Twubs Chat on Saturday, March 21st

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Charles Yallowitz

So I’m going to do a small online ‘Live Chat’ through Twitter using their TWUBS system, which I’ve done twice before.  I’m thinking of running this a week from this Saturday from 8PM-11PM EST, which gives more people time to get involved.  This is going to help me get a feel for the system again and see how people react to the idea.  Part of me is considering doing a monthly TWUBS chat just for a fun, interactive event with readers/friends/etc. So, how does it work?

Well, I’ll post the link that will bring you to the chat area on the day of the event, which does require a Twitter account.  You posit questions and I reply.  It can be to me or one of my characters.  We can chat too, but I will be trying to keep things mature and somewhat professional.  For example, I’ll probably be ignoring questions about character’s favorite underwear style.

I have noted that the responses you make end up in your Twitter feed to help bring people into the conversation.  I know I’m giving out odd warnings, but these are things that people felt should have been mentioned the first time I did this.  For now, I’ll leave you with the hashtag that will be revived:

#windemerespeaks

Hope to see people there when the time comes.

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All That Happened in an Hour?

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Charles Yallowitz
'Olaf'

‘Olaf’

This is a personal one, so I guess I’m breaking my own rule here.  Anyway, the son has been wanting to make a ‘Snowman named Olaf’ all winter.  His asthma has made it difficult to be out in the bitter cold.  Also the snow was just too high for him to work in and got coated in ice rather quickly.  Terrible snowman material.

Things have warmed up, so he sees the snow is melting and got worried about not being able to make his snowman.  I didn’t know if the snow would make it to the weekend, so what you see at the top is something cobbled together in 5 minutes after he got off his bus and before homework.  Unfortunately, it melted over night and he spent part of his morning claiming that he will turn the snowman into Olaf and made ‘ice power gestures’ like Elsa.  Yeah, he still thinks he should be a Disney Princess, but also Captain America and Thomas the Tank Engine’s driver.

This wasn’t even the solitary event of this morning:

  1. Wakes up talking about Sonic.  I asked who and he goes ‘Sonic is fast and blue’.  The Hedgehog!?  Somewhere my son learned about Sonic the Hedgehog, which is cool, but totally out of nowhere.
  2. He wants to show off a ‘Hamtaro’ toy to school.  He snagged this from my sister during the garage sale last summer.  It’s a plush acorn with a hamster living inside.
  3. Discussed how humans can’t reach the moon with their hands.
  4. Argued over if wearing a jacket makes you hot or cold.
  5. The thing with ‘Olaf’.

All of this was in the span of 45 minutes during which he still watched ‘Jungle Junction’, drank his milk, and I got the last of my email settled.  Can’t say today has been uneventful and now to take a nap.

By the way, I’m going to be making another post later today.  Just not sure of the time.  It’s a minor announcement/question.

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Time Management in Writing

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Charles Yallowitz

Chris The Story Reading Ape's avatarChris The Story Reading Ape's Blog

Does this sound boring to you? Probably, but it’s likely the most important obstacle in the way for new writers.

With so many distractions, how does a writer focus on what’s really important – writing?

While there are many answers, I thought I’d offer some personal tips.

Now realize, I came upon most of these thoughts due to practicing poor time management in the first place, so don’t despair if you think you can’t break free from watching your writing time slip down the drain.

To read the rest of this informative article, click on Valerie’s photo or link below:

Valerie

http://believinginhorses.com/blog/2012/03/06/time-management-in-writing/

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Finally released my Debut Novel The Vanishing

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Charles Yallowitz

daviddelaney70's avatarWriter Babble

The Vanishing by David J Delaney
Okay, if you follow my Facebook posts you’ll know that I’ve had a disastrous 48 hours with a computer that decided to retire without telling me and taking half a book of edits and dropbox uploads that didn’t seem to work all of which resulting in a missed pre-order upload date…. I am sure glad it’s over. Luckily I had a print out of all my edits so took a notebook computer I never thought I’d use again and wrote like a maniac. 11 hours later I had them done, another read through and I was finished.

