An Interview with Lynda R Young

Today I'm being interviewed by the lovely Maggie at Just Get it Written. Please join us over there. I'd love to see you.

I'd also like to thank C Lee McKenzie for the Very Inspiring Blogger Award. Thanks so much for the award. I must admit, having decided to spend less time blogging in favour of game development and writing, I thought I might disappear from people's thoughts across the blogsphere, so the award came as a wonderful surprise. Thank you, Lee!

Is Self-Publishing for You? And Secrets of Honor

Today I'm over at the IWSG Website with an article about whether or not self-publishing is for you. Please pop on over. I'd love to see you there.

Today is the official Secrets of Honor release day. Yay, Carol!

By the end of a long evening working as a special set of eyes for the presidential security detail, all Kat Marengo wants is to kick off her shoes and stash two not-really-stolen rings in a secure spot. Plus, maybe sleep with Dave Krizak. No, make that definitely sleep with Dave Krizak. The next morning, she wishes her new top priorities were so simple.

As an operative for a covert agency buried in the depths of the Department of Homeland Security, Kat is asked to participate in a matter of life or death—locate a kidnapped girl believed to be held in Corpus Christi, Texas. Since the person doing the asking is the wife of the president and the girl is the daughter of the first lady’s dearest friend, it’s hard to say no.

Kat and Dave quickly learn the real stakes are higher than they or the first lady believed and will require more than any of them bargained for.

The kicker? They have twenty-four hours to find the girl—or the matter of life or death will become more than a possibility.

Available on Kindle and Paperback

Thanks to Mark Noce and Sittie for the Versatile Blogger Award. As part of accepting the award, I'm supposed to share 7 things about myself: I love God, garlic, friendship, my gorgeous husband, story writing, reading, and sunlight. 

Congrats to Mark for his two book deal as well!! How awesome is that?!

A note about the IWSG Guide to Publishing and Beyond: We've already received some fabulous submissions. Keep 'em coming! Your deadline is October 2nd. I'd like to encourage every member of the group to consider contributing to the book, even if you aren't currently published yet. What better way to get started?

Don't forget to pop on over to the IWSG Website.

The Power of a Writer's Faith

Faith is a powerful force. It's not an empty concept and has nothing to do with wishful thinking. Faith is a true, unshakeable belief. This post is about having faith in our stories.

There's only one way to get through the slog of the first draft, the pain of editing, the angst of showing our work to someone for the first time, the horror of rewriting and more editing, the agony of querying, and so forth. We need to believe in our work, or else the part that makes the story unique and special will slip away.

Not everyone will like our stories. We may have to go through hundreds of agents in the hunt to find someone who is interested in representation. We might have to suffer a barrage of doubts, not only from ourselves but our families, our critique partners, our friends. If we have an unshakeable faith in our story, a deep understanding of it, and a determination to stick to that vision, then it's that faith which will carry us through to the end.

If we don't have that faith, then we're easily tossed about. We end up tweaking the life out of our stories because they're never good enough. We'll be easily swayed by every single suggestion a critique partner gives us, every voice-changing advice a friend offers us.

Writing those unique stories requires a powerful bravery to stand firm against the onslaught, especially when rejections start coming in from industry professionals.

So no more floundering to please others. Advice is simply that: advice. Weigh it carefully, understand where it's coming from and why it's being given, then consider it some more and either take it, or dismiss it based on what you believe is right for your vision of the story. Your vision.

How do you maintain your faith in your stories? Do you struggle to know which advice to take and which to ignore?

I wrote this post for the Insecure Writers' Support Group, founded by Alex J Cavanaugh. We post on the first Wednesday of every month.

If you'd like to join, then check it out here.



The Liebster Award—Thank you to Emaginette who gave me the Liebster Award. To accept it, I'm supposed to answer a few questions. Instead I'll answer just the one: If you could write with any color of ink, what color would it be? Purple. I write all my first drafts in longhand with my purple pens so I go through a few, but do you know how hard it is to find purple pens in Australia? It's easy to get them in multi-colour packs, but I don't want all the other colours. I just want purple.

Good Writers' Habits: Make Backups

One irrefutable fact: you don't backup enough.

If you think manuscript01.doc and manuscript02.doc saved in the same folder is enough of a backup then you're in for a world of hurt. If you think multiple files saved in separate folders is enough, you're still going to get a taste of pain.

Computers house fickle little gremlins who have a nasty habit of deciding to cause crashes at the worst possible times. Keeping your manuscript on your computer, with no other copies anywhere else, is a huge mistake.

