the WWF. I’m looking for a one sentence summation of a 90,000 word story. No pressure there.

Do you have two characters who would rather kill each other than fall in love? Is the Zombie Apocalypse about to strike Main Street? Are the plans for the annihilation of the free world locked in a safe that can only be accessed by the skill sets of...

Ruby Tuesday with Addison Fox

Welcome to the first Ruby Tuesday of 2020. Today we are featuring the amazing Addison Fox! Welcome, Addison!

AF: Happy New Year!! Can you believe we’re into 2020?!

This is a special year for me – in March it will be the ten year anniversary of my first published book, Warrior Ascended. I’m even more excited about writing now than I was a decade ago (and I was pretty darn excited then!) and can’t wait to see what the next ten years holds!

Congratulations, Addison!

*January is all about goals....

Announcing the 2020 Winter Writing Festival!

Sharpen your pencils, ladies and gents! The Winter Writing Festival is coming!

I know many of you may have been expecting our first Monday Mentorship post today, but what’s better than one day of sharing advice? SEVEN WEEKS OF WRITING CAMARADERIE!

Announcing the TENTH ANNUAL RUBY SLIPPERED SISTERHOOD WINTER WRITING FESTIVAL!!! Starting this FRIDAY JANUARY 10, 2020!

If you’ve joined us for the Winter Writing Festival any time during the past eight years, you know it can be a tremendously...

NEW YEAR IN A FLASH!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, INKSLINGERS!

And welcome to the Roaring Twenties! Never mind that both the 1820s and the 1920s saw plagues unleashed upon the earth. This will be a great decade. I can feel it! And, fingers crossed we won’t finally get a peek at that zombie apocalypse everyone keeps talking about. For today’s post, I thought we could make it about change. Transitions. Old versus new. Predictions. Write about whatever comes to mind, but you’ll have to think fast, because you’ll only have UP TO...

New Year, New Goals!

It’s almost 2020! The decade is drawing to a close, which means it’s the perfect time to focus on what we want to achieve in the next one and the goals that will get us there. In just over a week we’ll be starting the annual Ruby Winter Writing Festival (woohoo!), where we band together to help one another knock out our writing goals. But today I’m here to talk not just about writing goals, but about all the things we’ll be reaching for in the new year.

What do YOU want out of 2020?

I...