Is a Virtual Writing Conference worth it?

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. Last weekend I attended a writing conference and pitched my story to some agents. I’m proud of the story I pitched, and I’m hoping to find representation soon. Cross your fingers for me.

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In other news, I ran on my treadmill and ended up pinching a nerve in my neck. I’ve been going to the chiropractor, and it’s getting better, but I may never run on the treadmill again. I’ve heard running one can mess up your back, and I’m living proof that it can. According to one of my running friends, because the treadmill is soft, not a hard surface like a road, it’s bad for your back and joints. So, I may have to find another way to exercise during the winter months. I might be getting an exercise bike. We’ll see.

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But I’m not here to talk about that. I want to get back to the writing conference I attended. I enjoyed it. Agents led the sessions, so the information was pure gold. It was held virtually, so you communicated via chats. If you had a question, you’d type it in the chat and the organizer would read your question to the agent. It worked well, and it was the best we could do during a pandemic.

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I was also able to pitch my story to agents via zoom. It worked wonderfully. I was impressed by the whole thing. However, I did miss chatting with the other authors in between sessions. I missed the camaraderie. That’s the only negative I can say about the conference. I feel like I accomplished my goal, I pitched my novel and got my name out there. I also received great advice on my story. So, all in all, if you get an opportunity to go to a virtual Writing Conference, I’d say it’s worth it.

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Here’s the link to find one in your area. http://brianklems.com/

Brian Klems is the organizer and he did a great job.

How about you? Have you been to a Virtual Writing Conference?  How do you feel it went? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

My One Little Word

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’ve been busy with work and writing this week. I’ve started another WIP and I’m enjoying this one too. It’s the first month of the new year and I’m looking forward for 2022. The air crackles with excitement because I feel some changes are coming. I’m thinking they’ll be some good changes. My fingers are crossed, and time will tell.

But enough about that. Today, I want to talk about my one little word. At the beginning of the new year, I choose a word that resonates with me. Last year, I chose Persevere. I wanted to persevere in my writing journey, and I’ve done that I’ve finished two of my stories this last year and I’ve started a third this month.

So, my word for this year is “Resilience.”

Resilience is the capacity to recover from difficulties quickly.

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Over the past couple of years, everyone’s had to become more resilient because of the pandemic. With the threat of potential illness, the shortage of workers, and shortages in the grocery store, we’ve all had to make adjustments in our lives. Some of us have had to start working from home and dealing with technological issues that we otherwise wouldn’t have had to deal with.

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Learning to make these adjustments, builds resilience. Right now, we need to strengthen our resilience muscle more than ever. Especially in a competitive publishing market where things are changing also, but they’re changing in a good way. Because of Covid, readership has increased by 21%. That’s huge, and what’s nice about that is the biggest portion of that readership is the target market for my latest story. So, things are looking up. 😊

These are the reasons I chose resilience as my word for 2022. I feel if I strengthen my resilience, I’ll get to the finish line. But how do we strengthen our resilience? How do we toughen up?

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Recently, I went through kind of a bootcamp on strengthening resilience for work and I’m applying the concepts in other areas of my life. This is what I’ve learned.

1.  Face your fears. Feel the fear and do it any way.
2. Use Positive Affirmations
3. Change your negative self-talk to positive self-talk
4. Don’t beat yourself up when something doesn’t go as planned. Learn from it.
5. Change the script. When something bad happens don’t relive it over and over. Change the script so you learn from the experience.

These five steps will help you build resilience. I know easier said than done, but it will be worth it. Trust me. How about you? Do you have a Word for 2022? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

Dana Provo tells us how to Fight the Dreaded Affliction… Writer’s Block

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. Today, I have a guest author Dana Provo, and she’s here to give you some tips for that dreaded disease Writer’s Block. So, without further ado, take it away Dana!

Writer’s block is real. It’s not some made up thing that people use as an excuse. It can be, but not usually. If a writer is experiencing a block, it usually means there is something going on in their life. Overcoming writer’s block is challenging if you don’t really want to get through it. Here are 4 tips to keep those blocks at bay and keep writing:

Tip #1: Go For A Walk

Walking can help in so many ways! Getting out of the writing environment and outside helps relieve stress that is caused by sitting in front of your computer endlessly writing. Exercise releases endorphins that help stimulate the brain and your body to relax. Writing is not always easy so it’s best to take breaks and go outside for a walk.

