Tag: writers life

a tiny update

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Greetings fellow creative folk! I hope you had a fantastic week and made progress in whatever you are working on.

This week has led me to some new revisions. While I thought that I was ready for the query stage, I discovered a few things I’d like to add to my manuscript. There are also a few things I’d like to tweak a bit.

I suppose it’s better to discover these things now rather than later. All in all, I’m looking at this next revision as a positive thing.

So, just a short update for today, but an update none the less! May magical creativity fairies visit you in your dreams.

Until next time,

Christine

books, books, and more books!

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What’s better than a weekend of books with your best friend? Well, nothing! Last weekend brought Book Con 2019 to NYC and I was lucky enough to go thanks to the lovely lady pictured below.

While there were so many wonderful moments, I wanted to share 5 things I loved about Book Con 2019!

One: You really can’t beat being surrounded by books, people who love books, and book merchandise.

Two: I love seeing promotions for upcoming releases. This one had be squeal a bit. They are such funny picture books. The Crayons’ Christmas by Drew Daywalt will release on October 15th.

Three: Listening to authors talk about what inspired their work was very memorable. Evangeline Lilly, author of The Squickerwonkers series, shared how she wanted to write for her childhood self.

Four: Listening to authors nerd out about their love for books in general is pretty cool too. Neil Patrick Harris did just that.

Five: (Which is probably my most loved moment!)…and then there are those authors that you just totally black out when you meet. My best friend and I had recently just finished reading all of the Shades of Magic series by V.E. Schwab. We wanted to meet her, but the whole digital ticket, ticket line, extensive process was too much. So, we figured we would see her at a panel and be satisfied with that. Then, something magical happened. We stumbled upon an additional signing, were invited to a line with five people in front of us, and met her!!! Yes, I blacked out. No, I don’t remember what I said, but it doesn’t matter. I have her autograph and this photo!

All in all, it was the best Book Con I could have asked for. We had a fantastic time and I highly recommend doing it at least once! You never know what exciting things are going to happen while you’re there.

Tweet me your thoughts @AWritersWay. Thank you for joining me here today. You can look for a new post next Friday.

Until next time,

Christine

what it really takes

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Let’s get down to business. Have you ever heard of the Iceberg Illusion? Normally, when you think of icebergs, you think of…

“ICEBERG RIGHT AHEAD!”-Titanic Dude

…but I am actually referring to this…

It can be hard to be a writer sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, I love being a writer and I will always be one. It’s a huge passion in my life, and I am grateful for it. However, I think sometimes people who don’t write can’t understand all of the aspects that go into creating a novel, picture book, short story, etc. One of the things that makes it hard for writers, is to come up against those lovely opinions such as: “Oh, so you just write the book and then you’re published, right?”

Well, actually no. When I was scrolling through social media the other day, I came across “The Iceberg Illusion” image above. I thought, “I need to print this out and carry it around with me.” I need to show this to people.

You know the drill…

It all starts with a wonderful, inspiring idea. You feel as though you’re looking at the grandest ship in the world.

You start to write, to create, to dive deep into a new world, and you churn out a project.

Then you have to face all of the other aspects that go into the writing world. It’s not just about the writing. Success is the tip of the iceberg, and everything else underneath the water is what creative folk actually face.

A lot of times, we as the writer are Jack, and our book is Rose…about to drown in the water if we don’t pull her up, if we don’t continue to believe.

Are you following me here? Why do I write this, you ask? Well, I’m not writing it for the people that don’t get what it takes to commit to the writing career path. I’m writing it for you. I’m writing it for the writer who is too hard on themselves and needs a friendly reminder that we are dealing with a lot. If it was always just us and our characters, things would be easy. However, that Iceberg Illusion is very much a real part of our journey.

At the end of the day, I urge you to celebrate it all. You are dedicated. You have worked hard and will continue to do so. The rejections won’t stop you. The Iceberg Illusion may look scary, but remember, you are doing what you love. And don’t forget…we have each other to turn to when it all becomes too much.

