on The book Designer:

Intro byJoel Friedlander:

The world of speaking opportunities keeps expanding, and that’s good for authors. Speaking to live audiences is one of the best platform-building activities available for both fiction writers and subject matter experts.

But how to make the connection with a live audience? What gets in the way? In this article author Betsy Graziani Fasbinder looks at how to avoid the appearance of dishonesty and be an authentic voice for your readers and listeners.

Continue reading HERE

Write The Villain Your Story Deserves

As I’ve discussed before, there’s a difference between an antagonist and a villain. Your story doesn’t need a villain, but if you’re going to have one, you should have a memorable one.

• Prince Humperdink/Count Rugen
• The Joker
• Voldemort
• Emperor Palpatine

These are the names and the stories that stick with us. And sometimes? We love them anyway.

But how does one create a memorable villain, worthy of one’s story? Here are some tips.

#1 – Avoid under-developed villains

Remember, villains have their own lives, outside of thwarting your protagonist. They need to be 3-dimensional characters with motivations that make sense — even if you disagree with their decisions.

#2 – If you must use a cliche, add a twist

The childhood trauma, the revenge on the government/mob/whatever, the delusion that they’re doing good…make sure you’re not following the formula too closely.

#3 –…

Gratitude ABC’s

Gratitude ABC’s can work wonders for a variety of situations including anxiety or panic attacks, urges to use drugs or alcohol, anxiety-inducing situations, feeling low, or even as a distraction method. It is simple to do and requires only your mind and ability to think.

All you have to do is say a gratitude for every letter of the alphabet.

Example:

I am grateful for…

• A is for my appearance
• B is for my big heart
• C is for my cat
• D is for my dignity

You just keep this up for the entire alphabet and go all the way to Z.

Now, some letters will be much easier than others, but try to come up with something for each letter. Get creative if you have to!

Give it a try and see what you think about it. I recently learned about this…

by Kathryn, TFR

Keeping in a similar theme with last week’s post about unique sources of writing inspiration, this week, I’m going to talk about finding sources of PRODUCTIVE background noise.

No, that does not mean pulling up your favorite show on Netflix or Hulu to listen to while you work (In the interest of complete transparency, I’m writing this after starting the fourteenth season of CSI. Do as I say, not as I do, people).

on Just Publishing Advice:

Surprising words Shakespeare invented that we all use today

William Shakespeare has been part of all of our high school days, and although interesting, his work was not always enjoyable for all.

There are some books where you have almost to decipher what you are reading.

We have to understand that at the time he wrote it was very different and the English language has changed a lot since then.

It is said that there are more than 2,200 English words in Shakespeare’s writing that were not in use in English until his time.

Continue reading HERE

Which social media do you use to promote your blog?

There are so many personalized reader/news websites, how do we choose? I can’t keep up with all of them. New ones, old ones, coming and going every day. It’s exhausting.

Flipboard, StumbleUpon/Mix, Medium, Feedly, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus,  Linkedin, Reddit, Tumbler, Pocket, Pinterest or…

• StumbleUpon. I loved this one until they changed. Every time I added my blog post to their website, I found other great writers.  Now that they’ve migrated over to Mix, I’m not so sure. Changes aren’t always for the better. At 40 million users, I can’t help but wonder how many will make the transition.
• Flipboard.  Another one I like. But, I don’t use it as often as I probably should. I find the format a bit intimidating and that easy to use. With over 100 million users, maybe I need to…