Tip #2: Eat Something

Often, writers will sit at their computer for hours at a time, not looking up from their screen, only to realize later on that they haven’t eaten a single thing all day. This is not healthy for your body or your writer’s block. It’s best to have meals with healthy foods and drinks. If you don’t eat then your brain can’t work properly to write down your stories.

Tip #3: 2 Minute Writing Sprints

If you’re really in a jam and can’t get out of your slump, then try doing some sprints. Pick any topic and set a timer for 2 minutes, then just write. Don’t stop until the timer goes off. You don’t have to make your sentences perfect, just get the words out. Sometimes your brain just needs to unload and the best way to do that is writing about things that don’t matter. You can continue your 2 minute writing sprints for as long as you’d like, changing up the topic with each 2 minutes. I would start with 10 minutes total, then go back to your story and that should help.

Tip #4: Change the Scenery

If you write at home on the couch in front of the television or always looking at the same picture on the wall in front of your desk, and you find you get writer’s block more often than not, then maybe you need to change the scenery. Go to a local coffee shop, get a caffeinated drink and try writing there. Try sitting outside on the porch or a park. Even try changing up what you use to write. I like to write on my laptop for obvious reasons (not having to type up a written document, automatically saves), but sometimes when I’m struggling, I get out my trusty notebook and start freewriting. I feel a sense of freedom when I write on paper and even though I have to type it up, I’m not going back and reediting things I already typed up. Using paper and a good pen or pencil can change the whole experience.

So now that you have 4 tips to help with writer’s block, you can feel more confident in writing your lengthy novel. Writer’s block doesn’t have to be a crutch. Use these tips and get back to writing; finish your story!

Finding love is difficult, especially when it tries to kill you. Bleeding Hearts is a new adult romantic suspense novel based out of Richmond, Va. This book appeals to readers from ages 16 to 60 with passions in both romance and mystery. For anyone interested in psychological thrillers, they may find this book similar to authors Natasha Preston and Sara Shepard.

Book Blurb:   

Orphaned at an early age, now twenty-four-year-old Camryn Lucks is ready to commit to find that special someone, and so accepts a date from a charming, gallant, handsome stranger. The last thing she imagines after accepting that first date with Carson would actually be the beginning of her worst nightmare. 

Red roses, a reminder of her parents’ killer, soon become an emblem of horror for Cami as one by one, those closest to her fall victim to a serial killer. Cami becomes an obsession for Carson, the man she had finally allowed herself to love. Not only is he vying for her heart, but also her life.   

Finding herself in a whirlwind of torments shadowed by the blood-colored bloom, Cami finds solace in Isaac, a neighboring police officer. She’s desperate to escape the haunting memories, but she must revisit them in order to catch her would-be killer. Living life in constant fear has driven Cami to second-guess every choice she makes. Will the police catch the illusive murderer, or will Cami be forced to face him once again? 

Print Length: 241 pages 

Publisher: Clean Reads, http://cleanreads.com/

Publication Date: August 25, 2016 

EBook ASIN: B01KNM113Y 

Print ISBN-10: 1621356205

ISBN-13: 978-1621356202

Printing Service: Ingram 

Buy Links:  Amazon: http://a.co/3z28apX

Barnes & Noble: http://fw.to/mfIx33N

iBooks: https://itun.es/us/KydHeb.l

Kobo: http://goo.gl/ea1W0W    

Smashwords: http://goo.gl/r99gn5   

About the Author:

Dana Provo has always loved books and reads everything from young adult fantasy to adult historical romances. When she’s not reading or writing her next novel, Dana can be found riding her horses and getting ready for competition. Dana lives with her husband and two house plants in Richmond, Virginia.

Social Media Links:   

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authordanaprovo/    

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanaProvo1    

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danalouiseprovo    

Blog: https://authordanaprovo.wordpress.com/   

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/authordanaprovo   

Amazon: https://goo.gl/aL1YR8 

Reviews:   

A gripping tale of love and suspense! Bleeding Hearts had me hooked from the first intense scene of the story. With a strong main character and diverse supporting ones, this is a great book to read at any time! – Amazon Reviewer 

A fantastic story from a gifted author. Dana Louise Provo is a writer to keep an eye on. – Jason Pere, author of Calling The Reaper 

Absolutely the best book ever! Couldn’t put it down. – Amazon Reviewer 

Thanks Dana for being a guest and sharing your insight on how to handle that horrible affliction, Writer’s Block. How about you? How do you handle Writer’s Block? Leave a comment! We’d love to hear from you!

