Monday Funnies…

Once again I couldn’t resist re-blogging the Monday Funnies, even on a Thursday.. I’m just such a big ‘Maxine-Fan’. Thanks for the giggles, Story Reading Ape! 😀

THE DEFINITIVE SELF-PUBLISHING CHECKLIST ~ For People Who Aren’t Very Organised and are absolute beginners.

Thank you very much, Evie Gaughan, for publishing the ultimate self-publishing checklist! We really appreciate it! (In particular a beginner like me!)

Evie Gaughan

You just hit publish, right?  That’s what all the articles say.  Any idiot can upload a book in minutes.  And yes, I suppose any idiot can, but it takes a very informed, dedicated, professional and talented individual to upload a book that people will want to read.  A recent Facebook post from a first-time author seeking advice made me realise how long I’ve been doing this self-publishing thang and how I’ve kind of taken for granted that everyone has ‘the knowledge’.  There are so many blogs, articles and how-to books on the subject, and yet authors can still struggle with the basics.  The first author asked what she should be doing in the run up to her launch and another suggested that while there is a lot of information out there, it’s almost overwhelming.  Where do you start?  Where does it end??  So in an effort to share said knowledge, I’m writing…

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How to Embed Tweets in Your Blog Post

Sarah Brentyn of “Lemon Shark” provides us with great blogging tips. Thank you, Sarah!

Lemon Shark

Tweets aren’t just for Twitter anymore.

Here’s a neat thing you can do with those tweets right here on your WordPress blog. It’s wicked cool. And easy. 3 steps…done.

All of you lovely bloggers know I’m not a techie but I wanted to share this fun find with you.

I have visuals, too, which is awesome. Admittedly, I went a bit bonkers with the arrows but…you get the point. (I know. I’m hilarious.)

First we’re going old school with a “cut and paste” URL option, then we’ll embed an html code like we know what we’re doing.

No need to hurt your eyes squinting at the screenshots—you can click to enlarge them. Let’s get tweeting on our blogs.

Copy Link Option:

STEP ONE:

Choose the tweet you want. Click on the cute, little grey v-shaped thingy in the top, right corner.

Click to enlarge

STEP TWO:

You’ll see a drop-down…

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Why you should have a professional author photo #WriterWednesday #AuthorMarketing #AmWriting

Author D. E. Haggerty informs us why it’s important to have a professional author photo. Thank you for this blog post.

D.E. Haggerty

I’ll be brutally honest – I didn’t think much of the whole author photo thing when I started developing my author platform. And, yes, I still hate those words ‘author platform’ now as much as I did in 2013 when I published my first book and started researching all this author marketing stuff. Like most self-published authors, I used a favorite personal photo for my author profile. In my case, it was a picture taken during my 12 ½ year anniversary party (12 ½ year anniversary is totally a thing). When I started using that picture, it was already a few years old. At some point, I had to admit that it didn’t really look like me anymore. At that point, I grabbed a vacation photo and used that. But then that photo started looking a bit dated as well. I’d be damned if I yet again updated my author…

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A Fantasy Tip From History: Doo-Dooing The King

Nicholas Rossis provides us with a fascinating fantasy tip from history. Thank you very much, Nicholas!

Nicholas C. Rossis

Hand Of The King pin (image: Dark Comics)

In Game Of Thrones, it is the King’s Hand who exerts some real power of the Seven Kingdoms. His symbol, appropriately enough, was a pin depicting a hand.

But in yet another example of reality being stranger than fiction, it was the Groom of the Stool—named for the close stool, the king’s 16th-century toilet—who filled a highly coveted position in the royal house. How powerful were they? Well, historians believe that both James I and his successor King Charles I were so swayed by their grooms’ counsel that political discussions of the king’s privy helped fuel the 17th-century English Civil War.

As Natalie Zarrelli of Atlas Obscura observes, every day, as the king sat on his padded, velvet-covered close stool, he revealed secrets. He asked for counsel, and could even hear of the personal and political woes of his personal…

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I’m Having a Love Affair With ‘Had’!

Jan R. provides us with an amazing post about a ‘love affair with “had”‘. Thank you very much!

Writing your first novel-Things you should know

On more than one occasion I have declared my love affair with the word ‘had’. When you use a word so many times it jumps off the page, you have a problem. It doesn’t matter if the word is used correctly or not. You need to find another way to write the sentence without using ‘the word’. In my case that word is ‘had’.

What’s wrong with using the word ‘had’ over and over, besides making it an awkward read?

• If you are using ‘had’ a lot, odds are you have a lot of backstory/info dump, because it specifically details things that happened before the current action. In some circumstances, that can seem dull, or like the focus is in the wrong place. Why spend so much time on something that’s not happening right now?
• Using ‘had’ too much can also indicate you are telling vs. showing.
• ‘Had’ is also rather formal…

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Shame, Shame, We Know Your Name—Or Do We? Shame & Fiction – by Kristen Lamb

Kristen Lamb provides us with an excellent blog post about Shame & Fiction. Thank you very much Kristen for sharing your knowledge with us.

 

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Picture courtesy of Kristen Lamb’s blog post

 

Recently, I wrote a guest post This is the Reason All Great Stories are Birthed from Shame. It was a tough post and I needed a nap after writing it. It forced me to peel back layers I hadn’t touched in years. But the post got me thinking about probably the single most important element of great fiction
SHAME.
Since that post was not per se a craft post, I wanted to explore what I began on that blog here today. I firmly believe shame is the critical ingredient for fiction to resonate. It’s the difference between a forgettable fun read and a book we keep and read over and over.

 

Some Examples

I dig examples. I learn better when I have some to work with, so sharing some goodies with you today.

 

To continue reading go to the Original Blog post!