Cate Russell-Cole's Blog, page 38

Support An Author Month Task: Buy That Book!

You know you’ve been meaning to… this week, your love task is to go buy that writing friends book you’ve planned to, but didn’t get around to.

Last week, to put action behind my preaching, I got onto Amazon and bought several tantalising ebooks which are below. Click on the cover to buy the book.

Please, take the time to do the same.

Leaving the Hall Light On: by Madeline Sharples

A Mother’s Memoir of Living with Her Son’s Bipolar Disorder and Surviving His Suicide charts the near-destruction of one middle-class family whose son committed suicide after a seven-year struggle with bipolar disorder. Madeline Sharples, author, poet and web journalist, goes deep into her own well of grief to describe her anger, frustration and guilt. She describes many attempts — some successful, some not — to have her son committed to hospital and to keep him on his medication. The book also charts her and her family’s redemption, how she considered suicide herself, and ultimately, her decision live and take care of herself as a woman, wife, mother and writer.

A note from the author: I encourage you to read my book if you have been touched by bipolar disorder or suicide. And even if you have not, my book will inspire you to survive your own tragedies. As author Jessica Bell says: Leaving the Hall Light On is “a remarkable book and it SHOULD be read.”

Sailing Down the Moonbeam by Mary Gottschalk

With a destination loosely defined as the rest of the world, Mary and her husband Tom leave family, friends and successful careers for a multi-year sailing voyage. As the voyage takes her farther and farther from her traditional support systems, her world becomes more and more defined by forces outside her control. Mary’s travels through often uncharted island communities, provides a compelling metaphor for a journey of self-discovery.

Freeways to Flip-Flops: A Family’s Year of Gutsy Living on a Tropical Island by Sonia Marsh

What do you do when life in sunny Southern California starts to seem plastic, materialistic and just plain hellish? For Sonia and Duke Marsh, the answer was to sell their worldly goods and move to an unspoiled, simpler life with their three sons in Belize, Central America, a third-world country without all the comforts and distractions of life in the developed world. Sonia hopes the move will bring her shattered family back together. She feels her sons slipping away from her, and her overworked husband never has time for her or the boys. Instead, things begin to go wrong immediately. The home they initially rented isn’t available, so the family is forced to take up residence in a primitive, bug-infested shack. Duke’s telecommuting plans prove impractical because of unreliable Internet access, and he loses his job. Middle son Alec – always a conscientious, polite, tractable child – misses his friends and has trouble adjusting. As the days turn into months, Sonia finds herself questioning the family’s decision to move on a nearly daily basis. This is the story of one family’s search for paradise. In this memoir, Sonia chronicles a year of defeats, fears and setbacks – and also the ultimate triumph of seeing once-frayed family ties grow back stronger from shared challenges and misfortunes. For Sonia, paradise turned out not to be a place, but an appreciation of life’s simple pleasures – a close-knit family and three well-adjusted sons with a global outlook on life.

Out of Sync by Belinda Nicoll

In 2001, when a couple leaves South Africa for a stay abroad, they land at JFK International Airport on September 11th, unprepared for the sight of smoke billowing from the Manhattan skyline or the horror of a second plane exploding into the North Tower. Over the next ten years, as their host country confronts fundamental change of its own, their marriage buckles under the strain of their disparate experiences. With the international economic crisis making it all but impossible for them to return to their country, they relocate from California to the North, the South, and the Midwest searching for a place they can call home. Against the backdrop of uncertainties in post-apartheid South Africa, Belinda Nicoll unfolds a contemporary and thought-provoking account of post-9/11 America’s tantalizing hopes and unexpected disappointments. Out of Sync is an insightful tale about marital endurance that promises to enthrall anyone, expatriate or not, who has ever felt at odds with themselves or the world.

This blog post by Cate Russell-Cole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share and adapt it.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: author, blogging, books, creativity, encouragement, growth, ideas, Indie publishing, inspiration, resource, success, support, writer, writing

Writing Rocket Fuel: Journaling Prompts

If you would like to try your hand at writing a journal, but need prompts for inspiration, try http://journalingprompts.com

The site has books, starter kits and other resources available.

