author life

Where to Submit Short Stories for Your Author Toolbox

2020-10-21
SE White
Author Toolbox Blog Hop Post, Goals and Hopes, Plotters vs. Pantsers, Short Stories, Writing Process

This is the final Author Toolbox post for 2020 because we take November and December off (HOLIDAYS!). But don’t worry, you haven’t missed us. You can always sign up on Raimey Gallant’s website and catch us when we start posting again in January, 2021. For the last Author Toolbox post of 2020 I’d like to share with you three years of my experience in submitting. I love writing short stories. I also love submitting them to magazines, anthologies, and websites…

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Guest Post: Keep Writing With Fey!

2020-07-22
SE White
Blogging, Goals and Hopes, Guest Post, Recommendations, Writing Process

Catch the sparks you need to conquer writer’s block, depression, and burnout! When Chrys Fey shared her story about depression and burnout, it struck a chord with other writers. That put into perspective for her how desperate writers are to hear they aren’t alone. Many creative types experience these challenges, battling to recover. Let Keep Writing with Fey: Sparks to Defeat Writer’s Block, Depression, and Burnout guide you through: · Writer’s block · Depression · Writer’s burnout · What a…

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10 Reasons Writers Are Definitely Creatures of the Night; Author Toolbox Post

2020-07-15
SE White
Author Toolbox Blog Hop Post, Blogging, Silliness, Top 10 Lists, Writing Process

We function best with comfy, secluded, darkened spaces. In a house, there was a writing cave. Inside that writing cave, there was a desk. At that desk, there was an author and an empty notebook. Under that desk, there was a blanket fort, and in that blanket fort there was . . . a writer’s block. See? It just works. 2. Random screams into the void have high probability. Also we’ll hiss at our Word program, to assert dominance, after…

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Which Came First? The Plot, or the Characters?

2020-06-24
SE White
Goals and Hopes, My Books, Silliness, Writing Process

This is a perennial question authors get asked, and it’s just as unanswerable as the chicken and egg conundrum. Look, let’s be brutally honest here. Authors as a whole live in a half-unreal world with their heads feeling cloudy ALL THE TIME. Fictional people fill our brains with ghostly conversations. Interesting, exciting scenes play out behind our closed eyelids. Fantasy worlds and concepts capture our imagination. Reality is pretty much optional, okay. In the midst of all this noise, pinpointing…

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How to Support Diverse Books and BIPOC Writers: Author Toolbox

2020-06-17
SE White
Author Toolbox Blog Hop Post, Blogging, Goals and Hopes, Recommendations, Top 10 Lists

After the Black Lives Matter protests have died down, when local law enforcement has been restructured and defunded, as June Pride Month slides over into July, we will still be holding vigil and working to create change. As writers, we have a lot of options and a lot more power than we might think. Words seem fragile, but we know words can turn potentiality into reality. Words can build or break, tear down or repair, halt all forward motion or…

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The Insecure Writer’s Support Group Has Secrets

2020-06-03
SE White
Blogging, Insecure Writer's Support Group Post, Writing Process

Happy Insecure Writer’s Day! Prepare to bask in the support and let your insecurities go, at least for a little while. To join in the hop yourself, head to their website here. The awesome co-hosts for the June 3 posting of the IWSG are Pat Garcia, J.Q. Rose, and Natalie Aguirre! Don’t forget to go thank them as you’re hopping today. June 3 question – Writers have secrets! What are one or two of yours, something readers would never know from your work? I’m going…

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An Incendiary Inciting Incident for Your Author Toolbox

2020-05-20
SE White
Author Toolbox Blog Hop Post, Blogging, Goals and Hopes, My Books, Writing Process

This is an Author Toolbox post. The toolbox is a free, monthly, open sharing of information between authors here on the Wild Wild Interwebs. Topics cover everything from writing basics to editing, querying, marketing, and publishing. There are over forty of us now, blogging away like helpful little bees. Come join in! After months and months of agonizing and writing and editing and changing and freaking out and writing some more, my newest book is done. Finished. FIN. Clocking in…

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