Adan Ramie's Blog, page 16
January 15, 2017
“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.” – Jane Austen
2016 Goodreads Reading ChallengeLook at a book. A book is the right size to be a book. They’re solar-powered. If you drop them, they keep on being a book. You can find your place in microseconds. Books are really good at being books, and no matter what happens, books will survive. – Douglas Adams
In 2016, I read a lot. I read books I bought, books that were given to me as gifts, and books I was given for the purpose of reviewing. I read books on Kindle, brand new hardbacks, and paperbacks w...
January 12, 2017
Breaking Stories Down to Resonate with Readers with Christine Frazier. [Interview]
As a writer, I rely on a lot of resources to keep my mind sharp and my writing game strong. I love reading about the deconstruction of stories, what makes characters tick, and the other habits of writers – which is a big reason I started my interview series for the blog.
Today’s interviewee has one of the coolest, most well put together website I’ve ever seen. Her ideas are awesome, and her Master Outline is something amazing to behold.
January 10, 2017
Resolutions are pointless, because we never stick to them… right? Wrong. [Book Review]
Habits. Is anyone good at making AND keeping them?
If you’re like me, you’ve tried New Year’s Resolutions. You’ve tried quitting bad habits cold turkey. You’ve tried cutting back, making rules, changing routines, and clearing out cabinets, but none of it really worked.
Habits are for other people, the ones to whom they come easily, right?
According to Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project and the book I’m reviewing today, making and breaking habits comes down to who you are as a per...
January 8, 2017
Writing to Live: You call it a hobby; I call it my lifeblood.
This is one of those questions we writers all get a lot. It may come in different forms, but it’s always the same idea. What makes our brain so different that scribbling (or typing) is the only way we can make ourselves feel sufficiently heard in the world?
Usually we get this from non-writers, and it can come about in three clearly defined tones.
The Hater: Why on Earth would you waste your time writing? The Questioner: Why do you find writing fun, and would I like it, to...January 5, 2017
A debt is owed. [Interview]
Ever read a great tagline, and knew you had to know more about that book and author?
“A debt is owed” tugs you out of your internet zombification and makes you pay attention. What is this book about? And who came up with it?
That’s what I wanted to know about The Glass Thief and its author, John Ryers. This is what I found out.
My name is John Ryers and I write predominantly dark fantasy. I have written a few short stories in YA and Sci-Fi...
January 3, 2017
Earth’s finest battle the monsters who attacked our world, but this time, they’re behind enemy lines. [Book Review]
Just about everyone has heard of the radio broadcast thatcaused what some called a “mass panic” when aired the night before Halloween in 1938. War of the Worlds helped its author, H.G. Welles, get the contract to write, direct, produce, and star in Citizen Kane, which has been called one of the greatest movies of all time.
So when my friend and fellow writer, Mark Gardner, told me he and John J. Rust were writing a sequel to War of the Worlds, I knew that was a story I had to read.
January 1, 2017
2 Things I Learned from 3 Years of Reading Challenges
I hope you celebrated with the people you care about most on New Year’s Eve, and recuperated enough on New Year’s Day to feel bright-eyed and bushy-tailed again this morning.
What’s on the agenda today?
Reading, of course!
I was going back through my old blog posts, the ones I managed to save when I changed over to my new domain in late 2016, and found I had started a trend of doing To Be Read challenges. Naturally, I’ll be doing that again this year, but I wanted t...
December 27, 2016
Blog gotten stale? [Book Review]
I have never been very regular with blogging.
I know I need to blog regularly. Honestly, I really enjoy blogging. But something about the schedules I’ve set in the past has made it incredible difficult to stick to it and keep it going for very long at a time.
That’s why when Reading Deals offered to let me read and review Blog Ideas by Steve Alvesteffer, I was more than happy to oblige.
Has your blog become stale?
I spent months researching the best blogging practices and r...
December 25, 2016
Looking back on my beginnings: The First Anthologies to Publish My Work
Two years ago this month, I published the following post on my little blog that almost no one read. I guess it just goes to show that you can start from nowhere, and end up being a published author.
I can’t believe how far I’ve come, and I look forward to more years of writing, publishing, and collaborating with other awesome writers and editors.
Watch this space in the future for writing tips, discussions, author interviews, and more.
Here’s the post:
The First Anthologies to Publish MeOrig...
December 22, 2016
Going down the horror section with Frank Martin. [Interview]
I love learning about new authors, so earlier this year I put out a call to a couple of writing groups on Facebook asking for authors to interview. I got a monumental reply, and I’m finally making my way through them all.
This is one of the authors whose works stuck out to me. I love old school horror, and I learned through this interview that this guy definitely does, too.
Frank Martin is a prose and comic writer that always enjoys explori...
