Tag: writing

advice, blog hop, writing

New Author Advice #MFRWAuthor

aliciacoleman

This is week 51. After tomorrow, there will be only one more week in this month, in this year. Can you believe it? I have enjoyed participating in the blog hop challenge. Reading the various posts and getting to know the authors participating has been a joy.

Today’s topic ‘Advice to a New Author.’ Tough topic. I still consider myself a new author. I’m still working on stories that I  hope to publish for the first time next year. The advice I’d give another new author is this:

Lucy advice booth

                 (Charlie Brown/Peanuts-Charles Schultz)

Read. Read books in your preferred genre. Read books you wouldn’t normally read. I visited a great-aunt the summer of 2016. As I prepared to leave, she gifted me with a non-fiction book on a subject I wouldn’t have ever considered buying. I read part of the book on my flight home and finished it within a week of my return. It was a great book and it sparked a lot of ideas that I copied into my story idea book.

Write. There is the school of thought that you should write every day. I tried. I would stare at my monitor for hours waiting for words to pop into my head. None came through before I would give up and played my favorite game,  3D Mahjong. I found I did better when I wrote in bites of about 250 words three or four times a day. Not every day. Lesson learned. Do what works best for you when it comes to the time you designate to write.

Join a writing group in person or online. Writing is solitary but if you locate a person or persons you have someone you can hang with or chat online with as you travel on your writing journey that you can bounce ideas off of or brainstorm with.

Please check out the other authors here.

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blog hop, challenges, writing

My Biggest Accomplishment

aliciacoleman

Wow. This year is flying by. This is week 50 of the MFRW Blog Hop and today’s topic: My biggest Accomplishments.

I’ll start with the most important accomplishment — my son. He has grown into a wonderful man, a great father to my five beautiful grandchildren, a diligent provider, and a hard worker. I could say I raised him all by myself without any help, but I wouldn’t be truthful. You’ve heard the slogan, ‘It takes a village…’ Well, it does. Without help from my parents, aunts, and uncles the end result, I’m sure, would have been different.

Work-and-Retirement-Street-SignNext is my job. Wonderful company. Great benefits. Super retirement plan, but oh so very stressful. I completed thirty years with my company. I dragged that ball and chain across the finish line with my sanity intact. That is a fantastic feat.

 

Next up is writing. While I have not published a book yet, I have a couple of first drafts completed ready to be revised and a few stories percolating in OneNote. I have a website up and running, social media, and this blog.screen shot of wordpress site.

I didn’t think about it until today, but technically I have published something–this blog. Writing, revising and pressing ‘publish’. For me that’s huge and for someone besides me to actually read it and leave a comment…I’m humbled.

This is blog hop. Click here to read about other authors’ accomplishments.

books, challenges

Where I Write #amwriting #MFRWAuthor

aliciacoleman

badge-52 Week Blog Challenge

Week 47 of the MFRW 52 Blog Hop. This week, ‘Where I write.’  

This will be a short post.

I have an office specifically for writing, however, it’s stuffed with a dozen boxes of books interspersed throughout the room that I need to load on my bookshelves.  Because there are so many boxes, I can’t get to the desk. One day, when I find the time, I plan to empty those boxes onto the shelves so I finally write in my office.  The dining room table has become my new writing spot.

It’s not a neat area. On the table to the right of my laptop are two stacks of craft books, my iPad and mobile phone. To the left is a Happy Planner with a bunch of stickers packs on top, a stress ball, eye drops, a notepad, a pen/pencil cup, white-out tape, gum, and my earbuds. Taped to the top of the laptop is a postcard that says “Always Remember Why” (always remember why I write) that I got from author Abbi Glines. Behind the laptop are various Happy Planner supplies, magazines for character fashion ideas, a few print romance books, and a battery operated pencil sharpener.

That’s it. This is where my stories are crafted. Where do you write? Please be sure to check out the other author posts here.