Tweet me your thoughts @AWritersWay. Thank you for joining me here today. You can look for a new post next Friday.

Until next time,

Christine

spring smiles

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Happy Sunday to all. I’m back! What have I been up to? Well, a lot! Here’s what’s happened in the last two weeks…

It’s been pretty amazing. I feel so lucky! Here are some photos from our engagement:

Love, love, love!

So, back to my blogging update! New posts will be moved to Friday’s now. Yep, that’s right. Even if it’s only one sentence, you can look forward to a new post from me every week once again!

I hope you have a glorious week. See you Friday!

New Posts Will Be Back Soon

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…and by that I mean….

All of my free time is currently going to be dedicated to writing, reading, and/or recharging. I‘ll be back to a steady blog schedule in the Spring, but for now…it’s hibernation time.

Thank you for stopping by WriterChristineMarie.com.

Feel free to tweet me @AWritersWay, where I will continue to share updates on my writing and many Disney gifs.

Until next time,

Christine

have yourself a merry little writing session

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Tis the season for hot chocolate, Christmas music, and writing sessions. The past two months have been quite intense as I juggled my day job and a hefty list of writing goals.

However, I am happy to report that I am right on track to finish my second draft this coming Friday! I don’t know about you, but I think the Christmas season kept the pep in my step! That, and a ton of coffee.

After that, my draft will be sent to a few trusted writing partners for critique! All in all, I’m feeling quite positive about the journey ahead. 2019 will be filled with writing pitches, query letters, and hopefully some MAGIC will happen.

I wish you and yours a very Happy Holiday Season! I’ll be back in the New Year with some awesome new blog posts (on a regular blog schedule because ya know…that’s one of my goals for the new year!) See you in 2019!

pasta & pencils

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It’s been a month and a week since I finished the first draft of my novel. Since then, I’ve had a rough time adjusting to my revision schedule. I’m only about ten pages in after all this time. With that said, I’ve been pretty good about not beating myself up about that. I’ve been taking some time to read more and to also distance myself from the novel a little bit.

…but…as soon as I began to desperately miss my characters, I knew it was time to get back in the swing of things. One thing that I wanted to share that I did do during the last month is finally work on my world map. It’s something that I didn’t know I would ever end up doing, but it turned out to be a really fun exercise. All of these places obviously live in my mind in great detail, but to put them down on paper was something I never thought I’d explore.

How did I get started, you ask? I turned to Pinterest, of course! I scrolled through tons and tons of pins with great map making tips. While I was scrolling, I came across a very funny suggestion made by someone making a D&D map. They suggested using pasta…

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Yep. You read right. Pasta. (not cooked) So, I got to thinking…this is kind of smart. Really any kind of small dry objects would work. I also saw it done with dice! I mulled the thought over for a few days and ultimately decided that pasta was for me. I am 50% Italian after all…

This is what the process actually looked like…

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I glued down some paper and broke out the noodles…

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Dumped a bunch on the paper…

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…and ya know…spread it out a little until I liked the shape!

 

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After that, I lightly penciled around the shape and messed with it…A LOT!

What was cool about this process was, it was a great way to get started. Once I felt more comfortable with shaping the outline of the map myself, my confidence grew. I started to grab some more paper and sketch some more!

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After a few weeks of tweaking things, I’m just starting to add in some locations, trees, mountains, etc. It’s been fun! Take a look:

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Those white blobs are names I can’t share yet, but at least you have an idea of where I’m at. As you can see, it’s VERY different from my original pasta inspired shape. But that’s kind of cool, right?

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I hope that you’ll take this fun exercise and put it to use in your own writing life. Sometimes it’s just fun to take your characters, your worlds, your ideas, and express them in different ways.

All in all, I’m feeling happy to be back in the swing of things. (That includes, blogging EVERY Thursday for you!)

Thanks for joining me here today. Tweet me your thoughts @AWritersWay.

Until next time,

Christine