I’m not the woman I once was…I know the hurt, the battle within.

I’m not the woman I once was… I’m not the mama I once was… but I’m me, please take me as I am, full of flaws… I know the hurt, the battle within.

My own mother was devoid of feeling towards most of her children, and I was the perfect black sheep in her eyes. She wasn’t affectionate, didn’t hug, or show love as I grew up. If she did show to any my siblings, I never once saw it. I told myself that I would the opposite with my own children if I were to be blessed by God and given the gift of children.

I was blessed with three boys and one daughter (from my second marriage). My first born died in utero (inside me), labor was induced, and Shane was stillborn. I was crushed…

Yesterday, I attended an incredible writing event hosted by Jericho Writers. It was a fantastic day, with talks from amazing writers, authors and agents. I just need to state that I would 100% attend one of their events again, and recommend them to other writers hoping to gain huge insight into writing, getting an agent and publishing.

So, I thought I’d share with you all some of the writing lessons I took away from the day. Next week I’ll share some of the publishing lessons too, but I think it’ll be too much if I try and fit everything into one blog post, so here we go!

1. Speech is one of the most powerful character traits
The first talk of the day was about ‘advanced characterisation’ and spoke about the various ways we can portray our characters to ensure they have depth. ‘Speech’ was discussed for a while…

By Scott Lorenz

Westwind Communications

“Do book awards matter?” YES!!

As a book publicist, I can assure you they absolutely do matter! One client won several awards and was contacted by two movie producers about her Young Adult Sci-Fi Fantasy Fiction novel. Another one of my clients won the prestigious Los Angeles Book Festival award. That then led to a flurry of media interest, which subsequently led to a major New York agent deciding to represent the book and pitch it to all the major publishing houses. This author, needless to say, was happy he decided to enter.

You win awards you sell more products.Jeff Bezos, CEO Amazon

Jeff Bezos at the 2016 Code Conference (Photo news.techniblogic.com

Not long ago, a business book client won a major award which caused CNN to reach out to request the book.

Most recently a major childrens’ TV show contacted me and asked…

by Nillu Nasser Stelter

Like many of you, I’ve been a keen reader since childhood. Reading was an escape when my loving, boisterous family overwhelmed me, when the world was quiet and friends slept, and the television pixels seemed to zap energy rather than give it. I started with Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, and Judy Blume and was hooked from there.

on Jami Gold site:

Last week, news of the #CopyPasteCris plagiarism scandal hit the writing world (52 books, 34 authors, 3 articles, 3 websites, 2 recipes and counting).

As I mentioned last time, two topics beyond the extreme plagiarism have gained attention:

Continue reading HERE

If the thought of writing a novel freaks you out, first, know you’re not alone. Second, this seemingly huge task is not as overwhelming as you think it is.

Sure, you have to come up with characters, plot lines, unique ideas, master show, don’t tell, and learn how to use commas properly. And it could take months or even years to write all the words you’ll need to tell the story, but it can be done. How? By writing scene-by-scene.

Breaking your novel into smaller sections of work is Productivity 101 and will allow you to concentrate on just one specific scene and not think about what else you have to do to get your book written. That’s my first tip for a great scene. For the rest, keep reading…

Writing Tips For Great Scenes

Know What Kind Of Scene It Needs To Be

As a general rule:

• The…