Not only can your computer suddenly fry, but something could happen to your house (heaven forbid), so store your work somewhere completely different.

• USB storage devices are clever but easy to lose
• CDs and DVDs aren't as durable or reliable as you think.
• Printing is durable as long as you don't lose the pages to termites, fire, water, pets etc. You get the picture.
• Dropbox is a free online service.
• Trusted critique partners are handy.
• The method I use: a smart IT husband who has set up an automatic backup system on 'the cloud' or whatnot. I don't understand it. It just magically happens.

Bonus tip: keep in mind that when a writing program releases an upgrade, it doesn't necessarily allow backward compatibility for all its previous versions. Always save your old files up to the new version to make sure you don't lose your older work.

You have been warned. Now go make copies of your work.

Have you ever had a bad experience where you've lost a portion or all of your manuscript? How do you protect your work?

A big THANK YOU to Alex J Cavanaugh. I received his awesome YOU ROCK award. This, and the kind words he said, made me very happy.

The Importance of Strategic Goals

During April, I received two blog awards: The Liebster Award from Suze of Subliminal Coffee, and the Very Inspiring Blog Award from Mel Chelsy of Writings, Musings & Other Such Nonsense.  As part of the condition of accepting the awards, I'm supposed to answer a series of questions and share seven things about myself. As anyone who's been following me for any time will know, I'm a bit of a rebel when it comes to rules. Consequently I'll answer one of the questions and in the process share a little about myself. Suze asked the big question:

What are your goals?
When I first started writing seriously in my teens, my goal was to become a published author by seventeen. That age became twenty one. Then I gave up on age when that deadline slipped by as well. In my mind I became a failed writer. It didn't matter that I'd had short stories and art published in a variety of small magazines. It didn't even matter that I hadn't finished my manuscript. I thought I was serious about my writing and yet I hadn't achieved my goals.

Making manageable goals
So I changed my goals to something more manageable: Finish my manuscript. Before that point I'd been writing my manuscript off and on for seven years. It took me a further two years to finish it. My next goal was to get the wretched thing published. So without any industry knowledge, without the use of critique partners, and only one pass of editing, I sent it off to a total of nine publishers—all 600 pages of the thing (ah, the fearlessness of the ignorant). Not surprisingly I received only rejections and gave up.

All that glitters is not a goal
Many years later I came to realise that my goals weren't goals after all. They were wishes. A wish doesn't make things happen except in Never Never Land. Helpful goals are much like a business plan. Sounds boring, even painful, and lacks the magic of a wish, but a plan is far more effective.

Effective goals require a strategy

If I want [this] by [this date],
then I need to do [these] in [this] much time.

To write up a strategic set of manageable, measureable goals, I first needed to know what I wanted. I want to get published. Sure, but how do I want to get published? Authors have so many options these days: traditional, small press, self-publishing, agented or unagented. Even if I want to keep my options open, there are some things I first needed to do:

1. learn about the industry
2. learn about the craft
3. write a sellable manuscript
4. write the killer query
5. nurture my online presence
6. relearn to be fearless and send those queries
7. keep writing.

Each of the above points can be broken down further into a manageable strategy to achieve completion. And each point is a milestone. For example, finishing an outline is a milestone worthy of much rejoicing. If you're anything like me, you'll need your milestones. They give a great sense of achievement and they tell me I'm another step closer to achieving my dreams.

This post is getting long, so I'll stop there with a mere taste of what a true strategic plan looks like. Perhaps I didn't answer Suze question after all that, but I'm sure she'll forgive me.

What is your dream? How have you planned to make that dream come true?


Mel's book Adversarius, Shadow of the Rose: Book One is now available in paperback on Amazon

 

Winner! Awards! And Other Cool Things!

Winner:

Last Thursday I put an advanced reader's copy of Make Believe up for grabs. Thanks to all of you who entered and thank you to all the encouraging comments I received regarding reviews. Your responses really warmed my heart.

And now to announce the winner of Make Believe:

Rachel Morgan!!!

Yay!! Congrats, Rachel!!



Awards:
It seems my name turned up in a list of those eligible for the 2013 Ditmar Awards for my short story, The Red Button. It's an award that recognises achievement in Australian science fiction, fantasy and horror. I'm only eligible for the prize, but it's the first step. How super cool is that?


I was also recently awarded 'Dezmond's Angel', in the Hollywood Spy's 2012 awards. Thanks Dezzy. I've visited your site for many years now and it's still the primary place I go to get in the Hollywood know.