Journaling prompts also has a sister site, http://creativewritingprompts.com

Filed under: Life Story / Memoir, Rocket Fuel Tagged: autobiography, ideas, inspiration, life story, memoir, prompts, Writing Rocket Fuel

#atozchallenge Y is for 2Years2aBook [Infographic]

Reblogged from Hunter's Writing:

2 Years to a Book. That’s what I realised I could accomplish – on top of my normal writing projects and goals during the year. For others who don’t have the luxury of so many free hours to write, as I do, the program also allows for a book draft completed during that first year.

Read more… 847 more words

When Hunter first put this post out, I shared this infographic on Twitter etc showing how to write a book in two years. The whole post is worth a proper reblog as there is so much gold in here! Thank you Hunter: particularly from someone who hates long term projects and likes things done and dusted. This is a good reminder to pace myself.

Creative Gestation: The Benefits of Giving Work “Off Time”

Any writer knows how it feels to finish a brand new piece: The excitement is intense. This one, we tell ourselves, is the best we’ve ever written. Quick! Let’s submit it! Hold it right there, Shakespeare. Not so fast.

One of the biggest favors you can do for your work is allow it to rest. Put it out of sight and out of mind for a while, and then come back to it with fresh sight and a sense of objectivity. Let the bright gleam of novelty age into the patina of reason, and then assess this “masterpiece” you’ve created.

Experts have termed this practice of waiting “creative gestation,” and much like the shaping of a child in the womb, producing quality work requires a degree of time, no matter what genre. By coming back to your writing later on, you’ll find that certain word choices can be improved, images can be sharpened, and other enhancements can refine your work even further. Rather than sending an immature, embryotic creation to editors, you’re handing over “your baby,” fully developed, delivered, and ready.

Some poets like Philip Levine and Billy Collins have advocated putting a piece away for a year or more, while other artists and writers say a week or so is better than adequate. My own writing, I’ve found, undergoes a “gestation” of about two to three months – this allows many eyes to see it, and plenty of time to elapse between re-readings and revisions before I’m ready to submit. And of course, like that of all artists, my work is constantly in flux, even after acceptance and publication.

Even short breaks from the screen, page, or canvas can help, however. Getting up, stretching, walking short distances at a brisk pace, or grabbing a light snack and beverage can create cognitive distance from your work, allowing for new perspectives upon returning to it. Also, by allowing oxygen to circulate to the brain via the bloodstream, creators can ensure that their grey matter is functioning at optimum levels consistently, research indicates. Classroom educators have known this trick for a while, incorporating “brain breaks” into everyday cooperative learning structures so that students stay focused and alert. The same research applies to adults and artists: get off your backside and your brain won’t backslide.

Every writer has different practices and habits, and for some, creative gestation may take more or less time to be truly effective. No matter how many days or weeks it takes, however, one thing is for certain: Creative gestation allows for better decisions, improved insights, and real maturity of one’s work.

John Davis Jr. is a Florida poet whose work has been published in literary venues internationally. His poems have recently appeared in Deep South magazine, Saw Palm magazine, and Touch: The Journal of Healing, and he has forthcoming poetry in The Wayfarer. His book, Growing Moon, Growing Soil: Poems of my Native Land, is available through Amazon and other fine retailers. His website is: http://www.poetjohndavisjr.com/

This blog post is Copyright John Davis Jnr 2013. All rights are reserved Internationally. You may not reproduce it in any form, in part of whole, without the author’s prior written permission. That includes usage in forms such as print, audio and digital imaging including pdf, jpg, png etc. A fee may be requested for re-use.

Filed under: Guest Post, Writing Tagged: author, books, creative gestation, creativity, editing, encouragement, Florida, goals, growth, inspiration, John Davis Jnr, modification, new, objectivity, poet, problem solving, refresh, resource, space, subconscious mind, success, writer, writing

Plagiarism: Getting Out of Sticky Situations

This is a purchased iStock photo. Under NO circumstances may you re-use this image without buying it for yourself.

