How J.K. Rowling Plotted Harry Potter with a Hand-Drawn Spreadsheet | Open Culture

How J.K. Rowling Plotted Harry Potter with a Hand-Drawn Spreadsheet | Open Culture.

What an awesome share thanks Literary Living! A comment for the post states that Rowling’s spreadsheet is similar to Heller’s Catch 22 spreadsheet. So I looked.

Heller’s Catch 22

If your interested in working with spreadsheets but would like a tech savvy one for the computer. Check out Worksheets for Writers.

I haven’t tried them so I can’t give you my opinion on whether the sheets Jami Gold offers work, but I think they could be a valuable resource. There are many to choose from, so have fun growing your book!

 

18 Bad Writing Habits to Avoid

18 Bad Writing Habits to Avoid.

This blog really caught my attention – okay, it was the picture. It made me laugh.

The post itself is worth the read. Great advice.

 

A Powerful Sort of Doubt – via b62cross

A Powerful Sort of Doubt

And so when we as writers doubt our own work, it’s because we realize that it is not yet where we want it to be. And so we keep trying, keep at it, over and over and over again. We collect our rejection slips. We revise the same sentence dozens of times. We read our work aloud and torture our thesauruses and slam our heads against the wall, until we get it right. Because we know we can. Because we know it can be better. I can’t thank Bausch enough for teaching me this, for taking something that keeps so many of us away from the page and explaining it for what it is, a positive sign that the work we have chosen as our life’s calling is actually the work we were meant to do.

via b62cross.

 

Spring Cleaning – Writer’s style

It’s that time of year. I am looking around the house, seeing areas that need a quick organizational overhaul. I like to spring clean a little at a time and occasionally I’ll get going and do it for a day. But, I realize that the clutter that has overgrown its welcome in my home has also overtaken my files, electronic files, and even my blog. I had so many posts that were uncategorized and untagged. Did it matter? No, but spending the few minutes to correct the situation helped me see how much I have actually shared my thoughts on this blog. I tend to think I am not blogging enough so this realization is good for me.

I want to continue to spend the majority of my writing energy on my books and some of it on blogging. I think the blogging would improve if I upped the categories I use in this blog. Umm…what categories make sense?

I think I will add to my list of to do’s – a quest to find the best categories ever – well for this blog at least.

 

If I were less presentable, my poll numbers might improve

If I were less presentable, my poll numbers might improve.

LWW okay the picture got me.

 

Trust in Baking

Today I heard the buzzer.

I finished another outline (again) and bam! The story is there. The problems I thought were problems weren’t problems after all – they were necessary ingredients to make the story rich and well-developed. Baking (a story mentally) it turns out includes stirring things up occasionally and adding in spices.

I love being a writer! I can’t wait to write the new scenes from my new outline and…well,

Someday, someone will buy and read this novel, and if they read like most people who love crime fiction, they will read it in a few days; I wonder, will they appreciate the sweat equity I put in to it to turn the idea into a book. Will they know or sense that I spent a year on it (not including the year I spent writing it the first time or the years I have spent learning the craft to turn that first attempt into a truly good story).

Of course they will.

 

I Don’t Feel Like Writing this Post

I Don’t Feel Like Writing this Post.

Such good advice!  I Don’t Feel Like Writing this Post.

 

 

 

New name new focus

There is so much more I want to blog about then just scheduling the time to write (although I believe scheduling time is so so so so very important – yes, that is 4 ‘so’s in honor of the 4 reallys), I’ve changed my blog name and I believe I am ready to blog again. I have been very busy developing my writing life, developing a business plan, writing my novel, talking with like minded people…life is good!

And now that I’ve mentioned my novel, I have to state, it is really beginning to develop and I am extremely excited – could it be that the finish line is in sight? What does the finish line look like? if you are writing a book, or better yet, have written a book, please tell me, when will I know it is done?

 

I started working again on Monday and I

I started working again on Monday and I am so excited about the flow of the work. The break allowed me to breathe and think about my story.

 

So I recently took a 40 day hiatus from

So I recently took a 40 day hiatus from all things in the social media world and from writing. (Yes writing) The break was inspiring!