Other Cool Things:
I know I promised in the title there'd be other cool things in this post, but really all I can share is this image of some ice crystals… (giggle).

How to Trust Yourself as a Writer

Today I'm over at Rachna's Scriptorium with a post about ways you can trust yourself as a writer. I'd love to see you over there.



A big thank you to everyone who shared an early childhood memory in the comments of my last post, Inspiration and Serendipity. It was so awesome reading all of them.

An article I wrote titled Bust 4 Myths to Gain More Writing Time has earned my blog a nomination for a Fascination Award: 2012's Most Fascinating Creative Writing Teacher blog. How cool is that?

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The Best Kind of Promotion

The best kind of promotion we can do for ourselves is to promote the work of other authors. This might sound counter productive, but when an author promotes their own work and nothing else, then interest often fades. To avoid the urge to spam the internet with news of our books, we should promote each other. Those we promote will often return the favour. Apart from that, praise for a book has far more authority when it's not coming from the author. 

While there are many ways to promote a book, what do you think are the best ways?

--
Contest: The writers at Scribbler's Cove are running a contest to promote two up and coming book releases:

Open Minds by Susan Kaye Quinn, release date November 1st



 




Darkspell by Elizabeth Mueller, release date October 31st






Be sure to check out their websites and the contest is found here.
   

A-Z Challenge 2012
The amazing Arlee Bird is doing it again. For updates pop on over to this dedicated A-Z website every Tuesday.



Awards:
A huge thank you to Miss Cole of  Miss Cole Seeks Publisher for the One Lovely Blog Award.

And another huge thank you to the lovely Madeleine at Scribble and Edit for the Friendly Blogger Award. Although they are all special, this is one I've not received before.

Watching Willow Watts and Awards

Book Launch:
One country girl is about to discover that fame can cost a fortune.

Talli Roland’s Watching Willow Watts is now available in ebook format. The paperback will be coming out in November. I bought a copy for my kindle last night and am already halfway through. I’m thoroughly enjoying it. I love the characters. They're all interesting and different. I love the escalating predicaments. I love that the story is set in the 'ugliest village in Britain'. Even my inner editor has stayed silent while reading this story and I love that.

Awards:
Thank you to Maeve Frazier for the Versatile Blogger Award.

Thank you to Gail Shepherd for the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award.

Thank you to Nancy Thompson for the 7x7 Link Award. For this award I’m supposed to link to what I feel is the most beautiful, popular, controversial, helpful, surpassingly successful, underrated and prideworthy posts. A daunting task to say the least. And so I decided to link to my favourite post which covers most of these: 14 Lies We Tell Ourselves about Writing

Have you read or plan to read Watching Willow Watts? 
What lies do you tell yourself about writing?

2 Ways to Become a Published Author

1. Write a good story, work hard and persevere, aiming to always do your best and be your best.

2. Write a good story, work hard and persevere, aiming to always do your best and be your best.

What's your chosen method of publication?

I’m currently in the thick of rewrites of my young adult Fantasy Steampunk, and I’m so immersed in the story I’m almost living the adventure. When this happens, my advice is let the immersion happen. Don’t fight it. Live it. Breathe it.

Thanks: I won three books from Emily White in celebration of her signing with Spencer Hill Press. The books are Minder by Kate Kaynak, Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout and its prequel, Daimon. Thanks so much Emily!

Award: I also won the Irrisistibly Sweet Blog Award from Susanne Drazic at Putting Words Down on Paper. Thanks, Susanne.

Notoriety and Nominations

Notoriety
Have you noticed how many of the popular books in today’s market aren’t masterpieces of literary fiction? Have you wondered how these writers have gained notoriety despite their heavy use of passive sentences, clichés, and inconsistencies? It’s because they know how to write fantastic stories.

We could grumble over their success, we could whine about their popularity, but it wouldn’t get us anywhere. Instead we could study how to construct a good story. We could remind ourselves the importance of research: there’s no point slaving over a novel if our story lacks originality or a place in the market. And then we could do one better than those popular authors – we could learn to avoid those clichés, passive sentences and other cringe-inducing elements.

What do you think makes up a good story?

Nominations
As some of you have already noticed, my blog has been nominated for the Best Australian Blog 2011 Award. There are apparently 570 of us nominated. The Sydney Writer’s Centre is offering $7500 worth of prizes. One of the awards is the People’s Choice Award and that’s where you come in.

