Showing posts with label 10 Day Writing Challenge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 10 Day Writing Challenge. Show all posts

Saturday, October 26, 2013

Best Bloggers in the 10 Day Challenge -Day 10

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I'm participating in the 10 Day Writing Blogger Challenge that was created over at Hunting Down Writing.

This is it! The final day of the 10-day challenge. And I must admit, this is one of my favorite of all that prompts.

Day 10: List 5 top blog posts from fellow participants in this challenge. Link to them, and say why you enjoyed them.

Yes indeed! I had the opportunity to check out quite a few of my fellow challenge writer's posts, and I truly enjoyed it.

Amanda L. Webster's Day 1 post on whether writers should blog about writing summed up beautifully how I feel on the subject. She includes the fact that reaching out to teach others can actually teach ourselves, something I touched on in my post about my bizarre writing habits.

Roxanne Crouse's Day 1 post was an elevator pitch that I really enjoyed, plus I could totally relate to her waiting on a magic thought that would shove her progress along. I wish!

Catherine Mede's Day 2 post about writing confessions had me nodding and laughing. I admired the bravery in posting publicly things we all think as writers, especially that we aren't good enough. 

Catherine Mede's Day 3 post ...Catherine had me again with her author "bio", since she first talked about what goes into a good bio before applying it to her own. Bravo for an informative post!

Charity Tahmaseb's Day 8 Writing Routines post cracked me up! I laughed when she shared a dialogue she has with herself about writing. Too true.

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J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Facebook. She loves talking to people!

Friday, October 25, 2013

Antagonist turned Heroine -10 day challenge day 9

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I'm participating in the 10 Day Writing Blogger Challenge that was created over at Hunting Down Writing.

Day 9: Post either a setting or character profile from your latest fiction project, a chapter summary of your non-fiction book, or a discussion of the theme or object inspiring a poem, article, or other writing project. 

I'm just gearing up for NaNoWriMo, and my project this year will be DISARMING COWBOYS, book 7 and final of my Lone Wolves of Shay Falls series. My basic profiles are rough since I flesh them out with individual character plot arcs. I also do a birth natal chart on characters, and I've included just a little of that here. Here's my character profile on Jayel, the female MC who up until this final book was a recurring antagonist causing all sorts of shenanigans for the wolves.

Jayel Louise Turk: Heroine
(antagonist in books 1-6)



   Age/birthday : 21 
Occupation: None (living on inheritance and odd jobs while busy hunting down the werewolves who killed her parents)
Physical Description: 5’8, fiery red hair, charcoal eyes, athletic, slightly upturned nose, delicate features that contrast with her hardened disposition
Personality: sarcastic, intelligent, highly determined. Desperate. In the past, more humorous and relaxed, and glimmers of that come through more as the book progresses.
Background: Lived with her parents in Shay Falls and was about to leave for college until the werewolf attack that killed them. Her brother was taken and turned by the pack. He was working a nearby ranch but had come home for the weekend for his sister’s going away to college party.
Internal Conflicts: Bitterness/anger about her parents’ deaths and the loss of her brother to werewolves. Vows revenge, which drives most of her actions. Feels guilt that Jayson was taken because had he not been home for her farewell party, he wouldn’t have been there for the attack. Ultimately, she will be challenged to face her two worst case scenarios: becoming a werewolf's mate and becoming a werewolf, period.
External Conflicts: Werewolves are after her because of her vendetta, and they capture her. Worse, two of the wolves at the ranch are interested in her for other reasons: they claim she's their mate. There is much indecision about what the packs want to do with her, and the primary alpha responsible for capturing her has the worst in mind. Plus the wolves who killed her parents return with other plans in mind, plans that could not only mean her end, but cost her brother his life as well.
Notes:
Sun in Leo

She is masterful, likes authority, aspires towards an ideal. A little too pretentious and always wanting things. She likes to give advice. She is honest, frank, loyal, open and sincere.

Weaknesses: pride, vanity, arrogance, presumption and disdain of others.

Moon in Virgo

She has a very good memory. Scientific or medical studies preferred above all others. She is humble and moderate, calm and reserved. Emotional discipline. She is willing to help, devoted and gentle.

Weaknesses: servile nature, frequent changes of occupation, gets annoyed, upset, worries. She is too shy.

Mercury in Leo

Ambitious, sincere, loyal, friendly and full of good cheer. Great sense of organization. Likes children and leisure time.

Weaknesses: likes to play games too much and can go too far, in spite of herself. Likes to play-act and do about-turns, which surprise and upset those concerned. Likes to take risks in jest and for amusement.

Venus in Leo

Sincere, frank and warm affections. She is full of tenderness. High hopes of love. She likes to live and satisfy her passions to the full. Protects and makes friends with those who can be useful.


