Honestly, I feel a bit like a fake lately. Here I am sharing tips and skills, and I’m barely holding it together. At least, from my view I’m barely holding it together. A friend recently said, “You’re holding yourself to some crazy standards thinking that you aren’t enough.” Well, perhaps. I hold myself to the… Read More Freeform Friday: Taking my own advice
I know I’m probably not the only one who does it, but I often wonder just how common it is. I start with a story, and as I write, scenes that aren’t part of that particular story keep coming to me. Many of them are so intense I have to write them just to get… Read More Writing Wednesday: Playing with ideas
This is as much a reminder to myself as it is an offering of advice for those who are where I am – stuck in the hell of writer’s block. In my instance, I get writer’s block for one of two reasons. I’m trying to put characters into situations they’d never be in. I’m stressed… Read More Writing Wednesday: Beating Writer’s Block
I see comments from different authors, some asking “How do you know what your character would do?” and others saying, “It’s your character, you tell them what to do.” I admit to having a good chuckle at those who believe they control every aspect of their story. I don’t know many who’re published who don’t… Read More Writing Wednesday: Coffee with Characters
Yes, I’ve finally reached the point of using an abbreviation. Half-Life of a Soul is too much to type all at once, especially when titling documents or discussing it in chat. So, HLOAS it is! Lauren is finally aware that her granddaughter, Dani, is a lesbian. It’s not a problem for her, except the part… Read More Freeform Friday: Update on HLOAS
I’ve had a frustrating realization, and I decided to share it with everyone here. My reason for it isn’t to garner sympathy, but to show how I use the skills I write about. This post may be long, and I’ll put a TRIGGER WARNING here that I’m going to be discussing the ways depression and… Read More Freeform Friday: My battle with depression
The Command Center went out yesterday with the backstory for Half-Life of a Soul in it, right on schedule. And straight into everyone’s spam folders. Yeah, that was about the reaction I had. “What? There is no way I marked myself as spam.” I checked with a friend, knowing she didn’t, and sure enough, she… Read More Newsletter Update/Sneak Peek!
Like most people who write but also have the day job, it’s often a battle to get the space to write, even with good planning and time management. Still, when I feel I’m not making progress, I can open the folder on the computer and see that I am. The number of chapters, the word… Read More Writing Wednesday: Carving Out Time
I’ve been making steady-ish progress on the Half-Life of a Soul (HLOAS) series. It has been very slow, though. While yes, any progress is good, I don’t want to take a decade to write “the end” when I already know exactly how this story will end, how the spin-off story will open and end, and… Read More Freeform Friday: Author in action
I’ve found that having a deadline keeps me writing. For some authors, a deadline is a surefire way to make sure no writing happens, ever. Something about that date looming in the future will reveal exactly which sort of author you are. Working on deadlines, or needing them like I do, isn’t good or bad.… Read More Writing Wednesday: Setting Goals and Deadlines
Kambry Ellis 