The Realms of a Fantastical Mind

It's Friday!!! I've got my coffee, my critiques and edits to work on for today.  Now I just need my hug-me jacket.  I've got someone here today that can provide! Everyone jump for joy and pass them around. Don't worry, they come in all colors! Welcome T.J. Loveless to the Blog Ring of Power. T.J. can often be found surrounded by the wonderful chaos of life, writing, editing and laughing at the antics of family. Section #1: About You BRoP:  When and why did you begin writing? T.J.  In the fourth grade, we had an assignment to write a one page story. I don’t remember what I wrote, or even the accompanying illustration I turned in. What I do remember is my teacher, Mrs. Hunter, refused to return the story and said I had all the makings of a writer. I dabbled for years. In 2010, my beloved grandmother’s last words were to never give it up, to keep pushing, to be myself and not the person everyone else kept saying I should be. It was then that I realized Na...

I'm up on Dragons and Aliens and Wraiths Oh My , talking about the need for thick skin when getting a critique of my work. It all deals with the mindset.  Keep an open mind and remember that your critique partner is trying to help you get better. What do you do to don your armor?  Do you react badly to critiques? How do you get past harsh review?  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

We need our computer, some paper and pens, or some nifty software so that we can organize the craziness of our books. With all these things, our greatest tools may be overlooked. What are they you ask... go ahead ask. I'll tell you what they are (IMHO) Critique partners, Beta readers, and Editors. Yes, your greatest tools as a writer are those people who take time out of their lives to hack and slash your baby into little red filled pages of suffering.  They are the reason we writers need to have thicker skin than a killer whale. They are also the reason why the successful author's books get read, and read and read over again. It's common knowledge that as a writer we get so involved with our babies, so much care taken to make every word choice perfect, that we don't see the blaring black holes in our plot, or the grossly overused metaphor that needs to go. We need those extra set of eyes to point out the flaws. So what is the difference between ...

I've been doing some research on this, since lets face it, any and all writers who want to go the traditional route of publishing or publish themselves need to have a strong first sentence. You want to grab the reader by the mind, heart and spirit at first glance.  You want your book to be that sexy blond haired blue eyed girl that everyone looks at, right till she walks out of the room.  The grabber of attention.  To any writer, your story is a child, a brain child that you want people to notice.  However, attention spans are not what they used to be.  There was a time when a reader would accept the long winded description of scenes and the characters in them before anything happened. That is just not the case anymore.  The reader wants to use their own imagination implant their own ideas of what things look like, not to be pushed into viewing something else.  They want that first line to be one of those lines that tells ...