Finding your Community

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’ve been busy this week with work, writing, and family. Now that winter is almost upon us, I’ve been preparing by making sure my kids have coats and gloves that fit. I’ve also taken some time off to go hiking. I’m hoping to get a couple more hikes in before the snow flies and we start hibernating.

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But enough about that. Today, I’d like to talk about friendship and connection. I remember in my teen years, many moons ago, I had a group of friends that I hung out with constantly. We did everything together. Bike rides, skateboarding, sleepovers, and slumber parties. They were my support group and I supported them.

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I miss those days. I feel women need their groups of friends to feel connected and part of a community. We need to get back to that in our society. I know social media allows us to stay connected over long distances, but it’s not the same kind of connection. Something gets lost over the internet. The ability to read facial expressions and get a hug. The ability to actually touch someone is gone. This is something that’s desperately needed in our society. Remember the old quilting circles? We need to bring them back.

So, how do we do that in our bustling world? We go back to those days of quilting circles and start anew. If you don’t like quilting, you could get a group of friends together to play cards, or do something creative like painting, or join a writing group.

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These are all ways to recreate a community. It’s always good to create one around an activity, or common goal. That way everyone is focused on something positive, and they can forget about their troubles for a while. Whenever I get together with my group of friends, I always come away from the gathering inspired and motivated. It’s refreshing to be with like-minded people.

This last week, I got together with my artist friends and we went on a hike then painted together. Even though we were all working on our own paintings there was a sense of community and support. I left that group inspired to keep working on my writing. Sometimes we time away to refresh so we can continue working on a long project such as writing a novel.

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So, there you have it, need something to boost your mood? Start your own community. Create your own quilting circle, or writing group, or hiking group. You’ll be glad you did. It’s cheaper than therapy. 😉

How do you find support? What kind of groups would you like to create? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

Avoiding Burnout

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of hard work and writing. The weather has turned colder and I’m putting off my outdoor run by writing this post. I’m hoping if I wait a little longer, it will warm up a little more. I think I’m hoping in vain, though.

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But enough about that. Today, I’d like to talk about creative cycles. Sometimes, we get a little burned out with our writing and we need to switch gears to get our creative juices flowing again. What I’m talking about is ways to avoid full-blown burnout because none of us wants to lose that creative spark we have. So, below is a list I’ve put together to avoid burnout and have a long fruitful creative life.

Exercise

I put this one first because it’s one of the most important ways to keep creative juices flowing. Exercise is not only good for your body it’s good for your brain. Whenever, I get stuck in my writing, I go for a walk or a hike through the woods. It gets your blood flowing and gets your mind off your plot hole for a while, and many times I find that taking a step away from my work usually helps me figure out the plot hole.

I’m also talking about regular exercise as well. I think it’s important to have a regular exercise routine especially writers who tend to sit all day working on their manuscripts.

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Other Creative Pursuits

It’s great to branch out into other areas of the arts. I’ve started painting with an artist friend. She’s giving me pointers and helping me develop a painting style. I’ve also started taking pictures. I used to love photography when I was younger. My passion is writing, but these other artistic endeavors help me take my creativity to a new level. That can only be good for my writing.

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Balance

Balance is important because we all have more than one goal. Some of us have families and we want to be good parents, so we must balance our need to be there for our children with our creative endeavors. We have to parcel out our time. For myself I need to write, or I get cranky. So, it’s in my family’s best interest that I make time to write. No one likes a cranky Mom. But I also get cranky if the needs of my family are neglected. So, I’m always working to balance family needs with creative needs.

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Creative Family

The last one on my list is creating a Creative Family. This is important because your biological family may be supportive, but they probably don’t understand the blood, sweat, and tears, that go into developing your craft like other creatives do. So, having a creative family is important when you need support or guidance in your endeavors. They keep you from hanging it up when the going gets tough.  

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So, there you have the four key ingredients to help fight burn-out. How about you, how do you keep your creative juices flowing? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

Do You have a Creative Family ?

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after spending the weekend hanging out with fellow creatives. I was invited to sign books at an Arts and Eats Festival this weekend. It was great to meet with people and talk about my books and art. I spoke with painters and photographers and learned some new things about each medium.

This is right after setting up. We’re chatting while we wait for the crowd.