I don’t know how trouble got my contact details, but I’m finding it’s harder to get out of trouble, than it is to get off the Readers Digest mailing list!

Sharon won a free book of mine a few months ago and promised me a review, which she very kindly gave me. [Gratuitous self-promotion: read the review here.] She visits my blog and I love her posts, so when she asked me to review her book, of course I said yes. That’s how it starts. You do something nice for someone and it is, after all Support An Author Month…

I started reading her book on descriptions in writing, and as I am not a fiction writer, I had more lightbulb moments than an Oprah Fan Convention! It is an easy to absorb book for writers bristling with so many “oh yeah!” ideas I’ve never thought of… I read a few chapters, emailed and conned her into doing a guest post for me on a particular topic. Read a few more chapters and then went to do my usual thing, and start jotting down ideas for my own blog posts…

Whoa there Cate! You can’t do that! You can’t review someone’s book, then write your own posts on nearly every topic… Which would effectively mean I had lifted too much of her book content with my own spin. As much as I’d like to meet Sharon, I don’t want it to involve lawyers, or her standing on my doorstep wielding a mean looking rolling pin!

I had to email Sharon back and say, “I had to stop reading.” Thankfully, she took that as a compliment.

A few volumes which belong to my temptation shelf.

I read other books by writers and I take out the odd quote or concept and write about it. One very small part here and there, linked back to their work is fine. However, Sharon had done too good a job… the temptation was too much!

So what do you do when you read a novel or book which gets under your skin that effectively? Put it down and walk away quietly. Even if you don’t pick up a pen then, it goes into your subconscious and will revisit later. (I don’t usually use the word bristling, by the way. It’s in my head now, with “nose like a ski run.” I love that one! I want to use it. I have to, somewhere, somehow…)

You can return to that book later, but be a little more critical and be very, very aware when you are writing that it doesn’t creep in. I need a shelf of books which would be my red flag section. (Oh rats, flag… Um, sorry Sharon.) The most delectable, dangerous influencers would sit there ready to inspire, but to serve as a warning. The temptation shelf…

So please, save me from myself and get Sharon’s book. It is excellent. If you do that, I know I can’t write on those topics.

You can buy Sharon’s book here and follow her blog here. Below is from Amazon.

“Book Description: Turn Blah into Brilliant with this Jam-Packed Volume on Description

Sharon Lippincott’s delectable writing gives you the spoonful of sugar to help the description medicine go down. In this slim volume– forty-eight short lessons-you will be so busy learning to hang on to inspiration, color up your words, and breathe life into your writing, you won’t even realize you’ve also learned to ditch dummy subjects, clear out dead “would”, and apply tips for using dozens of other description power tools.In reading this book, writers in any genre will discover

An expanded perspective on the nature of description
The difference between active and passive description
How nouns and verbs impact description
The importance of using sensory description
How to capture inspiring phrases for later reference
Tips for taming your inner critic
How to gain inspiration by reading like a writer

This book will change the way you think about description. Order your copy now and transform your stories into magic carpets that carry readers into your world.”

This article / blog post is Copyright Cate Russell-Cole 2013. All rights are reserved Internationally. You may not reproduce it in any form, in part of whole, without Cate’s prior written permission. That includes usage in forms such as print, audio and digital imaging including pdf, jpg, png etc. A fee may be requested for re-using her work if it is for a commercial venture. Link sharing and Pinterest pins are most welcome as long as Cate is the attributed Author.

No images on this blog may be copied, captured, or altered for your own purpose without the consent of the originating owner.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: author, blog, blogging, books, challenge, characterisation, compelling, craft, description, discovery, fiction, ideas, Indie publishing, inspiration, novel, resource, Sharon Lippincott, success, writer, writing

Support an Author Month Task: Best Post Ever!

