Category: Writing

Encouragement, Jane Friedman, Kirsten Lamb, Rachel Gardner, Self Publishing, Writer Unboxed, Writing, Writing blogs, Writing classes, Writing Resources

How to Save Time for Writing

Mona Alvarado Frazier





There are few things I like to do other than write or find writing resources to help me become a better writer. Sure I miss watching my favorite television shows, coffee with friends, walking the dog, and watching my kids grow (I’m lying they are all 18-25, they’re grown). Sometimes I prefer to write than go on a date but perhaps that will change when the right one comes along. How I save time for writing besides the aforementioned is to look for shortcuts, i.e. good advice. Why reinvent the wheel? 

When I find great resources I believe in sharing them to help the next writer in his/her endeavor. Many publishers, agents, and authors have blogs that help writers become better. I usually stay away from any with bells and whistles on their blogs (flickering ads) or anyone admantly pushing their book. I don’t mind that their book cover is on their sidebar I just don’t want flashing arrows pointing to it or their ad popping up on my screen.
In the past few months I’ve found that I’ve kept returning to the same bloggers, who I believe are experts in the writing field. These are, in no particular order:
Jane Friedman‘s blog. She featured Writing Advice That Saves You 5 Years. It links to Steal This List. She has an archive of free advice for writers and is an editor at Writer’s Digest, a magazine I finally subscribed to after reading it at the library for four months.

And for plot and structure, I know no better teacher than The Plot Whisper. I learn better when I can read something and hear something. TPW has YouTube videos on each lesson, for FREE. 

Kirsten Lamb is the Queen of Blogging and Social Media. Her post The Right Way, Wrong Way, Smart Way caught my attention and is well worth the read. 
Rachell Gardner is a literary agent who has resources for writers who want to improve their craft and prepare themselves for publication. 
Writer Unboxed was started by two aspiring writers who began a community of contributing authors. They are “about the craft and business of fiction.” 


Deciding to go the e-book route and self publish, Joe Konrath’s blog tells it like it is-to him. He makes a lot of sense (he has sold books the traditional way) and now sells tons of his books, for e-readers. 


Also check out some more of my favorites listed on Top Ten Blogs for Writers. 


These resources save you time and money because many people pay for the kind of information these writers give and you can read them whenever you carve out 10 minutes. If you haven’t fulfilled your dream of writing a family history, memoir, magazine article or essay, here’s your chance to start again in the new year and save time to watch your children grow or go on that date. 
Genre Definitions, Genre rules, plotting, Writing

Genre Rules

Mona Alvarado Frazier

It’s helpful to know what genre you will be writing before you start typing, don’t you think. If you’re a total pantser (flying by the seat of your pants) maybe you don’t. If you are in full tuxedo when you sit down to write, after you’ve written your “log line,” “detailed outline with plot twists,” and charted your story on a graph, before you write, then you can skip this post.
I’m a half-*ssed pantser myself. This means that I write down an idea for a story and think about the beginning and end. I’m sure there are better ways, but I’m being honest here. It’s the way I’ve approached my writing. After I jot down the idea I think about it some more, flesh it out and write down a one to three sentence description of the story. Then I do a loose outline of the story and that’s where I find the middle.
Before today I hadn’t thought too much about Genre rules, where it fits in the above scenario and all that it entails. But I came across two good blog posts about the ‘rules,’ of Young Adult, Literary Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, and Romance Genre.
Kristen Lamb says that understanding genre can help guide you in plotting your novel. Each genre has it’s own rules and expectations. Once you know the rules you know how to begin and navigate through your novel. She has written several posts on structure during the last two weeks. Ms. Lamb has a way of putting things that get her ideas across in a novel way,
“In writing as in food, some combinations are never meant to go together. Paranormal thriller? Okay. Cool. Popcorn jelly beans. Literary thriller? Tuna ice cream of the writing world. Just my POV.”
Writer’s blog gives similar info on rules and word count on Historical Fiction, Horror, and Old Western Genre’s. They have another post on genres defined, including Chic Lit, Chica Lit, and Mommy Lit (do they really call these subgenre’s of Women’s Fiction these names?)
After Ms.Lamb is done with her posts this month, she will have made me lose my pants. You know, like Maya Angelou says: You do better when you know better.