{WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'RE GETTING WORSE} let's talk perfectionism

picture from pinterest

To be completely honest, I've been cringing over this very phrase for the past month:

what if I'm getting worse?

 In April, I wrote the second novel in my trilogy, Outcast. I can honestly believe that I was having a really good streak when writing that book. I can go back and read it and, for the first time, feel happy with my writing, knowing that it is good. It's not all good, obviously, but it's not all bad, and when you get to that point, you feel like you're flying. I think we all have one bit of writing -- even if it's only a sentence -- which we feel is at least decent enough.

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Why Every Writer Should Be A Beta Reader

Beta reading -- I didn't used to think about it much before I started writing seriously. (Fact About Me: I used to be jealous of the people who got to beta read my favorite books. still am. I mean, they got to read that book for free and give their opinion on it ;)

Then, last September, when I got my flash of inspiration to start spending hours a day at a keyboard (that's how it went) I started thinking of the mysterious organism called the beta reader, the one who had all the connections to the people with the cool books in need of a new mind to critique them. Seriously. Who wouldn't want to read a book for free and give an opinion on it that the author will actually take into consideration before publication?!?

Beta-reading excitement aside, is that really the only reason why we beta read novels?

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What I Learned From My Alpha Reader

I recently had the experience of someone being the first to read my novel, the first to ever read my work.  In other words, I had an alpha reader. An alpha reader is the person who looks at your novel for the first time. The first set of eyes to glare at it after you. ;-) Some people have critique partners do this, or friends or family. I would suggest someone who knows you well enough to give positive but honest critique and lots of encouragement.

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Getting To The Heart Of Your Story Part 4: Unveiling Your Theme

Welcome to the grande finale of Getting To The Heart Of Your Story! I'm so excited to wrap up this series with one of my all-time favorite writing topics.

theme.

A simple word, but with so much power. Let's get to it:

(Pictures from Pinterest. An epic post deserves an epic picture)

 What is theme?

When I think of the word "theme," I think of birthday parties. You know, when you were little and you'd have a "cowboy themed" birthday or a "princess themed" birthday.

According to the dictionary, theme is a subject of discourse, discussion, meditation, or composition; topic.

Theme is the topic of your novel.

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Getting To The Heart Of Your Story Part 3: Creating Your Plot

Welcome back to Getting To The Heart Of Your Story! Now that we've taken care of those beautiful characters of yours, let's move on to the super exciting stuff:

Plot.

Let's do this:

(Pictures from Pinterest. Can we just ooh and ahh over this epic picture really quick?)

Your Story

So you have those great characters. At this point, some people ask why bother with a great plot if you have great characters? The question should be why not bother with a great plot that will make those great characters ten times greater?

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Getting To The Heart Of Your Story Part 2: Embodying Your Characters

Welcome back to my four-post series, Getting To The Heart Of Your Story! Today, I'm going to talk about embodying those lovely characters you created.

So, without further ado, let's get to it:

(Pictures from Pinterest)

 Be Your Character

So last week, I gave the idea of "being" your character for a day to get the feel for them. This week, I'm going to talk about how important that is.

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Getting To The Heart Of Your Story Part 1: Meeting Your Characters

Welcome to the first part of my new four-post series: Getting To The Heart Of Your Story! I'm super excited to do this for the next month!

As writers, we're constantly growing and learning. I want to share with you what I've learned so far in this crazy journey called writing.

So, let's do this:

(Pictures from Pinterest)

 Say Hello

 (warning: this is where you lose your right to be called 'rational.')

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NaNoWriMo, Writer Rants, and Some Updates....

Yay!!!! It's National Novel Writing Month!!!! *throws confetti*

 (Pictures from Pinterest)

NaNoWriMo

To make a blogfession, I didn't know about NaNo until this past year (*horrified scream in background*). Once I looked it up and found that writers to NaNo is like cats to catnip, I was hooked. Then I looked at all my WIPs and groaned. So many ideas. So many unplotted novels. And a self-made deadline of finishing Found by the end of November. 

I plan to watch all the craziness this year and join in next time. I probably wouldn't sleep if I tried to work on two novels at once or set aside the vicious plot bunnies of Found.

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