Love, Laughter, and Life

Adventures With a Book Lover


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The Best Editing Tools for Creative Writers

Tools for the writer.

InterestingLiterature's avatarInteresting Literature

By Robert Morris

Have you ever been so consumed by the creative writing process that you were left with no energy for the editing part? That happens to most writers. We don’t have a problem to spend days on a short story or blog post, but even a single hour of editing makes us exhausted. The following editing tools will help you get through the challenge more easily!

Wridea – Creative writers get ideas all the time. Unfortunately, we tend to forget most of them when we don’t write them down. This online app will help you save and organize your ideas, as well as to share them with selected friends. Then, you can easily add more details during the editing stage and make the content perfect.

Poetica – If you are ready to receive some constructive criticism from fellow writers, Poetica is the right destination for you. It doesn’t…

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I’m struggling with this lately.

True.


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My writing process in a picture

I like the analogy. One need only look at my office to see how chaos feeds creativity.

Dylan Hearn's avatarSuffolk Scribblings

Ice sculpture Image used under creative commons license. Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lynsey_wells83/

I recently read a great post on the The Diaries of James Purcell blog, where he’d put up a picture of his bookshelves and mentioned how representative they were of his thinking process, saying “the haphazard way the shelfs are stacked with bits shoved into any odd gap is a perfect example of how I think, plan and access my thoughts when writing.”

This got me thinking, because I often use visual metaphors to explain my writing process. When I first started writing I saw myself as a sculptor, with the block of stone (or ice in the case above) representing the initial blank page. My first draft would be where I’d make the first cuts, to uncover the rough approximation of the shape of the story, but in a way that still needed plenty of work. Then, with ever more intricate tools I’d edit my manuscript down, smoothing…

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Cook from Scratch Update – an article that makes me look tame..

Ewwww. Home cooked is much better!


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I am looking for your help.

All 3 blogs are excellent. Help Tric out by reading and voting.

tric's avatarMy thoughts on a page.

I am hoping you can help me. I would like to pick one post to enter into the Irish Parenting Blog Awards in the category of Best Blog Post. I know I have a lot of miserable poignant posts, but I spent all of ten minutes revisting my old posts this evening and these caught my eye.

My Life in Words

When the last door closes.

Enjoy them while they are small.

If you have time I am hoping you will vote for one of them here, or if you have another you prefer you can add it in the comments.

Thanks a million.

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Grounded: Nature Trumps All Human Plans

Christy Thomas's avatarThe Thoughtful Pastor

Image courtesy of Wikipedia Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Nature trumps all human plans. How quickly and unexpectedly it can ground us

Grounded–that’s the word used when airlines have to cancel flights for weather. And that’s what has also happened in the area where I live, North Texas, for much of this past week. And it is my situation on Sunday morning.

Although much of the ice/snow mix melted late yesterday, there are still patches of ice everywhere. Many churches around here cancelled services for the sake of the safety of their parishioners. The last thing I need at this point in life is a broken bone from a fall on an invisible piece of black ice, so I have also chosen to stay home.

In 2010, an Iceland volcano erupted and spewed ash all over northern Europe, grounding all flights in that part of the world. My oldest son lives in London but was…

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Help Incarcerated Moms Connect with their Children through the Magic of Books

Great idea. Books for kids. What could be better?

Michelle R. Eastman's avatarMichelle Eastman Books

prison

The number of kids with incarcerated parents has increased nearly 80% in the last 20 years, according to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. More than 2.7 million children have a parent who is incarcerated, and parents of another 10 million children have been incarcerated at some point.  The experience can be profoundly difficult for children, increasing their risk of living in poverty and housing instability, as well as causing emotional trauma, pain, and social stigma.http://www.americanlibrariesmagazine.org/article/reading-inside

But, through programs like the Visiting Nurse Services of Iowa Storybook Project, some of that stress melt away when kids are able to visit their parent and read a special book together. Through an audio-tape reading program wherein imprisoned parents/grandparents read books to their children/grandchildren on tape, family bonds are strengthened and literacy skills improve as they encourage their children to read with them and in their absence.

The Storybook Project recruits…

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You Want to Make the Visitor Welcome? Twelve Website Tips

You Want to Make the Visitor Welcome? Twelve Website Tips.

 

These tips could easily be transferred to author websites!


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MARCH-ing Books to Kids

March is just around the corner!

ajschildrensbooks's avatarPaint with Words

I believe books are one of the most special gifts we can give children. According to Reading is Fundamental (RIF), nearly two-thirds of low-income families in the U.S. DO NOT own books. The literacy initiative Picture Book Pass it On is working hard to get books into the hands of less fortunate children.

I was super excited when I discovered Picture Book Pass it On. I singed five copies of my picture book, Mama’s Purse, and headed down to the Women’s and Children’s Alliance to donate them. Then I wrote a blog post and completed the three PBPiO calls to action. What an incredible feeling to help children in my community!

I love reading. I love picture books. I love helping kids. When I learned about MARCH-ing Books to Kids, I said, “Count me in!”

Picture Book Pass it On is encouraging folks to participate in MARCH-ing…

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Going Pro—Earning Rhino Skin & Learning Which Opinions Matter

Humor and information.

Author Kristen Lamb's avatarKristen Lamb's Blog

Screen Shot 2015-02-25 at 1.15.18 PM

I heard somewhere that, statistically speaking, 10% of people will simply not like us, no matter what we do or how much we try. Whenever we decide to do something remarkable or even just different, this is when we’re most likely to encounter push-back.

Also, if we enjoy any measure of success or achievement, expect to be knifed. This is reality. We cannot control others, only ourselves and how we respond and what we choose to internalize. As writers, we’ll experience this with friends, family and even strangers.

Ah, strangers…

If I met someone and told them I was an HR manager, most people likely wouldn’t reply, “No I meant, what is your real job?”

I wouldn’t have to give a resume of all my accomplishments and proof I made money as an HR manager or even a roster of how many people I had in my charge. Yet, no one seems…

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