I enjoyed spending time with such amazing and supportive people. I have found that not only fellow writers are supportive but so are artists, photographers, and sculptors, too. Anyone who’s a creative knows how difficult it is to get your work in front of people.

It was a great time to talk about different ways to reach the public. It seems that marketing is something all creatives struggle with and it was nice to bounce ideas off each other and find out what works for some and doesn’t work for others.

If you have an opportunity to participate in your local festivals, I strongly encourage it. It’s a great opportunity to get your name out there and to start building a local support system. It’s important to do that, so you can get a grass roots kind of thing going for you.

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It’s also important to have a creative “family” because not all artists have family that supports them or understands why they spend so much time with their art. You will need the support of your creative community during that time.

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Mentors are another great addition to your creative family. They can guide you through the mire of people who want to take advantage of your creativity, and they can also offer you creative advice regarding your craft. A good mentor is golden.

Another aspect that I need to bring up here is your creative community can also offer you constructive criticism. There will be people who criticize your work without offering anything constructive on how to improve it. Don’t listen to these people, they’re not your people. Your creative community will tell you where you need to improve and more importantly how to improve in a gentle constructive way. You need this to grow in your craft. We all do.

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So, there you have it. The reasons why you need to develop a creative family. Do you have one? How did you meet yours? Leave a message, I’d love to hear from you!

The Power of Stories

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a busy week of work and writing. I’m happy to say I’m in the second stage of my second work in progress. The second stage is editing where I make the story better. That means I have two completed WIPs under my belt. My first one I had a eureka moment concerning the beginning pages, and it has made my story that much better. I’m more excited about it.

Photo credit: BookMama on Visualhunt

But enough about that, today I would like to talk about the power of story. I haven’t done a writing post in a long time, so I thought today, it would be appropriate. A story can transport you to another world and another time. It’s a great way to forget about your problems for a while and relieve some stress by concentrating on something else. Reading is a great stress reliever. Did you know reading for just fifteen minutes can reduce your anxiety by sixty percent? But, we need stories that will engage our readers, so they have to be compelling enough to keep our attention.

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The power of story can make us feel. Feel emotions we’ve buried deep. It’s important to release those emotions in a safe way. A story does this for us. It’s a safe place and we learn empathy for the victims and the heroes in the story.  This is important in our technology heavy world. Where emotion and feelings aren’t always dealt with constructively.

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There are times when we identify with the characters in the story. A story can alleviate feelings of anxiety and alienation. This is critical. Especially now with the way covid has affected our worlds and obliterated our social lives. It worked great for us introverts, but our extroverted friends have had a harder time.

A story can motivate us, give us power to achieve things we never thought possible. If we see the main character overcoming obstacles like the obstacles we have, it gives us hope. The hope that all we need to do is persevere and we too will overcome the mountains in our way.

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Right now, stories are more important than ever. With the pandemic lasting almost two years people need something to occupy their time and relieve their boredom. So, writers write your stories. Improve your craft and get those stories out there. The world needs them now more than ever.

Photo credit: Damian Gadal on VisualHunt

How about you, how do stories affect you? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!

Writing and Exercise Go Hand in Hand

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of vacationing and writing. We took the boys to a water park. It was fun, but we were ready to come home. Family vacations are important. They give us an opportunity to connect with our kids again. They’re especially important this year because of the pandemic. I’m so glad things are finally starting to open, and we can travel now.

But enough about that. Today I’d like to talk about staying active, especially for writers or people who sit at a desk for eight hours a day. It’s so important to get up and move. I’m trying to exercise at least five days a week. I was able to achieve that goal last week, but it’s harder when I’m working.

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It’s important for writers to get up and move because writing is such a sedentary occupation. Did you know that sitting more than three hours a day can take two years off your life? Even if you exercise regularly, you still need to get up and move around every couple of hours. Take a break and go for a quick walk. Get the blood flowing again.

The benefits of exercise are not just physical. It helps with depression and anxiety. Exercise increases serotonin levels and dopamine levels which explains the fact you’re happier after you work out. I find that when I’m feeling anxious, going for a quick run helps reduce my angst.

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I’ve also found that when I get stuck in my manuscript, if I step away from my work and go for a run or a hike, I can usually work out the problem. When I’m running, my brain works differently and I’m able to work out solutions to my story problems.