Weaknesses: excess in pleasure and amusements. Haughty, boastful, pretentious: she is affected, and seduces for the sake of seducing to prove to herself that she is attractive (this gets worse with age).

~~~

J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Facebook. She loves talking to people!

Thursday, October 24, 2013

My Bizarre Writing Quirks -10 day challenge day 8

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I'm participating in the 10 Day Writing Blogger Challenge that was created over at Hunting Down Writing.

Day 8: Post about your writing rituals/habits/quirks

Quirks? Gee, it's like this challenge knows me. I frequently practice writing habits you don't see in "do this and succeed" articles on the craft. Allow me to bare my soul on a few highlights.

1. Frequent distraction is good for my word count.
You may have thought there was a typo in there, but there's not. I, like many I've commiserated with, am distracted by the internet, music, and the need for tea frequently and without warning. My short attention span had been a source of increasing alarm for me in the past few years-- until I moved. We had no internet access for over a month, and since I was off the distraction grid I had all sorts of grandiose ideas about how my productivity would soar. Nope. My writing completely flatlined. Seems that I NEED to stop, drop, and roll at the bidding of my flitting mind. So now I embrace the madness and skip off to Pinterest or YouTube when the mood strikes.

2. Two words: tribal drumming.
Drumming gets people moving, usually on their feet to sway to the rhythm. Me, it lights my creative urges. I can't count the number of scenes, from the naughtiest bits to deadly chases or wolves howling through the trees, that have been fueled solely by the power of wild pagan drums. Said drum music ideally has no lyrics, for otherwise I often find myself singing along in my head instead of "hearing" the words I'm supposed to write. There are exceptions, of course. Hymn to Herne by S.J. Tucker is a favorite, as is just about anything from Dragon Ritual Drummers or C.G. Ryche. And if I happen to hop up and dance around the imaginary fire for a minute to stretch my legs and get the blood flowing, so be it.

3. Teacher, teach thyself
I've had plenty of occasions over the years to share tidbits about craft, and whenever I do it reminds me that I'm the one still learning. My "student" will have a new idea I'm excited to try, or else a technique I'm recommending to someone else is one I realize I should be applying to a project on my own back (or front) burner. So I've come to believe that while there's a time to learn by reading/listening and a time to learn by doing, there's also a time to learn by teaching. 

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J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Facebook. She loves talking to people!

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

My 1 - 2 Punch Writing Software -10 Day Challenge Day 7

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I'm participating in the 10 Day Writing Blogger Challenge that was created over at Hunting Down Writing.

Day 7: Profile 2 books you’ve read and loved lately-or describe the software and tools you use for writing.

I do love to read and have pounded back quite a number of books this year, but truth be known I've been off that wagon lately because of the pre-planning rush for NaNoWriMo.  Since I'm in that "zone", I'll highlight a couple pieces of software that I love for writing.

Character file using OneNote
OneNote (Windows)- This comes packaged with Microsoft Office, and I had totally overlooked it until a writer friend mentioned it. OneNote is like a virtual scrapbook I can add text, images, music, and video to. I can make outlines, detailed character files, etc as shown here, but most commonly I use it as a general ideas/inspiration notebook. I make a new notebook for each book. I know a lot of folks who use Pinterest as their inspirational scrapbook, and while I love that idea, this goes me one better. I have the ability to group images and unlimited streams of text together on a page (like the character file shown here). Plus if I hear a song that strikes me as great inspiration for a particular book or scene, I can import it right into the notebook so it'll be ready when it's time to write.
Outlining with OneNote


An awesome feature of OneNote is that I can grab images --or just a selected area of an image--right off the net and send it straight to the exact notebook page I want it on whether OneNote is currently open or not. Handy!   


Characters side by side in Scrivener
Scrivener (Windows or Mac) -While I love the versatility of OneNote, sometimes I find it a little too free-range and want something more plug and play. That's why I use Scrivener as my primary outlining/character file tool. The cork board feature is brilliant. It lets me add little virtual index cards in nice neat rows that snap into place. It's perfect for outlining. I can easily move the cards around when I'm working on the order of a scene (or book), but they automatically stay nice and neat. Like OneNote, I can also add images/video and "clip" them right to my notecards, plus I can type endless streams of notes and ideas that are visible when the card is clicked on. There's a split screen function that will let me pull up an image so I can see it while I'm typing. Importing images takes a bit more doing than OneNote, however, and requires the program to be open. Also, I can play music files right within OneNote, and Scrivener doesn't do that.
Outlining in Scrivener

Because each of these has advantages the other doesn't, I use both together. When I REALLY want them to work in tandem, I use Windows 8 split screen mode so I can have the OneNote scrapbook open on half the screen while I work in Scrivener. Best of both worlds! 
~~~

J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Facebook. She loves talking to people!

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Newbies, Ninies, and Warriors -10 Day Challenge Day 6

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I'm participating in the 10 Day Writing Blogger Challenge that was created over at Hunting Down Writing.

I took a couple days off for my regular Snippet Sunday plus a special NaNoWriMo prep post yesterday. Today, instead of my usual Too Yummy Tuesday feature, I'm jumping back into the 10-day challenge and will be doing consecutive posts until the conclusion.

Day 6: Profile 4 writing-related sites you read regularly

I should preface this by saying my list contains sites I SHOULD read more often than I do! 

Ninie Hammon - The newest on my go-to list is fast becoming a favorite. Ninie offers unrelentingly useful advice on everything from 10 Essentials to a Dynamite Story to 3 Basics Will Revive Dead Dialogue.

Warrior Writers -Kristen Lamb's blog features posts like How to Make Sure Your NaNoWriMo Project Isn't a Hot Mess. Need I say more?

A Newbie's Guide to Publishing - Bestselling author J.A. Konrath's blog is the hands-down winner for the straight dope when it comes to publishing independently. Everything from press releases to cover art to whether it's really worth it to promote is covered in a funny, user-friendly format. Konrath is an "open book" on the subject of self-pub, even posting his sales figures.

Live Write Thrive - C.S. Lakin offers plenty of punch with her writing blog, including how to "shoot" a novel through the eyes of a filmmaker and using mind-mapping techniques to help with plotting. 

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J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Facebook. She loves talking to people!

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