C.J. Graves's Blog: The Write Fight

Look to the left, click, and watch the new A-16 video trailers. Very professional!

New guest post at the Serious Reader blog. Come read how I transitioned from traditional publishing to ePublishing.

http://www.theseriousreader.org/index...

Come visit my guest post over at T.M. Souders to see how I write the perfect female character!


http://www.tmsouders.com/bitches-babe...

Today and tomorrow you can download, Crossed: A Jayden Morrow Mystery for free at Amazon. Don't miss out! Oh, and tell your friends. :D

http://amzn.to/Ps0Hvw

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crossed-Jayde...

I'm biting the bullet and giving away one of my books on Amazon!

For 2 days--Sept. 27th and 28th, Crossed: A Jayden Morrow Mystery will be FREE.

Here's the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Crossed-Jayden-...

Hope you enjoy!

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I was a hot knife through butter with this book. Loved it! I'm not even a huge fan of the genre, but hey, good story-telling should trancend and this one does. I'm amazed at how closely the HBO series follows the book. Except there's a lot more sex in the TV series. Hmmmm.... Anyway--highly recommend and am starting Book 2 immediately!



View all my reviews

A nasty four letter word lurks around every corner, ready to seize hard-working writers, hold them hostage, and berate them with bad names.

The word, my friends, is FEAR.

But weapons do exist to slay this unsavory foe. Read how I arm myself against fear at:

http://shaynagier.com/how-i-deal-with...

Writers are the cruel gods of their world. Read some of the ways I like to rain down awfulness on my poor characters in my guest post over at Cynthia Shepp's Book Review and Editing blog.

I'm a sadist, I tell you! A sadist. (cue evil laugh)

http://cynthiashepp.wordpress.com/201...

As shocking as it sounds, people often say to me, “You look short.”

Well, I am short.

No sense denying it. I won’t be trying out for the WNBA anytime soon. But what of it? I’ve been short my whole life, so you know, I’m kind of used to it. I’ve accepted it.

Accepting the sort of writer you are can be more difficult. Do you ever read a book and think, “Man, I wish I could write that funny/poetic/fast-paced/romantic/ etc.” Maybe you give it a shot, starting out with some, “I CAN DO ANYTHING!” superhero enthusiasm that morphs into all-too-human muttering, “This crap’s hard,” until finally you’re looking for a solid object to bang your head against as you cry, “Loser, loser, loser, loser!”

But before you resign your writing to the recycling bin, remember each of you is a unique person with something to say. And no one can say that thing quite the same way you do. Being your best means being yourself. Embracing that allows your style to come through your writing.

I don’t mean to say it’s never good to branch out--try something new. Just that most people who succeed play to their strengths. If you’re funny, be funny. If you’re romantic, be romantic. Find your strengths and shine those puppies until they sparkle like Edward Cullen on a Caribbean cruise. Once you know your strengths, use them, and then you can become “known” for them.

And maybe, just maybe, one day you’ll wake to find you’re the number one, international bestselling, Pulitzer prize winning, millionaire, everyone-wants-to-be -me- author of the most awesome gorilla zombie love story of all time.

Okay, maybe that’s overly dramatic. But hey--that’s just the kind of writer I am.

Number one reason women tell me they don’t want to do mixed martial arts? They don’t want to get hit. Well, duh.

Unless you’re a BDSM sex freak who enjoys fifty shades of red on her ass, who does? Do you think I like some sweaty, tattooed, hulk of a dude taking swipes at my head and then throwing me to the ground and climbing on top of me to take more swipes at my head? That’s my job, dammit. (Okay, maybe I like it a little.) But the point is--achieving mastery means paying your dues, and sometimes the dues hurt like hell.

The same holds for writing. Why do many people want to write but never do or never finish anything or never submit anything to agents or never publish anything or when they do publish, never push to get reviews...? Well, they don’t want to get hit. (Read: Rejected) And if they do put it out there and get rejected, they fold up and go home. Know what I say? Bye.

I’m not the best fighter in my gym by far. Most of those boys could whip my butt, no problem, and I love them for it. I’m not the best writer either (not that I suck, mind you), but I have something a lot of people don’t--tenacity. Half of winning a fight is not gassing out--not giving up. Oh, that and learning to take a hit.

So go ahead. Hit me.

Honey Badger


How I Got Published: Famous Authors Tell You in Their Own Words