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!

Please Welcome Ritu Bhathal and her Debut Novel “Marriage Unarranged!”

Hello everyone, I hope all is well with you. Today, I’ve got a special treat for you. I’ve got Ritu Bhathal as a guest and she’s telling us a little bit about her writing journey and how the Corona virus affected her. So, without further ado. Take it away, Ritu!

 

It was an amazing feeling, finally typing THE END after the last words on my manuscript that I had literally poured eighteen years of my life into.

Obviously, that wasn’t the end, by any means.

There was the fun of editing, with rewrites and tweaks, feedback from beta readers, then cover design, and all the marketing.

And then, just like that, the Publication Day was upon me.

I finally let my book baby free, and sat tight, waiting for the sales, then reviews.

Will they love it?

Will they hate it?

Oh my God, I am the worst writer! Why on earth did I ever think I could write a book?

Then the feedback started to trickle through.

Oh! It’s not as bad as I thought!

Wow, people LIKE it. Like real five-star review like it!

Honestly, I was overwhelmed by the words of support and praise that came in for my debut novel in February of this year. Marriage Unarranged was a story that had wanted to be written for so long, and finally, I managed it!

One of the repeated comments was basically, ‘Can’t wait to see what happens next!’

People who read my first novel, actually wanted to read more.

So that meant I needed to get another one out.

As I mentioned a little earlier, it took me a long time to write my first book, because life had a habit of getting in the way. From marriage to moving counties, then the trying for a family saga (it was one, we had issues, so that was stress in itself) and dealing with eventual motherhood. And of course there was the day job to consider too. None of these things left much time to write.

But I did it. Once I focused, I carved time out daily, to add to my word count.

And now, I needed to do that again!

I had ideas already for a second, and third book, relating to the first, and had tentatively started writing the second, but that time thing…

Then Coronavirusgate hit and we were suddenly in Lock down.

So now, I have a lot of time, and that’s what I was looking for, wasn’t I?

I started the Lock down pumped.

Taking part in a couple of online writing sprints added a couple of thousand words to my work in progress (WIP).

It took me a while, but I created a temporary work station, seeing as the dining table I usually used for prolonged writing was now commandeered as a workspace for my working-from-home Hubby Dearest, and the only other desks were in kids bedrooms and they were in use for distance learning.

And I managed to finally set up my WIP story map board. I used it for my first book, and it helped me plan events and timelines within the book, so I did the same with this one.

Then I went through and updated my Character bible, because many of the characters overlap, and some develop more in book two, and there were new focus characters to add.

I even had tentative titles for the next two books.

Then I hit a brick wall.

Not only was I dealing with the Lock down, and ensuring two children were accessing their school-work regularly, constantly disinfecting surfaces, keeping spirits up for Hubby Dearest who was suffering cabin fever whilst working from home, I also had my work stress.

You see, I’m a teacher, and yes, schools are closed, but that doesn’t mean no work for teachers. Here in the UK schools were kept open as hubs for those listed as keyworkers to be able to leave their children for childcare, while they go about their essential jobs. I had a rota, where I would go in and spend the day with these children, and the rest of the time, devising and adding work for my class to access online. Then marking, and doing online training, attending webinars to keep us in the loop with the constant changes.

It messed with my head a lot. And my creativity with it.

And now, I am faced with the prospect of going back on the 1st of June, to work with a small group of my class, if the government and our dear BoJo deems it safe for schools to begin partial opening.

So, how much writing have I done?

Well, I’ve tried to stay creative, by writing A Story A Day in May, and some of the prompts have even got me some new scenes which I can use in my WIP.

And my WIP has increased by around eight thousand words. But my mind has not been in the right place to really get into it

But I will.

I promise.

For my characters, as they have stories to tell.

For my readers because they want to know more.

For me, because I know there are other books in me that want to come out.

 

‘Chickpea Curry’ Lit — Chick Lit with an Indian twist!

It all started ended with that box…

Aashi’s life was all set.

Or so she thought.

Like in the Bollywood films, Ravi would woo her, charm her family and they’d get married and live happily ever after.

But then Aashi found the empty condom box…

Putting her ex-fiancé and her innocence behind her, Aashi embarks upon an enlightening journey, to another country, where vibrant memories are created, and unforgettable friendships forged.

 

A U T H O R B I O

Ritu Bhathal was born in Birmingham in the mid-1970s to migrant parents, hailing from Kenya but with Indian origin. Ritu’s colourful background has been a constant source of inspiration to her.

From childhood, she always enjoyed reading. This love of books is credited to her mother. The joy of reading spurred her on to become creative in her writing, from fiction to poetry. Winning little writing competitions at

school and locally encouraged her to continue writing.

As a wife, mother, daughter, sister, and teacher, she has drawn on inspiration from many avenues to create the poems that she writes. A qualified teacher, having studied at Kingston University, she now deals with classes of children as a sideline to her writing!

Ritu also writes a blog, http://www.butismileanyway.com, a mixture of life and creativity, thoughts and opinions, which was

awarded first place in the Best Overall Blog Category at the 2017 Annual

Bloggers Bash Awards, and Best Book Blog in 2019.

Ritu is happily married and living in Kent, with her Hubby Dearest, and two children, not forgetting the fur baby Sonu Singh.

F i n d M e:

Social Media Profiles

Blog Website: http://www.butismileanyway.com

Author Website: http://www.ritubhathal.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RituBhathal
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ritubhathalwrites/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/butismileanyway/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RituBhathal/
Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/bhathalpadhaal/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/56854412-ritu-bhathal
Mix: https://mix.com/butismileanyway
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/ritusmiles

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/ritu-bhathal
Bloglovin: https://www.bloglovin.com/@ritubhathalpadhaal

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/author/ritubhathal

 

And by clicking the following link, you get to my author profile on Amazon

Author.to/RituBhathal

myBook.to/PoeticRITUals

http://getbook.at/MarriageUnarranged

 

Thanks for being a guest, Ritu! Your story sounds like a must read!

