~~Mini-October Newsletter 2014~~~~ Welcome to the October 2014 Struggling Writers newsletter! Booksellers, bloggers, and authors in the cyber community are welcome here to scroll through our many social attractions, including new book releases, book ads, events, featured member writing, and much more. Thank you for the people who submitted their works to be hand selected in our e-letters, as well as the grand focus exerted from the moderators of Struggling Writers. Without further ado, please sit back and enjoy our newsletter for October 2014!
New Book Releases
October, fall of the year for those of us in the northern hemisphere with the perfect weather that compliments a great cup of your favorite hot drink and a good book but maybe not your immune system! So for everyone out there, here are some good books to keep you company whether you are luck enough to be able to grab some good reading time or unlucky enough to be stuck in bed sick. As always, this is just a selection of the hottest new releases so be sure to check in with your local bookstore.
Confessions: The Paris Mysteries By James Patterson
The City of Lights sets the stage for romance, drama and intrigue in the latest Confessions novel from the world's bestselling mystery writer! After investigating multiple homicides and her family's decades-old skeletons in the closet, Tandy Angel is finally reunited with her lost love in Paris. But as he grows increasingly distant, Tandy is confronted with disturbing questions about him, as well as what really happened to her long-dead sister. Check it out here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/confe...
Leaving Time By Jodi Picoult
For more than a decade, Jenna Metcalf has never stopped thinking about her mother, Alice, who mysteriously disappeared in the wake of a tragic accident. Refusing to believe that she would be abandoned as a young child, Jenna searches for her mother regularly online and pores over the pages of Alice’s old journals. A scientist who studied grief among elephants, Alice wrote mostly of her research among the animals she loved, yet Jenna hopes the entries will provide a clue to her mother’s whereabouts. Check it out here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/leavi...
Clariel By Garth Nix
Clariel is the daughter of one of the most notable families in the Old Kingdom, with blood relations to the Abhorsen and, most important, to the King. She dreams of living a simple life but discovers this is hard to achieve when a dangerous Free Magic creature is loose in the city, her parents want to marry her off to a killer, and there is a plot brewing against the old and withdrawn King Orrikan. Check it out here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/clari...
Blue Lily, Lily Blue By Maggie Stiefvater
Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs. Check it out here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blue-...
Quote of the Month
The books that the world call immoral are the books that show the world its own shame. -Oscar Wilde
NaNoWriMo Returns!
Do you know what time of year it is writer? Can you feel the frenzy ahead? I know I can, and I completely plan to jump full into it along with some old friends (and hopefully some new!). It will be a crazy month, bursting with ideas and blocks, encouragement and pep talks, and at the end you will feel oh so rewarded! So, if you are familiar with this November event that honors the national writing month please speak up and join us here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... . If you aren’t so familiar with NaNoWriMo, as the month, the official event, or the organization please step forward and check it out today! Every November oodles of writers come together here, www.nanowrimo.org, and we write a novel (yes a novel of 50,000 words) in a month. It sounds crazy but if you have ever wanted to try something daring and get that novel of yours down on paper and join us. You will be supported by whole community not only here in the group, but on the official NaNo website that will refuse to let you fall down and quit. Now, we won’t touch on rebels today, but you don’t have to be just a novelist to participate in NaNo, you don’t have to be starting a new novel, you don’t actually have to write anything new either, and well, the list would continue forever. The point is, don’t think you can’t participate if you don’t fit the initial description of the event’s participants, please ask one of the moderators here about participating outside of the official guidelines but still being legal and winning (Irene would probably be the most of assistance since she herself has been a rebel many times before but anyone can get you pointed in the right direction). One last thing, we have two additional links for you today. One that is a lovely condensed explanation of NaNo/NaNo in the group that is most certainly worth checking out: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... and a sort of welcome that will be updated as we draw closer and closer: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Writing Tip
So, this month I am giving a quick tip and some information on some things. As I am sure you have seen, NaNoWriMo is coming quite soon. This means that my tips will start to revolve around the challenges we will encounter instead of general bits of writing advice; however, for those of you not participating in the event I don’t want you feeling left out. If you have a writing question that you want answered or a topic you would like me to do a tip on please message me (Irene). I will leave you anonymous and do a two part (or maybe three depending on how many tips I see) writing tip that focuses on different writing aspects.
Today I would like to briefly talk about editing: I have done things on it before, but nothing quite like this. We always talk generally about editing we don’t ever really focus on a specific purpose of the rough draft. The rough draft is rough, it is meant to be a hole filled storyline that needs repairs. When we tell you to fix those we give you a whole bunch of things to focus on.
I would like to suggest that you focus on one thing that should greatly help you if you feel indecisive about where your plot is going. Go get some note cards, read through your entire story and write down every event that happens. Don’t write down that your character sneezed on page twenty three, but do put that he got into a minor argument with his childhood friend. Make sure to number the cards as you go and then lay them out in order.
This will give you a summarized line of your entire piece and you will be able to play with the events, see the holes, and fit that puzzle together so you have a rock solid plot line that will suck your reader in until the very last moment.
Maybe this doesn’t feel like much of a tip to you, but I have seen a number of writers forced to do this by their mentors, and you know what happens? They can suddenly see their storyline, which places need to have more meat and which characters can barely stand up by themselves. So I encourage you to take over the living room floor with your note cards and read through your ENTIRE piece and note every event.
Till next month, happy writings!
October Writing Horoscopes 2014 Excited for October's Horoscopes? Go here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... to enjoy the fun. Monthly Writing Horoscopes in thsi group are just fun mechanism tools for writers to have edgier freewrites. Whenever your birthday is, look for the writing challenge that corresponds with it and spend however much time you want on that prompt!
