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Back from Hiatus
Hi, everyone! Been a while, huh? Anywho, since I’m 4 months out from the release of my debut novel (can you hear me screaming in excitement?), I figured I’d revive this blog! Posts will be infrequent, but I’ll do my best. 😀 Let’s talk covers! I’m getting a lot of awesome feedback on my cover– understandably, it’s absolutely gorgeous!! I was incredibly lucky to have a huge part in the cover creation process. It went a little something like this. First, I sent my publisher a Pinterest board of my favorite middle grade covers. I aimed for ones that were hand-drawn, with bold colors and an adventurous-looking main character. I…
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Social Media. Do you need it?
OH HI. Been a while. Sorry, life just kind of grabbed me and ran. XD But I’m hoping to revive this blog in the new year, so stay tuned for more updates! Today, though, I want to talk about social media. More importantly, do you need it?
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WordPress.com vs WordPress.org
Okay, let’s talk websites. As an author, having a website is imperative to our success. Maybe not when we first get going, but once we have books for sale, a lovely website matters. If you’re trying to discover how to create a website, I want to offer fair warning. AVOID WORDPRESS.COM. Before I get into this, let me clarify for any non-tech people in the house. My own tech experience is limited to about two years of dinking around in website design, so I’m no expert either. 😛 But as I’ve recently realized, WordPress.com is NOT WordPress.org (hereafter called “WordPress”). WordPress is more confusing, and that’s for a few, key reasons.…
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Game Review: Firewatch
Okay! Let’s talk Firewatch!! Remember, spoilers will be clearly labeled from start to finish! Read on with no worry. 😉 FIREWATCH Becki’s Rating: 8/10
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Finding Fun Ways to Exercise
Exercising bores me. It’s not that I hate it. I just can’t ever find the motivation to, you know, do it. I want to be healthy, but I also don’t want to interrupt my life just to run on a treadmill. Anyone else like that? Don’t worry, this is a No Judgement website. 😉 You can admit it. Of course, not exercising is a guarantee for an unhappy, unhealthy life. So how do people who hate exercising find the energy and motivation to work out? Here’s my tips:
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Guest Post: How to Find an Agent
Guest post written by the AMAZING Danielle Maurer! Without further adieu… How to Find an Agent* A Step-by-Step Semi-Illustrated Guide** By Danielle Maurer Step One: Track down The Agent’s general location. In this case, a writer’s conference at a posh hotel. Step Two: Acquire suitable supplies for a stakeout. Double-fisting beverages is encouraged. Especially traditional writerly drinks like coffee and tea. You must demonstrate that you embody the tastes of a True WriterTM. Step Three: Find a concealed location to observe and wait. Fake plants are recommended. So are high vantage points. Step Four: Become one with your disguise. If you concentrate really hard, nobody will see you. Step…
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#BoWriChat
So, this week I had the pleasure of partaking in a wonderful Twitter event called #BoWriChat! What does it stand for, you ask? Go ahead. Guess.
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DFW Writing Conference (and bonus: "The Emotion Thesaurus")
GUESS WHO’S GOING TO THE DFW WRITING CONFERENCE?? That’s right! This girl! Forgive the all caps. But I’ve been reading about writing conferences for years, in tons and tons of books. And the whole time, I thought, “That’s cool, but I’ll never have the chance to go.” And this year, THIS YEAR, I said, “Why not?”
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Operation Overload
So, I mentioned last week that I’m working on a new book! This is exciting for two reasons: It gives me something to focus on other than getting Occupational Hazards published. See above.
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Review of #PitMatch
So, after participating in #Pit2Pub (see my review on that Twitter event here), I realized there were lots of Twitter events to promote your novel! So many, in fact, that I had to set automatic tweets just to keep up over the next few months. Which means I totally forgot #PitMatch was happening until it was almost over. Oops.
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Writing Magic
As you can see from my cover photo, I have lots of books on writing. I’m obsessed with them. But today I’m going to discuss my favorite: Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine. You know her. She wrote Ella Enchanted, along with tons of other, equally amazing novels. But I’m a firm believer that this is the best book she’s ever written. And I’m going to tell you why. This book was the first one I happened upon as a young writer. At maybe 11 years old, just starting the craft, Writing Magic was the introduction to… everything. Dialogue, description, showing vs. telling, character voice, etc, etc.
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Review of #Pit2Pub
So, remember my post about Twitter? Well, two days ago I discovered a new hashtag, and I was just in time to use it! It’s called #pit2pub, and it’s a 12 hour event that connects publishers directly with authors. Basically, you post a pitch, and if a publishing house likes your premise, they’ll favorite the tweet. If you’re favorited, it’s an open invitation to query them, and maybe get a book deal. No agent needed. In a mad rush, my sister and I created 5 separate pitches for Occupational Hazards, then scheduled them to post throughout the day. (Look at me, being all Twitter-savvy.) Here’s the most popular pitch for my…