Not wanting to tempt fate any longer I decided to publish. I had no reason to hold the book back any longer.

So if you’re interested in checking it out please follow this link here http://goo.gl/qn3M6Y

It feels good to finally publish ‘The Vanishing’… now it’s time to start the next book…

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INTRODUCING THE LEAGUE OF COMEDY FANTASISTS: Clive Mullis

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Charles Yallowitz
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The Outline: A Plotter’s Plan

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Charles Yallowitz
The Idea Pile

The Idea Pile

I talk about having outlines and making plans before I write.  These act like a ‘baby draft’ and make the creation of a first draft smoother.  At least to me.  It’s this part of my writing system that makes me a Plotter, which is a term I never heard until 2013.  Yet there is some Pantser stuff in the details when I get to the actually writing.  I also seem to hit that point and never mention the outlining stage.  So here we go:

  1. Character biographies and write ups can help.  I tend to start with a basic role then add a name and then write a paragraph.  This includes goals, role, description, a few subplots that turn up, etc.  This is actually entirely off the cuff and it helps create more meat for the overall story.  For example, some personal rivalries and habits that will be appearing in the vampire series came about from these biographies.  So did the Kira/Luke/Sari thing when I designed Kira.
  2. I prefer to divide each chapter into 2-4 scenes and write a line for each one.  Just basic concept of what I’m aiming for in that scene.  The details appear while I write and I might even switch characters if it works better.  I’ve found that I do these outlines for every book in a series before I start.  Though I might only do it for the first 2-3 of the longer ones.
  3. It doesn’t hurt to change the plan and I remember this from the beginning.  It’s really better to have too much and chop things down than to not have too much and try to fill stuff in without harming the useful stuff.  A subplot might get dropped, two scenes might work best as one, something might be unneeded, a previous book changes the future outlines, etc.  I tend to look over the next outline as soon as I finish a book to see how they match up.  Then I do a repair and rewrite for a day or two.  Most stuff tends to stay, but other things get switched around.  Then again, I already know that Book 11 is going to need a major overhaul.
  4. Notes, notes, and more notes on everything.
  5. It doesn’t hurt to stop and flush out something that needs more details.  I do this a lot with specific creatures and magical stuff in my books.  A big reason for this is that I never know if this will be used again.  With so many series, it’s entirely possible for these things to pop up more than once.
  6. Timelines can help.  I actually don’t use these, but I know many who do.  Sorry I’m not much help here.
  7. PERSONAL PREFERENCE:  Making the outlines and notes by hand seems to work best.  Lower chance of losing the information as long as you keep fire and liquids away from the books.  When writing the books, I use the laptop and work quickly.  I let the established plan take me away and my fingers run along the keyboard.  The outlines push me into another part of my mind, so it goes slower and doing it by hand makes it clearer.  Again, that’s just me.

So, do you have any rituals or plans that you do before diving into the actual book-writing?

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A Public Service Announcement: Common Grammar Goofs

Posted on March 11, 2015 by Charles Yallowitz

Nicholas C. Rossis's avatarNicholas C. Rossis

Copyblogger and BlueGlass have created this awesome infographic with some common grammar mistakes, and how to avoid them. Enjoy!

From the blog of Nicholas C. Rossis, author of science fiction, the Pearseus epic fantasy series and children's books

My children’s book, Runaway Smile, is mercifully free of grammar goofs. Don’t believe me? Read it for free and find out for yourself!

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Full Tilt

Posted on March 10, 2015 by Charles Yallowitz

Go fast
Never slow down
Sleep when you are dead
Rest is for the weak
Adages we take too far
As we toil away our years

Mental health days mocked
Are you a wimp
Or are you merely lazy?
Never if you are well
And have pushed yourself too far
God forbid you recover strength

Weekends bring little solace
Errands and chores
Sleeping in a luxury
An illusion of catching up
Exhaustion will return
When you wake to the alarm once more

I am told this is life
No choice but to move ahead
Guilt is my gift for rest
When do I get to sleep?
Will I ever get to truly rest?
Or will I simply break?

