happiness

Do You Know What Will Make You Happy?

March 17, 2011 Random Musings
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Yes, it’s cheesy, but that picture is me right now because today is my last day in the deadline cave.  Yay! As I’m finishing up my final push to the finish, I wanted to share this post from last summer.  I think it’s still relevant today, maybe even more so. I’ve had to make a [...]

Tagged as: deadlines, Edittorrent, happiness, Jami Gold, Jami's rants, life balance, Margeanne Mitchell, paranormal author, risk, sacrifices

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Have You Ever Been Tempted to Give Up?

March 15, 2011 Random Musings
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First, let me state: No, I’m not giving up.  But this round in the deadline cave has been especially brutal, so I’d be lying if I said the thought hadn’t crossed my mind for a split second. This past weekend, my computer froze in the middle of saving my document and the file got corrupted. [...]

Tagged as: deadlines, editing, happiness, Jami Gold, life balance, paranormal author, sacrifices

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6 Techniques for Using Music to Help Our Muse

February 15, 2011 Writing Stuff
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Lately I’ve been struck by how similar music is to writing.  Both arts use a non-visual medium to create an emotion.  And often, just like writing, music is meant to create movies in our mind for a do-it-yourself music video. If you’ve ever watched a movie with the sound turned off, you know what a [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, emotional heart, happiness, Jami Gold, listening to characters, love, muse, paranormal author, tension

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What Does “Happily Ever After” Mean?

December 28, 2010 Random Musings
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How were your holidays?  Was Santa good to you?  I got a Kindle and quality time with my family, so short of getting an agent and book contract, my Christmas couldn’t have been any better. As I mentioned last time, whether or not we’re disappointed often depends on what we’re expecting.  After all, if I’d [...]

Tagged as: authors, genre, happiness, Jami's rants, listening to characters, page turning stories, romance novels

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What Do Readers Expect?

December 23, 2010 Writing Stuff
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We’ve all been disappointed at some point during our lives.  As a child, I once discovered my Christmas presents early, hidden in my parents’ closet (it was by accident, I swear!).  My fingers ached to play with all those toys and I couldn’t wait for the big day. But when Christmas Day rolled around, I [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, agents, beta reader, critique partners/groups, editing, feedback, happiness

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The Best Reason to Blog

November 25, 2010 Random Musings
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Today is Thanksgiving in the U.S.  The day we eat too much food, roll our eyes at the antics of our extended family, and think about all the things we’re grateful for.  Or in my case, have epiphanies. So there I was, trying to think about my manuscript’s last-minute revisions while taking my shower, when [...]

Tagged as: blogging, dreams, happiness, Jami is insane, muse, RWA, writing contests

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The Joy of…Drafting

October 19, 2010 Writing Stuff
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Most of my past year has been spent editing and revising, but for the past two days, I’ve been able to write fresh stuff for a shiny new project.  Oh, drafting, how I love thee. Really, is there anything more freeing than starting with a newborn idea and exploring?  Every scene, every line, every character’s [...]

Tagged as: dreams, happiness, listening to characters, love, muse, perfectionism, plotter vs. pantser, risk

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Is “Romance” a Bad Word?

October 5, 2010 Random Musings
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Recently, two best-selling authors have insisted that they don’t write romance novels.  In fact, they both acted like romance novels were beneath them.  No, they’re writing more important stories about life and death and war and taxes.  Well, maybe not the taxes part. Why all the hating on romance novels? First of all, if someone [...]

Tagged as: happiness, Jami's rants, love, romance fans, romance haters, romance novels, romance novels are not porn

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What to Look for in a Writing Contest

August 30, 2010 Writing Stuff
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This past weekend was “contest entering” weekend for me—and I’m not nervous at all. (It’s okay, you don’t have to believe me.) But after several years of writing, this decision to enter a contest was a new one for me. Which of course begs the question, why did I finally decide to do it? There [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, agents, feedback, happiness, organized, writing contests

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Do You Know What Will Make You Happy?

August 18, 2010 Random Musings
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My blog-home-away-home, Edittorrent, had another thought-provoking post yesterday.  You really should go read it, but if you don’t have the time, their point boils down to this: Know what will make you feel like a success as a writer.  I think this same idea can apply to just about anyone—not just writers. Know what will [...]

Tagged as: critique partners/groups, dreams, Edittorrent, happiness, Jami's rants, life balance, Margeanne Mitchell, RWA, sacrifices

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