WordCandy Wednesday

Photo by Kelly Sauer

Want to make Wednesday simple and sweet? Blog WordCandy. Can't wait to see yours.


Grab the WordCandy Wednesday Button :)




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The Secret to Writing Fiction

lovely cover photo by Sarah Elwell

Warning to my regular readers: this one's not the usual fare. Seriously. If a little bareness and swearing make you blush, please pass it by.

But if you want a story-approach to learning how to write fiction, stick around for my novella, The Novelist.

A challenge, a tea empire, a woman lost and found in love. She travels through her past to try to bring a novel into the present, relying on the companionship of literary greats such as Mario Vargas Llosa, Mary Shelley, and Murasaki (the first known Japanese novelist, whose real name has been lost to history because she was a woman).

Can our protagonist meet the challenge to write a book in record time? She might not even make a cup of tea by midnight, so who's to say.

On Kindle
Print version

On, In, and Around Mondays: Listen to the Whisper

She rounds the turn, cantering, and it is like watching her fly.

My girl asked for this. Two years ago, as we drove by the stables, she wanted to know what went on there.

"Horseback riding," I said.

"Can you call on Monday?" she said.

I did. Because, you know, this girl doesn't ask for much. So when she ventures a request, I know it means something. I don't even need to know what it means. I honor it.

Watching her take those turns, flying free on a powerful creature, I ask myself this...

Do you honor your own requests? And how do you know when you are making them?

It seems more complicated for me. I have to know how to listen to myself, and it may not come as clear as Can you call on Monday. Sometimes a request is nothing more than a complaint that keeps resurfacing. Sometimes it is a sadness. It can even be something that looks like rebellion.

I want to learn to listen harder. For whatever it is I hear. The whisper, the laugh, the slight shift of cloth. Yes, I might want to fly.


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On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place. Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below.

If you could kindly link back here when you post, it will create a central meeting place. :)



<a href="http://seedlingsinstone.blogspot.com"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5083/5217906589_c7120874ca.jpg" width="308" height="69" alt="On In Around button" />

This post is also shared with Laura Boggess, for...

WordCandy Wednesday

photo by Claire Burge

Want to make Wednesday simple and sweet? Blog WordCandy. Can't wait to see yours.


Grab the WordCandy Wednesday Button :)




<a href="http://seedlingsinstone.blogspot.com"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7269/7780811354_88f81aaa0a.jpg" width="252" alt="WordCandy Wednesday" />

No Kidding: This Will Make You a Better Writer

WordCandy Wednesday

Want to make Wednesday simple and sweet? Blog WordCandy. Can't wait to see yours.


Grab the WordCandy Wednesday Button :)




<a href="http://seedlingsinstone.blogspot.com"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7269/7780811354_88f81aaa0a.jpg" width="252" alt="WordCandy Wednesday" />

On, In, and Around Mondays: 5 Great Reasons to Blog WordCandy

(photo by Sarah Elwell)

There's a new web app in town, still in Beta, but so cute and easy-to-use from your laptop or home computer. It's called WordCandy, and it's a simple way to wrap up quotes for a friend, or use as an announcement of something fun, or just speak your mind to the world.

As for us bloggers, it's got html code right there on the Send page, so we can add sweets to our blogging, easy as 1-2-3.

Why bother?

5 Great Reasons to Blog WordCandy

1. you've got nothing to write about, but you want to post something thoughtful and beautiful. Pick from cool sets of quotes, and wrap them up with great images. Try it. I did. :)

2. you want to inspire your readers on a regular basis, with great language and photography, using just a few clicks of a button. Post a single WordCandy and it's ready inspiration. Great for those "in-between" blogging days

3. You're looking for a cool writing prompt. For instance, with the WordCandy I'm posting here, I could say, "Write a post about a time you felt you were undone and reborn. Feel free to borrow my candy and link back here, which I love." (sure, go ahead and do the prompt :)

4. You'd love to play a game with your blogging community. Why not challenge them to a candy conversation? (Sure, I could challenge you now: post a candy that talks back to my candy posted above and links back here. Drop a comment with your post link, to let me know we're sweet-talking).

5. You're a Pinterest fan, or you have followers who are Pinterest fans. You know that quotes with images are oh-so-pinnable, which is better news for your blog traffic than Google

That's it. If you can think of any more great reasons to blog WordCandy, I'd love to hear them! And in the meantime, we can share sweets. Have one? It's chocolate cherry. :)
_____

On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place. Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below.

If you could kindly link back here when you post, it will create a central meeting place. :)



<a href="http://seedlingsinstone.blogspot.com"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5083/5217906589_c7120874ca.jpg" width="308" height="69" alt="On In Around button" />

This post is also shared with Laura Boggess, for...