Welcome to the October 2014 Struggling Writers newsletter! Booksellers, bloggers, and authors in the cyber community are welcome here to scroll through our many social attractions, including new book releases, book ads, events, featured member writing, and much more. Thank you for the people who submitted their works to be hand selected in our e-letters, as well as the grand focus exerted from the moderators of Struggling Writers. Without further ado, please sit back and enjoy our newsletter for October 2014!
New Book Releases
October, fall of the year for those of us in the northern hemisphere with the perfect weather that compliments a great cup of your favorite hot drink and a good book but maybe not your immune system! So for everyone out there, here are some good books to keep you company whether you are luck enough to be able to grab some good reading time or unlucky enough to be stuck in bed sick. As always, this is just a selection of the hottest new releases so be sure to check in with your local bookstore.
Confessions: The Paris Mysteries
By James Patterson
The City of Lights sets the stage for romance, drama and intrigue in the latest Confessions novel from the world's bestselling mystery writer! After investigating multiple homicides and her family's decades-old skeletons in the closet, Tandy Angel is finally reunited with her lost love in Paris. But as he grows increasingly distant, Tandy is confronted with disturbing questions about him, as well as what really happened to her long-dead sister.
Check it out here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/confe...
Leaving Time
By Jodi Picoult
For more than a decade, Jenna Metcalf has never stopped thinking about her mother, Alice, who mysteriously disappeared in the wake of a tragic accident. Refusing to believe that she would be abandoned as a young child, Jenna searches for her mother regularly online and pores over the pages of Alice’s old journals. A scientist who studied grief among elephants, Alice wrote mostly of her research among the animals she loved, yet Jenna hopes the entries will provide a clue to her mother’s whereabouts.
Check it out here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/leavi...
Clariel
By Garth Nix
Clariel is the daughter of one of the most notable families in the Old Kingdom, with blood relations to the Abhorsen and, most important, to the King. She dreams of living a simple life but discovers this is hard to achieve when a dangerous Free Magic creature is loose in the city, her parents want to marry her off to a killer, and there is a plot brewing against the old and withdrawn King Orrikan.
Check it out here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/clari...
Blue Lily, Lily Blue
By Maggie Stiefvater
Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs.
Check it out here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/blue-...
Quote of the Month
The books that the world call immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.
-Oscar Wilde
NaNoWriMo Returns!
Do you know what time of year it is writer? Can you feel the frenzy ahead? I know I can, and I completely plan to jump full into it along with some old friends (and hopefully some new!). It will be a crazy month, bursting with ideas and blocks, encouragement and pep talks, and at the end you will feel oh so rewarded!
So, if you are familiar with this November event that honors the national writing month please speak up and join us here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... . If you aren’t so familiar with NaNoWriMo, as the month, the official event, or the organization please step forward and check it out today! Every November oodles of writers come together here, www.nanowrimo.org, and we write a novel (yes a novel of 50,000 words) in a month. It sounds crazy but if you have ever wanted to try something daring and get that novel of yours down on paper and join us. You will be supported by whole community not only here in the group, but on the official NaNo website that will refuse to let you fall down and quit.
Now, we won’t touch on rebels today, but you don’t have to be just a novelist to participate in NaNo, you don’t have to be starting a new novel, you don’t actually have to write anything new either, and well, the list would continue forever. The point is, don’t think you can’t participate if you don’t fit the initial description of the event’s participants, please ask one of the moderators here about participating outside of the official guidelines but still being legal and winning (Irene would probably be the most of assistance since she herself has been a rebel many times before but anyone can get you pointed in the right direction).
One last thing, we have two additional links for you today. One that is a lovely condensed explanation of NaNo/NaNo in the group that is most certainly worth checking out: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... and a sort of welcome that will be updated as we draw closer and closer: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Writing Tip
So, this month I am giving a quick tip and some information on some things. As I am sure you have seen, NaNoWriMo is coming quite soon. This means that my tips will start to revolve around the challenges we will encounter instead of general bits of writing advice; however, for those of you not participating in the event I don’t want you feeling left out. If you have a writing question that you want answered or a topic you would like me to do a tip on please message me (Irene). I will leave you anonymous and do a two part (or maybe three depending on how many tips I see) writing tip that focuses on different writing aspects.
Today I would like to briefly talk about editing: I have done things on it before, but nothing quite like this. We always talk generally about editing we don’t ever really focus on a specific purpose of the rough draft. The rough draft is rough, it is meant to be a hole filled storyline that needs repairs. When we tell you to fix those we give you a whole bunch of things to focus on.
I would like to suggest that you focus on one thing that should greatly help you if you feel indecisive about where your plot is going. Go get some note cards, read through your entire story and write down every event that happens. Don’t write down that your character sneezed on page twenty three, but do put that he got into a minor argument with his childhood friend. Make sure to number the cards as you go and then lay them out in order.
This will give you a summarized line of your entire piece and you will be able to play with the events, see the holes, and fit that puzzle together so you have a rock solid plot line that will suck your reader in until the very last moment.
Maybe this doesn’t feel like much of a tip to you, but I have seen a number of writers forced to do this by their mentors, and you know what happens? They can suddenly see their storyline, which places need to have more meat and which characters can barely stand up by themselves. So I encourage you to take over the living room floor with your note cards and read through your ENTIRE piece and note every event.
Till next month, happy writings!
October Writing Horoscopes 2014
Excited for October's Horoscopes? Go here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/... to enjoy the fun. Monthly Writing Horoscopes in thsi group are just fun mechanism tools for writers to have edgier freewrites. Whenever your birthday is, look for the writing challenge that corresponds with it and spend however much time you want on that prompt!
Have a Great October, Everyone!