Please, if you think my blog is worthy

VOTE for me HERE

My blog is listed on the third page under ‘W’:

W.I.P. It: A Writer’s Journey – Lynda Young

I really appreciate your time and your vote. The winner will be announced on Friday 6 May 2011.


Note: This post is part of the A-Z Challenge. To learn more about the challenge click the image on my sidebar.

Award Palooza

I will break from my usual topic to say a huge thank you to those who have recently given me an award.

Stylish Blogger Award: Thanks Jessica @ Jessica A. Briones ‘A Wannabe Writer’ and Zan Marie @ In the Shade of the Cherry Tree

One Lovely Blog Award: Thanks Deborah @ Deborah Walker’s Bibliography and Crystal @ Crossroads

Friends for the Journey Award: Thanks Alex J. Cavanaugh

The Rules for Passing It On:
1. Pass it on to 7 other bloggers and tell how they've encouraged you.
2. Please let your recipients know that it started at Beautiful Chaos.
3. Leave a comment on this post when you've posted on your blog.

This was difficult. There are so many fantabulous bloggers who have encouraged me on my journey. Plus, some people I’d love to give the award to have already received it from someone else—such as Alex, because he rocks, his book CassaStar rocks, his generosity rocks, and his blog rocks. What am I to do? I’ll do my best.

To Dezzy @ HollywoodSpy 
Even though Dezzy isn’t a writer striving to gain publication, he has encouraged me in more ways than he could possibly know. His friendship means a lot to me.

To Carol @ Artzicarol Ramblings
In the relatively short time we’ve known each other, Carol has won my heart. She is a fantastic writer and a skilled critiquer. I feel blessed to be able to call her my friend.

To Denise @ L’Aussie Writing
Denise is an amazing blogger and a fellow Aussie. I don’t know how she finds the time to maintain all her blogs and produce fabulous writing as well. She has a generous spirit and always has something interesting to say.

To M Pax @ Wistful Nebulae
Mary’s passion for everything she does is a sight to behold. She doesn’t let anything hold her back. She’s given me a new appreciation for hard work, dedication, and the stars.

To Terri @ Terri Tiffany Inspirational Writer
A fellow Christian writer, Terri’s blog posts and comments have encouraged me for almost a year now. I love her honesty and enthusiasm.

To Karen @ Coming Down the Mountain
I like the way Karen thinks. She is generous, open, and eager to help and encourage other writers. And her BBQs are brilliant.

I could keep going but this is starting to turn into an uber-long post. Next week I will run a competition to celebrate 500 followers (if I reach that awesome number).

Is Writing Worth Your Time?

When we hear agents get hundreds of queries a day, when we suffer rejection after rejection, when we’ve agonised so long on a piece we can no longer tell if its any good, when writer’s block strikes with a vengeance and won’t let go – this is when we inevitably ask ourselves, is writing really worth my time?

My answer is a resounding yes. If it wasn’t, I wouldn’t agonise over word choices, I wouldn’t spend hours plotting ways to make life horrible for my characters, I wouldn’t pour all my hopes and dreams into such a time consuming career.

Why do it? Because I love it. It’s as simple as that. I love creating stories, painting pictures in the minds of strangers, playing with words, building worlds, having the power to bring a moment of joy into someone’s life.

And so I write.

I don’t need to be published to do these things, but I do need to write.

What keeps you going?

--

I’d also like to officially thank two wonderful bloggers who gave me the Stylish Blogger Award this week.

Thanks to Michelle from Perfecting the Craft and Madeleine from Scribble and Edit.

Please visit these lovely ladies and say hi from me.

Kindle and Thanks

I finally caved and bought a kindle. It arrived last night! I'm so excited! But do you know what's frustrating? I don't get to play with it first. I'm in the middle of reading some paper books so my hubby is taking the kindle for a while. Oh, the agony!

What's so great about the kindle?  

• "Look, mum, no hands!" I can sit it on my lap. I don't have to clutch it with both hands.
• It doesn't take up copious amounts of space. My bookshelves are full and I don't have space for anymore.
• It uses little power. I have yet to test how long the battery lasts before I need to recharge it, but I understand it goes a long way (unlike my mobile phone battery).
• The screen is easy to read and doesn't strain the eyes.
• I can finally read ebooks without having to sit at my computer. Woot!

Awards Appreciation:

I would also like to take this opportunity to officially thank Dezzy for the HollywoodSpy Dezmond's Angel Award. I just won't tell anyone I know what Dezzy looks like, otherwise I might break the Angel code...or something. Huge air-kisses to you Dezzy!

