by Meg Dowell

Sometimes, writing less leads to deeper, more creative thinking.

Have you ever wondered how some writers manage to write thousands of words every day — while you can barely squeeze out 500 words after an hour of trying (and failing) to focus? How do so many successful writers publish so much — even though one success could carry their careers for years?

These are the habits of writers who cannot stop, who refuse to stop, who somehow  do this writing thing and don’t suffer creative burnout in the process.

I came across this great article on Writer’s Digest, entitled Alpha-Blog Soup, by Gabriela Pereira, published this month and can be found Writer’s Digest on:  https://www.writersdigestshop.com/writer-s-digest-magazine-may-june-2-wd0618

I was was totally engaged with the content. It appears there are levels to conquer before I can reach B for Brand! Great article, I thought. “But, I don’t have a brand!” I said aloud. I am a mix-match of a bit of everything,

Starting with A for Audience. Audience? I was hoping for everyone. It turns out my posts are meaningless without a Brand? So, 4 years of meaningless?  Well, I am not one to give up on having a Brand!

Now, taking my lessons from the author, I must find out the following:

1. What themes come across in my novels?
2. What emotions do my stories evoke?
3. Why would readers want to read my novels in the first place?

I am…

Welcome to:

Morgan’s Query Corner:

Answering Your Query Quandaries

GLASS is a YA fantasy. This Cinderella retelling begins after the ball. The glass-maker’s niece and a reformed playboy prince plot to end their engagement is paused when a plague starts sweeping the nation.

A while back, I revised my novel and noticed something that should have leaped off the page during past reviews, but didn’t. I was having a love affair with ‘ing’. These ‘ing’ words were all over the place.

I stopped the revision process and did some research on ‘ing’. I remembered reading somewhere, that the overuse of ‘ing’ words was not a good thing.

Opportunities to overuse the ‘ing’ word are boundless. There are nouns, adjectives, verbs, and even verbs masquerading as nouns called gerunds, all ending in ‘ing’.

So what’s the big deal? What’s wrong with ‘ing’ words?

The overuse of ‘ing’ words mark you as an amateur – Don’t be alarmed if you see more than a handful on one page. Do take a closer look if you see more than a handful in a single paragraph.

While wrapping a soothing sling around the fledgling’s broken wing, Diana was humming, dreaming of her prince…

Mostly Blogging site:

Embarrassed.

I recently was at the receiving end of a question that embarrassed me.

“Janice, have you ever considered making your images more Pinterest friendly?”

Ouch!

Guest author Alice Jackson explains how to spruce up your graphics for Pinterest, Instagram, linky parties, reader engagement, and empowerment of visual learners.

You know the other reason you need a dynamite graphic to accompany your blog post: 64% of your readers are visual learners.

That means most of your readers will learn your information from your image.

Here’s how to make both images and infographics so you can be a better blogger by empowering your readers.

Find out more HERE

Published on A Marketing Expert showing you all you need to know to maximize your book sales.  They have some great articles. Please check them out when you can.

https://www.amarketingexpert.com/amazon-categories-to-maximize-book-sales-a-little-known-secret/

on Just Publishing Advice:

Vanity book publishing has a bad reputation, and it is no surprise why this is so.

If you are a new author, beware of publishers who offer to publish your book.

Also be just as wary of publishers you discover that say a lot about publishing your book, but almost nothing about how much it will cost or how they will help you market your book.

There is a very big difference between vanity book publishing and self-publishing.

Continue reading HERE

 on Just Publishing Advice:

Yes, all authors know that an Amazon Author page is a very good idea.

However, there is a new way to create a beautifully designed author page that will add to your discoverability.

Draft2Digital (D2D) has been a breath of fresh air for many self-publishing authors. It’s easy to use publishing service has increased in popularity over the last couple of years due to its feature rich publishing options.

The feature that stands out the most is the automatic updating of all the back matter on earlier titles. This makes publishing a new title very easy, as all the back matter and the new title is added to all previous titles.

Find out more HERE

Last week I was bleating about the new catchy catch-all genre moniker of ‘Up-Lit’ – following in the faddy tradition of ‘Grip-Lit’, right back to the grandmother of it all, ‘Chick-Lit’ and all those other Lits in between (or what I like to call ‘Really Fecking Annoying Names For Things Which Really Shouldn’t Be Grouped Together Because They Have No Fecking Connection Really’).

One of the consequences of the explosion in self-publishing is that more titles are loaded onto virtual bookshelves on a daily basis than any databank could reasonably be expected to handle. It’s the publishing world’s version of Big Data. And as we all know, Big Data is meaningless without analysis.

The problem with analysis is that results will always be produced, even when there are no tangible results. I know this, because I also deal with Big Data for a living. Analysts are sent forth to find patterns and…