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New Poll and Info

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Charles Yallowitz

A few things here:

One is that I’m doing another poll for the character name because people threw a few more names into the ring after the fact.  Some of them sound good, so I’m pitting them against yesterday’s winner.  Seems only fair and I’m really hoping to start writing the first story in April or at least do a preliminary event list.

Speaking of April . . . I have no idea.  This is in regards to a few people asking when the next book is coming out.  I’ve said March/April, but always add a ‘hopefully’ in there because I still need to finish editing and get the cover art.  Let’s be honest here.  If you’ve been following me long enough to see a book debut then you know I’m cursed with delays and avoid definite release dates until I have most of what I need.  This makes hyping a big problem.  So if anybody has a tip on how to hype a book without a release date then I’m all ears.

So I’ll get the next Legends of Windemere book out as soon as I can and give a week of Hype.  I might try doing more after the release though.  This brings me to a final question:

When would be the best time to do a Twubs chat?

This is a live chat on Twitter that allows people to interact with me.  I did it once as all of my characters, which got a person or two.  Then I tried again as myself and got a few more.  I’m thinking of doing a few of these to cover as many time zones/schedules as I can, but I’m hoping to get an idea of best times.  Not sure of any other method to do interaction like this beyond a webcam one, but that involves my face being seen.

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Crossword Puzzles: Helping an Author’s Word Thingy . . . Vocabulary

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Charles Yallowitz
Meme from Yahoo Image Search

Meme from Yahoo Image Search

My family is big on crossword puzzles.   There’s a table full of them in the bathroom, a pile of them on the dining room table, and a travel book in at least one of the suitcases.  Now I wasn’t into them until I was in Florida and grabbed a cheap book to keep my mind sharp while working as a cashier.  Also it was a dollar and I figured it could be used as a back-up roach swatter.  Never came down to that.  I’ve since indulged in the local papers, and Sunday Times, crossword puzzles.  I can breeze through the Monday to Wednesday, get slower around Thursday, do decent on Friday, and then I pretend that they don’t have crossword puzzles on Saturday.  Sunday is always a crap shoot.

So what am I getting at?  I remember gearing up to edit Beginning of a Hero, Prodigy of Rainbow Tower, and Allure of the Gypsies.  This is before I made friends with an excellent editor/bestie/mentor, so I was on my own.  I was trying to improve my vocabulary while editing and crossword puzzles seemed to help.  I’d pick up on some interesting words through it and carry those into my writing.  Currently, I couldn’t tell you which parts of my vocabulary came from the puzzles.  I’ve tried my best to integrate it into one collection in my head.  Honestly, I need to get back into those and take them seriously.  The piles have gotten huge, so I’m just trying to make a dent in them instead of retaining information.  I’d toss some, but apparently that’s against the house rules.

Kind of similar to crossword puzzles are the old ‘Search-A-Word’ that many will remember from childhood.  This acted as a gateway puzzle to crosswords and you would have the snobs that looked down on the word hunters.  I loved these things as a kid.  So much that I once bought a collection of 500 of them and spent 2 years working on them at my leisure.  I still remember my system (scatter shot beginning and line-by-line as the list shrunk) and what I learned from it.  Patience when hunting for those final words and being alert when reading.  Searching for that part that is off or following a trail among the mess has helped me sort through my own notes and thoughts.

My love of puzzles in general probably explains my writing process.  Really wish I had the space to do jigsaw puzzles again and maybe frame one or two.  I have a 1,000 piece one that I wanted to make and frame some day.

So it really does pay for an author of every kind to do word-based exercises of any kind.  At least it doesn’t hurt and you never know what you’ll find sitting among the questions and answers.  Though they do seem to love poetic contractions and the word ‘oboe’ for some reason.

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