As part of Support an Author month, please visit a favourite blog; locate a post that inspired you and leave a comment saying, “This is my favourite post. Thank you!” Be sure to Tweet, Facebook or share it on G+ so the author knows you’ve spread the word. #bestpostever

You are also welcome to leave a link in the comments here and recommend a blog, if not a specific post.

Cheers everyone! Thanks for the positive response to this initiative.

This blog post by Cate Russell-Cole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share and adapt it.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: author, blog, blogging, books, creativity, encouragement, growth, ideas, Indie publishing, inspiration, resource, success, support, Support an Author Month, task, thank, writer, writing

Writing Rocket Fuel: John Steinbeck on Memoir Writing

“Don’t start by trying to make the book chronological. Just take a period. Then try to remember it so clearly that you can see things: what colors and how warm or cold and how you got there. Then try to remember people. And then just tell what happened.

It is important to tell what people looked like, how they walked, what they wore, what they ate. Put it all in. Don’t try to organize it. And put in all the details you can remember.

You will find that in a very short time things will begin coming back to you, you thought you had forgotten. Do it for very short periods at first but kind of think of it when you aren’t doing it.

Don’t think back over what you have done. Don’t think of literary form. Let it get out as it wants to. Over tell it in the matter of detail: cutting comes later. The form will develop in the telling.” John Steinbeck

Filed under: Life Story / Memoir, Rocket Fuel Tagged: autobiography, family history, John Steinbeck, journal, life story, memoir, Writing Rocket Fuel

Pay Yourself First

“Pay yourself first,” was the solid advice I was given with business book keeping: and face it, writing is a business, even if you work at it recreationally. If the IRS wants a share, it’s not necessarily a carefree hobby any longer…

It is not the size of my royalty cheques that keep me writing. Please, hold my hand while I tell you the story of banking my very first ever royalty cheque from the almighty Amazon. A Hallmark, Kodak, landmark moment! (Not quite…)

I was tired. I had another headache. I had my husband double-check the numbers on the stub to ensure Amazon got it right before I banked it. Then I had a frustrating twenty minute wait while a very young customer service representative with chipped nail polish, unkept hair and no sense of organisation, danced around to the tune on the piped music and ran from desk to desk, attempting to work out what to do with an international cheque. (Yes, professionalism is dead.)

The grand prize for this? 70% culled off my takings as I am in Australia, not the States; plus another 5% taken off by the United States Internal Revenue Service (though it was worth the four month fight with Amazon, or that would have been 30%); $7 lost in the exchange rate and the standard $15 international cheque lodgement fee. I looked at the receipt and saw how little of the amount I got to keep and wanted to cry. I make more money selling a handful of writing course CD-Roms, than I did from pushing 1500 books. I went to text my long-suffering husband for comfort… to find my phone battery had run out!

Made by Madame Purl, a great blog for craft lovers! http://madamepurl.com/2008/01/20/bunny-slippers/

Pay yourself first. Pay myself with what? If I made 5c an hour for all the work I had put into writing, editing, formatting and promoting those books, I’d still be solidly in the red. I know that the amount adds up over time and makes it worthwhile… but on a first cheque, which I should have been exited about, it stunk!

So how do you pay yourself first when the money isn’t there? You do it by placing value on what you do and how it makes you feel about yourself. This is one instance when looking for outside approval is not going to do anything to encourage you. You pay yourself in personal satisfaction. I wrote those books, which I thought I’d never have the time to do. Other work and lack of courage had always gotten in the way of becoming a published author. In overcoming those hurdles, I have achieved a dream.

When I look back, it has never been money or recognition that has motivated me to write. I started writing when I was all of nine and my sister bought me a diary. I have been hooked on getting my thoughts down ever since. These days, I just share it with other people. One day I will probably say “enough” to business and will exchange my keyboard for my bunny slippers and Star Trek re-runs. Even then, I will always find the time to write.

Writing has to be for me first. It has to be what I want to do. It has to be its own reward. Chasing financial success works for a very few, but being true to yourself works for all.

