Posts Tagged ‘Writing’
Posted on August 30, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Tribes and Our Role as a Writer
If you’ve been following my blog lately, you’ve probably read more about me than you have in a long time. While there’s a lot of reasons why I wanted to open up more, some of which will relate to my upcoming publications, there’s another one that I wanted to explain to you.
You see, even though [...]
Posted on August 18, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Pendants, Pentacles and Inspiration
One of the things that I like to collect are different pendants. This habit started when I was in college because I have a challenge wearing cheap jewelry due to metal allergies. So, to save money and change my look, I have a jewelry box full of pendants in different shapes, sizes and symbols. Some of these hail from the furthest corners of the world, and each one of them usually has a story behind it. Often, I will wear different pendants because they inspire me to write for different reasons.
The pendant I’m wearing today is one that I usually wear under my shirt, because I have a tangible fear associated with wearing it out in public. The intricate design is of a pentacle intertwined with a crow and, as you might imagine, there is a story associated with how this pendant came to be in my possession.
Posted on July 27, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Providing a Service Versus Offering an Asset
For any creative professional who is providing a service, the difference between making money now and making money over the long-term can be pretty frightening. On the one hand, we all have the tendency to make decisions based on the power of a dollar. How many jobs have we taken that we were over-qualified for? [...]
Posted on July 12, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Top 10 Misconceptions about Writers
Like many artistic professions, writers often encounter challenges as we pursue our careers. It seems as if every time I touch base with another writer we all seem to be facing the same, exact issues at one point or another in our lives. One of my friends joked that we should all have punch cards [...]
Posted on May 17, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Don’t Give Up
The following message is dedicated to any writer who has ever felt discouraged and depressed.
Hey, you! Listen up. Yeah, you. Why the long face? Oh, I get it. You’re depressed because either:
a) you don’t have any readers
b) your book isn’t selling
c) you haven’t been published
d) your peers are surpassing you
e) you have no idea how [...]
Posted on April 20, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
My Guest Post at SFWA: An Overview of Writing for Print vs. the Web
As a writer, I’m often asked to describe the difference between writing for a print publication and writing for the web. This month, I had the chance to write an in-depth article for SFWA.org that provides you with some insight as to why writing for an online publication is so different from writing for print.
Here’s [...]
Posted on March 30, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Emotional Connection and Writing
Last weekend at my writer’s group, we were discussing how necessary it is to develop an emotional connection with the reader through your work. In fact, a strong emotional connection between the reader and the character can translate to a best-selling book that many of us might not think is all that “good.” It can also translate to the proverbial nerd rage when someone doesn’t like the same book, character, movie, game or comic that someone else love with all their heart.
Those common emotional experiences can range from love to hate and everything in between.
Posted on March 17, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Is Blogging and Social Media Affecting Your Ability to Write What You Want?
If you’ve been following my blog, you may have seen my earlier post about Write First, Sell Later where I express how I feel it’s important to separate your promotional time from your writing time.
One of the things that I’ve found is that a timer isn’t “enough” to discipline me to get off of social media or blogging channels to write, write, write. Why? Well, blogging requires one mindset for me; social media requires another. In many ways, blogging requires a “voice” which may vary depending upon the blog.
Posted on January 8, 2010 - by Monica Valentinelli
Marathon Wrap-Up and a Quick Look Ahead
First of all, marathoners — I owe you an apology. I had a summary post written (I really, really did) but somewhere in between plowing full steam ahead to 2010 and my WordPress updates I lost it. I’d like to share with you some closing thoughts on the Marathon.
For me, December was a kick start [...]
Posted on November 29, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
Puking Content, Plagiarism and Too Much Free
I’m sure many of you have thought something along the lines of, “My gosh, there’s a lot of misinformation on the internet.” And you would be right.
I don’t know about you, but I feel like it’s too easy to get sucked into providing editorial on bad information to set the record straight. Of course, [...]
Posted on November 23, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
Guidelines and Rules for the December Writing Marathon
In my previous post entitled Who’s Up for a December Writing Marathon? Some Proposed Rules, I offered some generic guidelines to see what you might think. Because December is a little over a week away, I’d like to share with you the specifics of this marathon.
Posted on November 19, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
Who’s Up for a December Writing Marathon? Some Proposed Rules.
I know that many of you might be writing for National Novel Writing Month, and if you are – I hope that it’s going really well for you. Writing 50,000 words in a month is not an easy task, and it can be very exhausting. I knew that my schedule for November wasn’t going to allow for NaNoWriMo, so I wasn’t able to participate. Admittedly, I feel a little guilty about not making a concerted effort on my writing this month, even though I’m waiting to hear back on several projects.
So, in the interest of “getting back into it” I propose a December Writing Marathon for 20,000 words minimum.
Posted on November 12, 2009 - by Monica Valentinelli
Why Your D&D Game Doesn’t Make a Great Novel
Have you heard the line, “Your D&D game won’t make a great novel?” If you’ve heard me speak on panels before, or if you’ve read several submission guidelines from agents or publishers, you might have. I’d like to tackle why.
First, let’s get all the bad mojo out there on the table by saying something completely [...]
My Recent Releases
The Queen of Crows
Download THE QUEEN OF CROWS e-book at DriveThruHorror.com
Watch the Promo Video
Family Games: The 100 Best
Order through Amazon.comThe Bones
Available at Gameplaywright.netRecommended Writing Music
Violet War
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