Amanda Shofner's Blog, page 4
November 1, 2016
The most grandest of NaNoWriMo plans
In case you haven’t looked at a calendar recently, allow me to tell you the date: November 1st. To the writing community, that signals the beginning of NaNoWriMo, the month of novel writing.
And given that I haven’t devoted a blog post to discussing my projects or what I’m writing on since JANUARY (ouch) (*blushes*), I figured now is a good time.
Yeah. January Amanda thought the year was going to be her writing and publishing year. It wasn’t. But that’s not this post.
Brewing in the Cities b...
October 25, 2016
9-year-old Amanda had opinions about her future
Most of them don’t hold true two decades later, but let’s forget that for a second.
My three-year-old niece became a big sister recently, and it spurred me down memory lane—I set out to find the “Big Sister” button I received twenty-odd years ago when my brother was born. I found it, but the real story begins when I stumbled across a collection of my fourth grade assignments.
Fourth-grade Amanda is better than adult Amanda.Well, when it comes to drawing, anyway.
I have to imagine that the c...
October 18, 2016
Scarlet Tales (yeah, I went there)
Fun fact: Scarlet’s tail has changed color since we’ve gotten her. Different coloredhairs appeared, making her tail seem darker. It’s adorable. And I’m not biased.
Also, she’s great at napping.
Owning a dog is a humanizing experience.Sometimes taking care of myself is enough of a job. But to be responsible for a living creature, too? It’s definitely an experience. And how we treat our dogs says a lot about who we are as a person. (I just hope it says I’m a good person.)
Seven months of havi...
October 11, 2016
How to Prep for NaNoWriMo Without Freaking Out
If you’ve been on the Internet lately, and are involved in the writing community, then you probably know NaNoWriMo is coming. Less than a month to go!
There’s a lot of advice available, but I find that getting deep down in NaNoWriMo preparation articles only makes me feel more overwhelmed than before.
If you want to skip the freakout—but still be ready to write November 1—here’s what you need to do:
Know that no right way to prepare existsThat’s right! Everyone thinks they know the best way...
October 4, 2016
Know when to let go
At the beginning of September, I announcedI was shutting down my book blog of five years. But the truth was, the blog had been dead long before then, even though we continued to post there.
Letting go of my book blog ultimately has little impact on anyone’s life but my own. People I’ve met through blogging connect with me other ways, and I continue to read (and occasionally review) books.
My love of reading didn’t change, but how I expressed it did....
September 27, 2016
On sibling relationships (an ode to my brother) (sorta)
At the end of July, I traveled to Alaska, where my brother has been stationed in the Air Force for the past few years.It was the first time I’d been the one traveling to see him since flying out to San Antonio for his basic training graduation.
The sheer beauty and awesomeness of Alaska aside, the trip provided me with insight into his life (and me and our relationship) that I never would have gotten otherwise.
In college during a psychology class, the professor mentioned that your siblings...
September 22, 2016
“Was” isn’t your enemy—here’s what passive voice is really all about
Hearing the advice that “was” is passive voice never fails to set my eye twitching.
Does it signal weak writing? Sure. An excessive use of “was” means your verb use lacks variety—and it’s often a sign of telling, not showing.
When I reviewed six automatic editing tools for The Write Life, most tools failed miserably at flagging passive constructions properly.
Passive voice, as a grammatical construction, requires a lot more than “was.”In fact,...
September 15, 2016
Fall 2016 Bloggiesta starting point and to-dos
Oh, Bloggiesta. It’s been too long since we last met.
If you’re unfamiliar with Bloggiesta, I’ll let them explain:
In short, Bloggiesta is a blogging marathon revolving around ticking off those items on your to-do list and improving your blog while in the good company of other awesome bloggers doing the same thing. Our awesome mascot Pedro (Plan. Edit. Develop. Review. Organize) is ready to break out the nachos, enchiladas, drinks, mariachi music and whack a pinata or two! It’s nothing short...
September 12, 2016
We adopted a dog six months ago. This is our story.
We’re six months into owning being owned bya dog. And although my Instagram became overrun with dog pictures and I eventually gave Scarlet her own Instagram account, I haven’t yet told her story.Or what I know of her story.
A photo posted by Scarlet (@scarlsby) on Aug 19, 2016 at 2:23pm PDT
Getting a dog was inevitable. I knew from ea...
September 8, 2016
The top 3 romantic suspense books or series I’ve read lately
Once I returned to the romantic suspense genre, there was really no turning back.
(Except for the necessary return to historical romance, but thatwill beanother post for another day.)
The beauty of reading books from the genre you’re writing in is that it gives youan invaluable education. You learn the breadth of the genre and the conventions, and how your book fits in.
It’s also just a plain good time, frankly. Here’s what I’ve been reading (and loving) lately:
1. The Associates series by C...