Thank you too to Rachna at Rachna's Scriptorium for the Magical Blog Award.
And thank you Trisha at Words + Stuff for the Versatile Blogger Award.

You are all so generous and wonderful.

Do you have an ebook reader? What do you love about it? What don't you love about it? If you don't have a reader, do you think you might get one soon?

The Excitement of the Occasion

I’m putting aside the usual theme of my blog to announce to you all that today is a special day indeed. Today is HOLLYWOOD SPY'S ANNUAL AWARDS.

It’s a grand occasion. I’ve dolled myself up in a sparkly purple dress and sky-scraper heels. I’ve even put on some make-up (shocking, I know). So, come along to the ceremony, fill up your glasses and make a toast to the host: Dezmond, affectionately known to me as Dezzy, or DezzyDarling or Dezzy-baby-hun. A wonderful blogger who keeps me up-to-date with what’s happening in Hollywood, who always manages to make me smile with his comments, and whose honesty I value.

I hope to see you there.

Do you enjoy grand occasions as much as I do?

 

Awards n Writing Project Update

So many of us are busy with the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) or other writing projects that sap our time and drag us into a huge black hole where our friends and family start to think we’ll never be seen again. My project is coming along slowly but surely. Yesterday I tidied up an outline for the later part of the novel because I needed to see the story with a clearer vision. I needed to put my characters in more danger. How about you? How are your projects coming along?

Next week I will continue my series about the writer’s conference I attended last weekend, but right now I wish to thank my lovely blogging friends for the awards they passed on.


The Magical Blog Award: This one was designed and created by Alexia. It’s a fantastic award and I’d suggest everyone go to her blog and say hi from me. Thanks so much Alexia.

The Beautiful Blogger Award: This one was given to me by L’Aussie. If you haven’t already guessed, she is another Aussie writer like me. Please check out her blogs. She has many to choose from. Go here for her writing blog.

From Me to You Award: Thanks so much to Margo. Again, please visit Margo and say hi from me. This award came with rules: list 7 things about yourself and pass on to 7 people. So here goes: I’m a short writer who loves words and dreams big and easily gets distracted, but owns a cute cat and a gorgeous husband who look after me. Hmm, technically that’s 8 things. Oh well.

And now for the passing on of the awards: Because there are three here and I don’t have time to check everyone’s blog to see if you have a particular one already, please pick the award you want.

Dezmond @ Hollywood Spy (also known to me as Dezzy-baby-hun): I know you have heaps of awards already, but you are a legend. You have a cool blog and you always have something intelligent to say.

Carol Riggs @ Artzicarol Ramblings: While you post only once a week, it’s not about quantity, it’s about quality. You’ve become a great blogger friend.

Christina Lee @ Write-Brained: A relatively new follower, but not a new blogger, I enjoy your fun posts and great comments.

The Golden Eagle @ The Eagle’s Aerial Perspective: Another great blogger who is celebrating her 200 plus followers. You’ve finished NaNo already and I’m so jealous. You always have great and interesting posts.

Susan Fields @ Susan Fields: You are another great blogger friend who deserves an award. Thanks for your fun posts and great comments.

NaNoWriMo + Awards

This is a short post because I'm both busy and exhausted.

The NaNo bit:
The first week of the challenge to write 50k words in 30days is complete. I’m still excited about my writing project and I’m pleased I haven’t pumped out drivel. Yes, I’ll need to do some heavy editing after November, but I don’t know anyone who can write a perfect first draft.

I’m excited about the story. I’m thrilled with my characters. I even love the setting. I’ve chosen to write a Young Adult steampunk fantasy about friendship and duty. I’m using a time consuming method though: I first handwrite the scenes then transcribe them into the computer. I would probably write a lot faster if I just typed it all straight into my computer, but lately I’ve found so many distractions on the computer.

How about you? How’s your writing projects coming along? What do you like about them? What don’t you like?

The Award Bit:
I’d also like to officially thank a couple of blogging buddies for some awards I’ve picked up. Please visit their blogs and say hi from me. You won’t be disappointed.

Thanks so much to N. R. Williams for the “Honest Scrap Award”

And thanks so much to Rachna for the “Blog with Substance Award”

10 Things I Like About Writing

I’d like to send Rosie of  East for Green Eyes a huge thank you for this award. To accept it I’m meant to list 10 things I like (not love – I cheated a little) so I thought I’d turn it into a writing theme.