This article / blog post is Copyright Cate Russell-Cole 2013. All rights are reserved Internationally. You may not reproduce it in any form, in part of whole, without Cate’s prior written permission. That includes usage in forms such as print, audio and digital imaging including pdf, jpg, png etc. A fee may be requested for re-using her work if it is for a commercial venture. Link sharing and Pinterest pins are most welcome as long as Cate is the attributed Author.

The Oy Vey keyboard image is Copyright Cate Russell-Cole 2013. The bunny slippers come from the stated blog owner. No images on this blog may be copied, captured, or altered for your own purpose without the consent of the originating owner.

Filed under: Personal Post, Writing Tagged: Amazon, author, blog, blogging, challenge, creativity, encouragement, goals, growth, Indie publishing, inspiration, motivation, passion, publishing, royalty cheque, success, writer, writing

Creating Multi-Dimensional Characters #2---Everybody Lies

Reblogged from Kristen Lamb's Blog:

Monday, we started talking about ways to create multi-dimensional characters. It's tempting for us to create "perfect" protagonists and "pure evil" antagonists, but that's the stuff of cartoons, not great fiction. Every strength has an array of corresponding weaknesses, and when we understand these soft spots, generating conflict becomes easier. Understanding character arc becomes simpler. Plotting will fall into place with far less effort.

Read more… 1,394 more words

Part two of Kristen's excellent series.

We’re All in this Together: How to Support Other Writers

Following the feedback I’ve received from Sandra’s post on toxic critiques, I’d like to focus on unity within the writing community, and we are a community.

I’ve met many writers who stick together with their fellow wordsmiths. They generously take the time to ‘like,’ ‘plus one,’ share, recommend, comment, rate and mop up tears. More of us give than tear apart; that’s how it should be!

Please take a little extra time each week this month to support other writers. Ways you can do that include:

Buying that friend’s book that you have always meant to buy, but never gotten around to.
If you have read a free book, leave feedback and recommend the author. Never leave a giveaway or gift unrewarded.
Use your powers for good! Resisting the urge to leave a scathing negative critique. Ok, their work wasn’t your style or done to your standard. Let it be. Move on: don’t destroy.
Leave blog comments, likes, ratings and plus ones (Google Plus) where you can.

Expletives aside, the message is right, no matter what topic we’re on.

Give a Written Act of Kindness Award (details are below.) You have no idea how much giving these awards has encouraged and blessed MY socks off! Make someone’s day.
Sponsor an initiative such as ROW80 to encourage other writers.
Send a struggling writer an e-card which encourages them.
Join a Facebook or Google Plus group and give one post a day a positive comment.
If you see a request for financial support on someone’s blog (when they are non-commercial and freely giving to other writers), even if you can just give a few dollars, please do. Some sites and blogs are expensive. They need help to run them.
Pass this post on to spread the word. The logos on this post are available for everyone to use.

The Written Acts of Kindness Award

When someone inspires you, or if you see someone who is using their writing gift to help others, please take the time to thank them publicly by giving them this award (and the rules for passing it on.)

This award is open to anyone to use. You don’t have to receive it, in order to be able to give it. Please take the details and images off this page and use it to encourage another writer. The rules for passing it on are very simple:

You are welcome to give it out as many times as you like, but it is only to be given to a maximum of one person per blog post. If you wish to give multiple rewards, please space the blog posts by at least a week, so the sincerity is maintained.
Introduce the person; say how they encourage, help or inspire you; then link to their work and/or social media profiles. There may be a specific post you wish to link to which helped you. It’s up to you.
Please publicise your award post to Twitter or Google Plus using the hashtag #writtenkindness so that others can find and follow the award winners.

Get the Award Badge and Code

Boxed code from “Grab My Button” Code Generator: http://www.mycoolrealm.com/sandbox/gbgen/

This blog post by Cate Russell-Cole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share and adapt it.

Filed under: Writing Tagged: author, blogging, books, creativity, encouragement, growth, ideas, Indie publishing, inspiration, resource, success, support, writer, writing