Kate Padilla's Blog, page 23

NANOWRIMO DAY 3: THE TEST OF A GOOD ROM-COM

THE TEST OF A GOOD ROM-COM This post isn't going to apply to some of you (or even most of you). And that's okay. You'll get your moment. This one is for the rom-com writers. You know who you are.

Last night I was flipping through movies between Netflix and Amazon Prime, and I settled on Morning Glory, starring Rachel McAdams and Harrison Ford. What I noticed while watching this movie (again--I'd already seen it a few times) is that this is one of those gems, those few-and-far-between romantic...

NANOWRIMO DAY 2: BUILDING YOUR CHARACTERS

BUILDING CHARACTER: HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH? There are so many resources on the Internet on how to build characters. When I was outlining a novel that I hope to write one day, I found one that detailed everything from the character's physical appearance to their birthday and religion.

And, after filling out that format for nearly every character in my novel, I realized that most of the information was unnecessary. In fact, it probably did more harm than good. I spent so much energy focusing on m...

NANOWRIMO DAY 1: WHAT YOU'RE NOT WRITING THIS MONTH

WHAT YOU'RE NOT WRITING THIS MONTH Chances are, you've been thinking of this novel for a while. Maybe you're a NaNoWriMo veteran, and you've been planning this story since Dec. 1 of last year. Maybe this is your first try, and you've been planning your book for years.

And what we probably get the most anxious about is living up to this idea of the story we have in our mind. This is our masterpiece, right? We need to get it just right on the first try.

Wrong.

There are tons of blogs out there tel...

NEED A LITTLE INSPIRATION FOR NANOWRIMO?

Are you getting cold feet at the thought of staring down a blank page and a blinking cursor for a month?

Tomorrow starts the literary marathon known as NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). The concept is that, in one month, you'll write a 50,000-word novel (about 200 pages). Thousands of authors will set out on November 1 with big dreams and epic plot twists and complex character development. And quite a few of them will win. They'll walk right into December with a novel. For some, it's t...

SOMETIMES THE SIMPLE THINGS ARE THE MOST POWERFUL

Look at me posting every day this week (*throws small party in her head*)

But in all seriousness, I picked upWar and Peaceon my lunch break to get a few pages in, and I came across a great passage that I had to jot down for future recollection. And then I thought,why not share them with the class?

More on that later. Because as I was thinking this, I remembered a passage I had fallen in love with weeks earlier, that I had jotted down and probably journaled about, but never actually got to the b...

WHAT IS THE BOOK ROULETTE?

If you've read back in the blog, or you've been following me for a while, you may have noticed a few posts titled "Book Roulette." It's been a while since I've had one (in part because of the tome I'm currently working through), but I wanted to introduce this concept, because I hope to have more posts about it as I continue and expand the blog.

WHAT IS THE BOOK ROULETTE?
The Book Roulette is essentially just a list of the books in my personal collection.

WHY DID I START IT?
About two years ago I...

INDIE FEATURE: THE ONLY PERMANENT SOLUTION ... IS THE RATIONAL GOD

THE ONLY PERMANENT SOLUTION TO ALL HUMAN PROBLEMS IS THE RATIONAL GOD, BY SAJITH BUVI.
Self published. 288 pages

Buy the book on Amazon
Check out the book on Goodreads
Check out Sajith Buvi on Goodreads

SYNOPSIS
For far too long across the modern world, intellectuals have ignored religion as an irrational belief. They've kept religion out of intellectual discourse. In intellectual circles, science, technology, politics, history and even the life of celebrities are given far more importance than re...

PAPERBACK RELEASE: THE ART OF ASKING

It's been awhile since I've been able to feature the paperback release of a book because it's been a while since I've known about a paperback release of a book I've read. But today my dry spell stops, because Amanda Palmer's fantastic bookThe Art of Askingis out in paperback, and I get to talk about it.

I'm not entirely sure how to describeThe Art of Asking, because it is a memoir, but it's also a self-help book, and a book that helped inspire me into success, both as I think of my career(s)...

ALTERNATE VOICES: JILL AMY ROSENBLATT

Don't we all have the "writer's fantasy"--our perfect-world situation where we were able to write full time. Jill Amy Rosenblatt, the author in today's Alternate Voices, talks about her perfect world. In that world, she's able to write full time, overlooking the water and with the company with a lovable golden retriever named Dr. Watson. And while this sounds fantastic, she's just as ready to admit that the "real world" does not always include this fantasy. And yet, writer's still write. Even...

ALTERNATE VOICES: LILY TREZEVANT

This week's guest post comes from Lily Trezevant, author of bothRising to the SurfaceandTreading the Water, the first two books in a trilogy. She's just signed the contract for the third book, titledSteady Ground. Lily's main character is Maria, a woman who experiences every parent's worst nightmare--the loss of a child. And, although Lily herself may not have the specific experience of losing a child, she was able to tap into other grief she'd experienced in her life, along with the experien...