Please Welcome Billie Thomas–Author of “Murder on the First Day of Christmas”!

 

Please give a warm  welcome to Billie Thomas! She’s the author of “Murder on the First Day of Christmas”.  Take it away Billie! 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

The Story Behind the Story.

By Billie Thomas, author of Murder on the First Day of Christmas

We’ve all heard (and cheerfully discarded) the writing advice “write what you know.” While true to a degree, we’d all prefer to let our imaginations drive our stories rather than our SAT scores. But writing who you know – in other words having a thorough, personal and intimate understanding of your characters – is advice I believe in wholeheartedly. Luckily, when it comes to the core relationship in my Chloe Carstairs mystery series – the relationship between Chloe and her mother Amanda – I have a lifetime of inspiration from which to draw.

My mom and I have always been big mystery fans and we traded books back and forth endlessly. No matter how our relationship was going at the time (can you say ‘rollercoaster’?), our love of mysteries was always neutral ground. So when I set out to write one, I knew Mom would be my biggest fan and toughest critic. The idea of a fun, funny mystery with a mother-daughter relationship much like our own, appealed to both of us, and our relationship was the perfect inspiration. The first draft was a joy to write. I’d work on a chapter, send it to my mom, she’d make suggestions and I’d rewrite. Easy. Fun. Maybe even therapeutic.

Sadly, my mom died unexpectedly of an aneurism at the end of 2011 and never got to see Murder on the First Day of Christmas get published in December 2012. While the book is the perfect tribute to her, I still have 5 things I wished I’d thanked her for more explicitly. It’s by no means an exhaustive list, but a heartfelt one and one that shapes everything I write.  

 

She gave me a life-long love of books.

My best Christmas present ever – even better than my go-cart or Commodore 64 – was a library card in my stocking. I was seven or eight at the time and when I gravely signed the back, I knew this was a Big Deal. It’d be years before I figured out how big. We went to the library every Saturday and I could pick out as many books as I wanted. By the time I was nine, Mom and I had an unofficial book club where Nancy Drews, Judy Blumes and eventually, Agatha Christies were enthusiastically traded and discussed. Reading and writing have been constant joys in my life and my Mom deserves all the credit.

She turned off the TV.

For several years, the TV remained mostly dark in my house. My parents watched the news and “60 Minutes.” My sister and I could only watch one hour a day during the school year and slightly more during the summer. That was it. No daytime TV at all except a few Saturday morning cartoons. Yeah, I hated having to fake-laugh when kids recounted SNL sketches, but that dark TV helped make me creative, healthy and able to entertain myself.

She cooked.

My mom wasn’t a fancy cook, but some of my favorite meals were hers. Spaghetti. Pot roast. Pork chops with a ring of crispy onions on top. Fried chicken for my birthday. She kept it all pretty healthy. Breakfast, always, sugar cereals, never. A side salad at every meal. Family dinners were the standard and we read Trivial Pursuit cards at the table. I don’t know why. She also understood that it was sometimes necessary to delay breakfast till ten when Taco Bell opened. Loved that.

She taught me to be a girl’s girl.

I don’t know how she managed this, since my dad was her whole world, but Mom always stressed the importance of cultivating friendships with girls and never letting guys come before them. (Husbands notwithstanding.) She said the only woman you couldn’t trust or respect was one that didn’t trust or respect other women. I completely agree.

She was willing to be the bad cop.

Any journals I kept before 1988 only had two or three entries in them, all detailing with Anne Frank-caliber anguish show stupid, cruel, unreasonable, lame, wrong or mean my mom was. Once I called her a “bourgeois bitch” – I can’t imagine why, but suspect it’s because I had recently learned the word bourgeois. I’m sure I communicated those feelings in thousands of other ways over the years. She didn’t care. Even if it hurt her feelings, she didn’t let it stop her from enforcing rules, teaching discipline and saying no when she needed to. You only have to meet or work alongside someone who thinks the world is their juice box to know why that’s important.

As I said, not an exhaustive list. I hope Mom’s somewhere where she knows these things and is proud of the job she did raising me. I miss her every day and am thankful I have the series to work on because it makes me feel close to her. If I ever hear that a daughter loved Murder on the First Day of Christmas and passed it along to her mom, or vice versa, saying “this is so us”, I will be thrilled. I’ll bawl my eyes out, probably, but sometimes I do that when I’m thrilled.

About Murder on the First Day of Christmas:

http://www.amazon.com/Murder-Christmas-Carstairs-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B00APPOR40/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_t_2

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murder-on-the-first-day-of-christmas-billie-thomas/1113992722?ean=2940016095981

Finding a severed hand at a client’s house might throw lesser decorators off their games. But Chloe Carstairs and her mother, Amanda, won’t let a little thing like murder keep them from decking the halls. With a body under the partridge’s pear tree and a dead Santa in a sleigh, they have to crack the case before the killer strikes again – this time much too close to home.

Filled with laugh-out-loud humor, romance and a delightfully difficult mother-daughter relationship, this new series from Billie Thomas offers a fast-paced caper as these two southern ladies try to keep their very merry Christmas from turning into the Noel from hell.

Connect with Billie Thomas and her protagonist Chloe Carstairs at:

www.chloegetsaclue.com

https://twitter.com/ChloeGetsAClue

www.facebook.com/chloe.cartairs.73

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6877693.Billie_Thomas

Thanks for being my guest today Billie! You’re story sounds like a great read and I’ve got it on my TBR pile. 🙂