R.J. Blain's Blog, page 34

2022 Writing Productivity Spreadsheet is now ready. (I hope.)

There may be bugs. In fact, considering the number of formulas, despite the hours of bug hunting I’ve done… there are probably bugs. I did this for me and am sharing with you because I can, so please be kind if you find a bug. I’ve removed as many as I was able to without actually *using* the sheet, but I typically correct bugs as I find them and upload a new version.

Anyway, a LOT has changed compared to last year’s sheet. Instead of a monthly planner, it is now a daily planner. The yearly ...

News, general updates, and the kickstarter is ending soon!

Hey, folks. You’re getting the human today. It’s me! RJ! Hooray.

Okay, not even going to lie, that was tiring to type. So, I’m going to get straight to the chase today because I have a bazillion things to do before I can go to bed tonight, and I’d like to get to the fun portion of my day sooner than later.

I’ve been putting in a bunch of long days lately trying to get caught up from basically a year and a half of struggling with every word. Words are not a struggle right now, so my intenti...

On Writing: Conceptualizing a Novel (Standalone or Series.)

Dear humans,

Buckle up. This is going to be a long ride. Get a drink, make sure you’re not reading while drinking, as we have a hobby of making as many people spit on their devices as possible, and enjoy the show!

To begin with, we would like to offer a bribe of us being adorable. We went to the V-E-T a while back, as we needed our vaccinations and a check-up. We did not appreciate this, as evidenced by this picture.

In good news for us, we were taken home after some additional trauma. ...

On Writing: Show versus Tell.

Dear humans,

Welcome to a new installment on ‘A Cat’s Guide to Writing!’ I am your host, Zazzle the Beguiling Tyrant. I steal the intel from the human female’s brain, and I share it with you!

We of the Furred & Frond Management hope you find this post helpful.

Showing versus telling is one of the fundamentals of writing. It is how you engage a reader in a story and immerse them in it. Telling is also important, but showing is how you bring characters to life.

In a previous post, ...

On Writing: The Art of Creating a Compelling Hook.

Dear humans,

In this installment of A Cat’s Guide to Writing, we’re going to attempt to pick the female’s brains for all of her secrets. Since that icky gray mass has more than a few secrets, we’ll start with something rather important to writing a book: the beginning.

It doesn’t matter if you plot or write off the cuff. No matter what writing style you embrace, you need to start a story somewhere.

Knowing where to begin and how to create a compelling story hook is really important. Aft...

A Few Important Things

Dear humans,

We had to peel the female off the ceiling this morning. She is still breathing fire. Frankly, it’s a little disconcerting.

1: We have a typo form on the website. Please use it. We have removed the option to email in kindle files because people were just submitting singular errors. Those errors get forgotten about. It means the typo doesn’t get fixed, and nobody is happy.

2: Please do not use Big Brother Amazon to report typos. Amazon doesn’t permit the author to retain crea...

Are you an author? Want to submit to the anthology I’m in?

Hey folks,

R.J. here. The anthology kickstarter has funded. Hooray! Are you an author? Think you’re ready to submit to a publication?

Submissions are open for Shattering the Glass Slipper and the other anthologies. Here are the deets:

The NOIR, SHATTERING THE GLASS SLIPPER, and BRAVE NEW WORLDS anthology Kickstarter has hit its goal!  If you have a story idea that fits one of the anthology themes, write it up, revise it, polish it, and send it in for consideration.  I’ve posted the guid...

Dear humans, we’re sorry

We did not mean to make that post a post. It was supposed to be a page. Please forgive us for the messy clutter. We are trying to update the website… poorly. So very poorly.

We have fired the female. She is now crying in a corner eating nuggets. She’ll be fine in ten minutes, so don’t worry about it.

We solemnly swear we weren’t trying to give you false hopes for a book. We were just trying to make the website do its job for a change.

With love and purrs,

~The Furred & Frond Manageme...

Cross-Stitching with R.J.

Dear humans,

We must go nap, so you get the female tonight, and she is going to teach you how to be a stitch-bitch! Someone on facebook requested to be taught how to cross-stitch so they can join a cross-stitch project.

If you are already a stitch-bitch, you can get this kit to play. It contains needles, some hoops, and 100 different colors of floss. This challenge involves using that kit to cross-stitch a SPACE WOLF. You can purchase the pattern for the Space Wolf here.

Beginner stitch...

News, General Updates, and Shenanigans!

Dear humans,

The female got new shoes! and new socks! We found this to be very exciting. The female was complaining because she was taxed extra for wanting pink. (Hint: the male’s shoes cost $40 less than the female’s shoes. She is a bit bitter over this. In other news, male didn’t complain her shoes cost more. Mainly because she tried on every pair of shoes with pink on them until she found a pair that actually fit without pain. It was an adventure.)

The male and female have determine...