1. I like that writing gives me a means of expression and a purpose.

2. I like when my writing flows and the story takes on a life of its own. I’m merely a conduit for the words.

3. I like when others get something out of my stories. It makes me feel like I’ve done something right.

4. I like things of quality – in terms of writing, that means I like the end result when hard work means a powerful plot, strong characters, attention to detail, correct grammar.

5. I like sitting at the local coffee shop early on a Sunday morning. I watch people go by while I write snippets of blog posts or stories.

6. I like to travel to new and wondrous worlds through my writing.

7. I like to explore the inner workings of people through my characters.

8. I like the power of the imagination. Without it writers wouldn’t exist.

9. I like words. I like their magic, their simplicity, their complexity.

10. I like the satisfying feeling of typing The End on a finished manuscript.

What are some things you like about writing?

I’m supposed to pass this award on to ten people, but how about five…

Jeffrey Beesler
Carolyn V
Rachna
Robert Guthrie
Shallee

Awards and Trivia

Today is a short post to thank all the lovely people who so kindly gave me an award over the last couple of weeks. It's only now I've had a chance to give you an official Thank You!

Thank you to Melissa of Melissa Getting Published for the Versatile Blogger Award.

The Rules for The Versatile Blogger Award:
1)Thank and link back to the person that gave you the award.
2)Share seven things about yourself.
3)Pass the award to fifteen bloggers that you think deserve it.
4)Lastly, contact all of the bloggers that you’ve picked for the award. 



Thank you to Dawn of Life Lines for this version of the Versatile Blogger.

The Rules for The Versatile Blogger Award:
1)Thank and link back to the person that gave you the award.
2)Share seven things about yourself.
3)Pass the award to fifteen bloggers that you think deserve it.
4)Lastly, contact all of the bloggers that you’ve picked for the award.  



Thank you to Melissa of Melissa Getting Published and Jessica of  Smile, Feel Good, Pass it On for the One Lovely Blog Award.

One Lovely Blog Award Rules:
1)Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2)Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.
3)Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.



I'm not going to do the seven things about yourself thing. But I will give a fun and intersting fact:

"Bwaarrk!" is chicken speak for "Threat approaching from the ground."
Yes, chickens have a language too.

 Fascinating huh? (I've been holding onto that for a while now wondering how I could incorporate it into a blog post - lol) Do you have any fascinating or funny trivia you'd like to share?

 I'd like to pass on these awards to those in the list below. Please feel free to pick the one award you'd like.

Erinn @ something else to distract me
Stephanie @ Hatshepsut: The Writing of a Novel
Antonette @ Write on: Exploring the Craft
Talli @ Talli Roland
Arlee @ Tossing it out
Sharon @ Random Thoughts
Jeffrey @ Jeffrey Beesler's World of the Scribe

Versatile Blogger Award

Last week Rosie from East for Green Eyes gave me the Versatile Blogger Award. Thank you so much, Rosie!

This award comes with the following rules:
1. Thank the person who loved me enough to bestow this gift.
2. Share seven things about myself.
3. Bestow this honour onto 15 newly discovered or followed bloggers – in no particular order – who are fantastic in some way.
4. Drop by and let my fifteen friends know I love them.

Seven Things
Since this is a writing blog and I try to keep as much to the theme as possible, I thought I’d share seven random tips I’ve learned about writing:

1. Don’t worry about the technicalities of writing. Don’t stress about correctness. Just write. Then edit.
2. Every writer, established, famous, or new, will experience writer’s block. Don’t let it defeat you. Keep writing.
3. If it’s about fame and fortune, reassess now. The chance of getting rich off your writing and gaining celebrity status is as high as winning big on the lottery. It’s possible, but it’s not likely, so don’t bank all your hopes on that.
4. It’s better to be a slave to your story than your story a slave to you. Think about that one.
5. Exercise sharpens the mind and makes a better writer. No matter how much I resist this one, it’s true.
6. No matter how much time you have to write, it’s never enough. Consequently, it’s better to have less time because you’ll be less likely to squander it.
7. Everyone has a right to be heard. Your voice is just as valid as someone else’s. So keep writing. (lol, maybe I should rename my blog to “Just Keep Writing”)

And now to pass on the award (no particular order):
Amanda @ All that Good Jazz
Jennifer @ Unedited
Mary @ Wistful Nebulae
Victoria @ Hairnets and Hopes
Erinn @ Something Else to Distract Me
Terri @ Terri Tiffany Inspiration Writer