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The Hard Work of Writing: Do You Embrace It?

July 3, 2012 Writing Stuff
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When you first started writing, did you realize how much work it would take? Or were you like most of us, thinking that you’d written your share of emails, essays, or Christmas letters and that writing a whole story wouldn’t be—couldn’t be—that much harder? But at some point—maybe it’s when we struggle to make the [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, dreams, editing, Edittorrent, fan fiction, feedback, grammar, Harry Potter, Jami Gold, paranormal author, professionalism

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How Do You Stretch Yourself?

September 13, 2011 Writing Stuff
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With any job or activity, if we want to get better, we have to stretch ourselves.  Athletes strive to move faster or stronger.  Musicians aim to complete a harder, more intricate piece of music.  And writers… How do writers stretch themselves? We can collect feedback on our writing from beta readers, contest judges, and critique [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, beta reader, genre, grammar, Jami Gold, Jami is insane, muse, paranormal author, point of view, risk, story seed

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Milestone Contest – Prize: Me! Wait…er, What?

June 28, 2011 News
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My one-year blogiversary is coming up on July 12th.  The occasion has me doing something I don’t normally do: math.  Eek! This is my 101st blog post, and during that time, this blog has passed 100 Google Friend Connect followers, 250 RSS subscribers, and 1500 comments (not including mine).  I know those numbers look small [...]

Tagged as: beta reader, blogging, branding, critique partners/groups, feedback, giveaway, grammar, Jami Gold, Jami is insane, paranormal author, story openings, website

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How Much More Do You Have to Learn?

April 7, 2011 Writing Stuff
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In my last post, I lamented how it’s hard for us to see our learning curve and know how much more we have yet to understand.  I wanted to know how close I was to that elusive “destination” of knowing everything I need to know about writing. *pshaw*  Silly me for thinking such a destination actually [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, agents, grammar, Jami Gold, Jami's rants, paranormal author, perfectionism, plotter vs. pantser, professionalism

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A Perfectionist’s Guide to Editing: 4 Stages

March 3, 2011 Writing Stuff
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Yes, I’m still under deadline, but an interesting issue came up in the comments on my last post about perfectionism.  Perfectionists tend to be nitpicky, no surprise there.  But there’s a time when that trait is very helpful, and a time when we need to ignore the compulsion to tweak.  How do we tell the [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, beta reader, critique partners/groups, deadlines, editing, grammar, information dump, Jami Gold, organized, page turning stories, paranormal author, perfectionism, plotter vs. pantser, story openings, story structure, tension

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What’s Your Favorite Writing Lesson?

January 13, 2011 Writing Stuff
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Yesterday, the inimitable Tawna Fenske had a blog post about how reading outside our comfort zone can make us better writers.  Her post got me thinking about a book I recently finished, Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. Unlike my usual genres of paranormal or historical, Anna and the French Kiss is a [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, authors, editing, feedback, genre, grammar, workshops, writing contests

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What Writing Rules Do You Hate?

January 11, 2011 Writing Stuff
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Anyone who has had me read their work can attest to the fact that I can be a tad, um … detail-oriented.  *ahem*  All right, I’ll admit it.  I’m a nit-picky perfectionist, even on beta-reads. I know, I know.  I’m trying to control this tendency.  Beta-reading shouldn’t involve line-editing.  And I owe more beta-reads than I have [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, beta reader, editing, grammar, Jami is insane, Jami's rants, perfectionism

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