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Any type of exercise will do. I run and do palates, but you could do Yoga or Zumba. Anything that gets your blood flowing. I used to do Yoga when I was younger and I’m going to start it up again just because I need the variety. How about you? What kind of exercise do you do? Leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you!

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Are You a Destination Junkie?

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’ve finally put the finishing touches on my story after making many, many changes. I’ve sent it off to my beta reader and hopefully she’s happy with it. Cross your fingers for me. 😊

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But enough about that. I’ve been working out in the yard quite a bit, planting some flowers and shrubs and it’s such a refreshing feeling, especially after being cooped up in the house all winter. I need to get outside more because I’m working from home and during the winter it was hard to get out because it got dark so fast. So, it’s a real blessing to be able to get out and work in the yard.

I’m also running outside again. The dreaded treadmill season is over. The only time I’ll run on it during the summer is if it’s raining too hard to run outside. I’ve also added some weight bearing exercises to my routine to build up my muscles. I’m hoping to get back into the shape I was in before I had kids. I have a long way to go, though. LOL!

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I have also gotten vaccinated. I did a lot of thinking about it and decided it was the right thing to do. I ran into a friend who had spoken to the scientists at a drug company and they explained everything to her, and it was her words that convinced me to get the vaccine. I’m glad I did it. I didn’t have a reaction other than a tender arm for both shots.

So, now that we’re all caught up on my news, I thought I’d talk about being a destination junkie. This is a person who thinks that they’ll be happy once they get that perfect job, or finish that book, or reach their goal weight. While these things will certainly make you happy, it’s important to enjoy the process of working toward that goal, because what happens if you never make it?

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I know we don’t like to think about that, but sometimes we don’t achieve the goal we’ve been working toward, what happens then? Is all that time we spent working toward that goal a waste?

My answer is no. If you’re getting something out of the journey while you’re working toward your goal, it’s worth the time.  For example, my writing. I would love to be a New York Times Best-selling author, but I might not ever get there. But that’s okay if I’m getting something out of the writing process while I’m creating my stories, then it’s worth it. To me, writing is a stress reliever, an escape when my life gets bogged down in the routine of work, kids, and household duties.

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Let’s say it’s taking me longer to reach my goals at work, that can be frustrating and can cause a lot of angst. When I start feeling that angst, I focus instead on my writing and it makes me feel better. So, you see my writing relieves my stress and my angst. It has a dual purpose until I can reach my goals.

So, don’t be a destination junkie. Enjoy the process and you’ll get more out of life. Are you a destination junkie? What are some of the things you do to alleviate that situation? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!

There are No Guarantees

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. I’m back today after a week of work and writing. I was able to take some time off yesterday and head to one of the beach towns near me and have dinner with the hubster. After dinner, we went for a walk on the beach. I got some great shots of the sunset and it was nice to get some fresh air. It was good to get outside. Other people had the same idea because the beach was packed and there was a lot of traffic, much like the traffic on a hot, sweltering day.

Photo from last night’s walk

But enough about that. Today I want to talk about something that I feel many writers struggle with, including me. And that is, the fact there are no guarantees. You can be the best writer in the world, but your story may not be what agents and publishers are looking for. It’s a bitter pill to swallow especially after you’ve spent so much time writing the story, then editing it, and rewriting parts of it. Sometimes, you have to ask yourself if it’s worth all the time and effort you’ve invested in it.

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But when you really think about it, there are no guarantees in anything in life. There’s no guarantee that you’ll get a job in your field of study once you graduate from college. There’s no guarantee that the person you’ve invested so much time with will be the one you end up in a long-term relationship or marriage with. There are really no guarantees for anything in life.

That’s why, you have to enjoy the process. You must enjoy the act of writing. Of putting sentences together to form a story in order for it to be worth it. It can’t be all about the result. We all want to be bestselling authors, but we don’t know if we’re going to get there or not. All we can do is put the time in, write, and hope.

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But if you enjoy the act of writing, you can do it just for the pure joy of it. You can see your own growth even if the rest of the world doesn’t appreciate it. When you can get to that point, it doesn’t matter whether or not the public appreciates your work, you do. So keep writing. Besides, there are other avenues available to authors these days, like self-publishing. But that’s another blog post for another day.

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So, keep writing and hoping. You’ll get where you need to go. Thanks for stopping by and reading my post. How about you? Are you writing for the pure joy of it? How do you overcome the end result blues? Leave a comment! I’d love to hear from you!