Blogging Award – The Versatile Blogger Award
Posted on February 1, 2015 2 Comments
Blessings to my friend who always passes along her awards to me – I can’t say thank you enough to Justina Luther who nominated me for the award. Check out her fantastic blog HERE.
Justina Luther
So the rules of the award are as follows:
1. Show the award on your blog
2. Thank the person who nominated you.
3. Share 7 facts about yourself.
4. Nominate 5 blogs.
5. Link your nominee’s blogs and let them know.
Blogging Award – Very Inspiring Blogger Award
Posted on January 31, 2015 Leave a Comment
Very Inspiring Blogger Award
I’ve been nominated for the Very Inspiring Blog Award by WONDERFUL lady that I haven’t actually met before except through Skype. You can find her HERE
Kelly Anne Liberto
The Rules of the blog are to share seven things about yourself, link to the blog of the person who nominated you and nominate eight more people for the Inspiring Blogs Awards. I’m getting this from Kelly Anne Liberto, whose link is above. I’ll keep her changed rules from nominating 15 people to eight.
Blogging Award – Sisterhood of the World
Posted on January 30, 2015 2 Comments
It’s award “season” again, and I have three to post in the next couple of days. Here’s the first one.
Thank you Justina Luther, for nominating me for this blogging award! If you love imaginative fiction, you’ll love Justina’s stories. Click here to enter Justina’s magical world of fiction.
Justina Luther
To say a bit more in thanking Justina – nearly every award I have posted here is because of her. She’s nominated me and I’ll be doing her a favor and nominating her for something she doesn’t have yet – not this award, but another one! I’m happy to do that, too. She’s a great young woman, and I’m privileged to know her.
Writing Resource – The First Five Pages
Posted on January 29, 2015 Leave a Comment
by Noah Lukeman
Called “A Writer’s Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile,” The First Five Pages is a how-to manual on sprucing up the beginning our your novel. I’ve had this book a long time. A dear writing friend gave this to me years ago. I’m just now reading it. Covering the basics, it’s everything from presentation, to style, to dialogue, to adjectives and adverbs. The author, Noah Lukeman, a literary agent, also covers characterizations, pacing, point of view and tone.
His first chapter is on “Presentation” – what does your manuscript look like? How is it formatted? Does it look nice? We all know that a child prefers a colorful and interesting looking package to a brown paper bag. Think of an editor or an agent that way. Lukeman gives the example of a potential author whose manuscript came to him “in a substandard format, printed on a dot-matrix printer, hard to read, filled with errors, even pagination mistakes.” We may think that’s funny now, but presentation is important.
A Note of Appreciation
Posted on January 28, 2015 Leave a Comment
My holly bush with snow
I just wanted to tell you all how much I appreciate you reading this blog. I really do. You come from over 30 countries besides the U.S. My statistics tell me you like the posts about writing resources. I will continue that.
Some of you are my friends and you know me. Some of you also like my sharing of writing resources, but some of you also want more articles of faith. I’ll give you those as well.
Because this blog isn’t just about me – it’s about YOU, too. I’ll post twice a week, anytime between Tuesday and Thursday. One post will be on writing and writing resources, the other about matters of faith. For the next few months, while I’m still in bible school – with an internship attached, I’ll be posting twice a week. I’m also involved in another group blog, and we’re writing a story. You can check us out at http://whenreaderswrite.com. Come be part of our story.
Occasionally, I’ll do a book review, and write a short story. I’ll keep you apprised of Meghan’s Choice in the publishing process as well.
So, stay tuned, you never know what I’ll post next. But it always be one of two themes: writing and faith. Thank you again. Have a great day.
Thought for the day: Is Wednesday, “Hump Day” for you – or is one day like another? Leave a comment, and let me know.
Forgiveness is Key
Posted on January 27, 2015 4 Comments
Last week, I talked about what happened at a writer’s conference. You can check out my post HERE.
Some of you let me know by comment or email that you think I should “demand” or at least “ask for” an apology from conference organizers. But I’m not going to. Here’s why.
A Season and a Time for Everything
Posted on January 22, 2015 2 Comments
The Birds used verses from Ecclesiastes 3 to say “To everything, turn, turn, turn. There is a season, turn, turn, turn.” It’s not even a year old yet. But it might be undergoing a bit of a change again.
In November, I challenged myself to post three times a week. It’s been getting a bit more difficult to do that. I hope you don’t mind. But I’m probably only going to post once or at most, twice a week.
What would you like to see here? I’ve been sharing my writing resources. Do you like that? Leave a comment and let me know. OR see the poll below. It’s the same one I had before.
I know some of you from other countries look at this blog regularly. I’m asking you to post a comment. Do you like what you see – or would you like to see something different?
Post a comment and let me know. I will reply. And thank you for reading. I have also included a poll for those who like to vote.
Thank you for your support. We had our best day ever – yesterday.
Please – Get Your Facts Straight – REBLOG
Posted on January 21, 2015 14 Comments
REBLOGGING this painful episode from January. Just want you all to know, I have totally healed from it. It was upsetting at the time, but you forgive, heal, and move on.
I’m actually at another writer’s conference this week. So, I’m not generating new material.
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“All the winners are present. And there may be some here who didn’t win, but came very, very close.” I was at a writer’s conference over the weekend where an announcement was made. I’ve talked about it before, but I hate to use the real names, but many of you will know who I’m talking about, and what contest it was.
There were three publishing prizes given out, and three of us were there. But the announcer was wrong, as I was to learn just a minute later. As it happened, two winners were present, and I was the “close” one. But that first statement made me think I’d actually won something, only to have it dashed moments later.
Breakout III – General Story Techniques
Posted on January 16, 2015 1 Comment
This week, we’ve been looking at Donald Maas’ Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook. I trust you have had your whistle whetted to learn more from this writing resource.
Yesterday, we looked at Lessons 13-24, Part II, Plot Development. The lessons covered everything from subplots, to adding tension in different ways, to how and when to use backstory, plot layering, and complications.
I’ll do the same today – pick out one point from each of the remaining lessons to encourage you to acquire the workbook and devour it. It will help you grow your novel and make it special. That’s what readers want and it’s what we writers want.
Today – I’ll be listing the lessons from Part III – General Story Techniques. This unit covers Lessons 25 to 34, everything from raising the stakes, complications, layering plot lines, subplots, turning points, conflict, and adding tension. I also talk about the Appendices.
Writing to Breakout II – Plot
Posted on January 15, 2015 Leave a Comment
This week, we’re looking at Donald Maas’ Writing the Breakout Novel Workbook. My goal is to inspire and educate you to the basics of writing, and hopefully help you find resources to enhance your writing.
Yesterday, we looked at Lessons 1-12, Part I, Character Development from Donald Maas. The lessons covered everything from adding heroic qualities to a protagonist (the one we root for), to antagonists, to enriching the major cast with secondary characters. I listed one point from each, and encouraged you to acquire this workbook and complete the fill-in exercises at the end of each lesson to help you grow your novel.
Today – I’ll be listing the lessons from Plot Development with a “nugget” from each. This unit covers Lessons 13 to 24, everything from raising the stakes, complications, layering plot lines, subplots, turning points, conflict, and adding tension.
Donna L.H. Smith 