Jami’s rants

Can Karma Help You Become a Better Writer?

April 5, 2011 Random Musings
Thumbnail image for Can Karma Help You Become a Better Writer?

Yesterday, author Jody Hedlund had a blog post about why most writers are blind to their own faults.  The first reason she mentioned really resonated with me: We naturally view our work through our maturity level. When we first start any new project, writing or otherwise, we don’t know what all we don’t know.  This [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, authors, beta reader, critique partners/groups, Edittorrent, feedback, Jami Gold, Jami's rants, paranormal author, professionalism

Click here to read more

Traditional vs. Self Publishing: How Much Does the Debate Matter?

March 29, 2011 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for Traditional vs. Self Publishing: How Much Does the Debate Matter?

How many times in the past week have we heard “Traditional NY publishing is dead.  Barry Eisler has proved it.”  Or “NY publishing isn’t dead.  Amanda Hocking has proved it.” So which is it?  Or does it not matter? If you haven’t heard about the debate, the gist of it is that Barry Eisler turned [...]

Tagged as: Amanda Hocking, ebooks, Jami Gold, Jami's rants, paranormal author, professionalism, self-publishing, Susan Bischoff, traditional publishing

Click here to read more

Is Perfectionism Good or Bad?

March 24, 2011 Over-Achieving Perfectionist
Thumbnail image for Is Perfectionism Good or Bad?

My Twitter friend Austin Wulf wrote a blog post yesterday, What’s So Bad About Perfectionism?, and that question got me thinking.  My blog readers might know I call myself not just a perfectionist, but an over-achieving perfectionist.  Is that a bad thing? *smile*  I think it depends. Is Perfectionism Bad? As with many things, a [...]

Tagged as: blogging, deadlines, editing, Jami Gold, Jami's rants, life balance, paranormal author, perfectionism

Click here to read more

Are You Teachable?

March 22, 2011 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for Are You Teachable?

Over the past six months, I’ve received feedback on my work from many sources—contest judges to beta readers.  A lot of them told me things I didn’t want to hear. It would have been very easy to get defensive and react along the lines of:  Didn’t they read it?  It’s right there.  They just didn’t [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, beta reader, critique partners/groups, editing, feedback, Jami Gold, Jami's rants, paranormal author, writing contests

Click here to read more

Do You Know What Will Make You Happy?

March 17, 2011 Random Musings
Thumbnail image for Do You Know What Will Make You Happy?

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

Click here to read more

Should You Tweet Cheat?

February 10, 2011 Random Musings
Thumbnail image for Should You Tweet Cheat?

Update below. No, I’m not talking about using Twitter to cheat in a relationship.  (Answer: No, if for no other reason than nothing is ever as secure as you think it is.)  I’m talking about whether you should cheat Twitter’s 140 character limit and use extended tweets. Ever since Twitter started, the 140 character limit [...]

Tagged as: Jami Gold, Jami's rants, organized, paranormal author, social media, Twitter

Click here to read more

Are Romance Heroes Good Role Models?

February 8, 2011 Random Musings
Thumbnail image for Are Romance Heroes Good Role Models?

In preparation for Valentine’s Day, a recent USA Today article gave the relationship advice that a man should: “look into her eyes, focus on what she says and really talk to her.”  Wow, earth-shattering ideas. Or not.  The suggestion to treat a woman like a person and not just a collection of body parts is nothing new. [...]

Tagged as: character archetypes, character flaws, Jami Gold, Jami's rants, love, paranormal author, romance fans, romance haters, romance novels, romance novels are not porn, strong characters

Click here to read more

Why Is Head-Hopping Bad?

January 27, 2011 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for Why Is Head-Hopping Bad?

Depending on who you talk to, head-hopping is somewhere between a shoulder shrug and the-world-is-ending bad.  Note that neither of those extremes thinks that head-hopping is good.  I suppose it could be positive if used in some sci-fi story, along the lines of “body snatchers,” but we’re talking about it in the written point-of-view (POV) [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, editing, head-hopping, Jami Gold, Jami's rants, paranormal author, point-of-view, risk

Click here to read more

What Writing Rules Do You Hate?

January 11, 2011 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for What Writing Rules Do You Hate?

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

Click here to read more

How Do You Decide on Your Author Brand – Part Two

January 6, 2011 Writing Stuff
Thumbnail image for How Do You Decide on Your Author Brand – Part Two

Disclaimer: I love Maureen Johnson’s “I am not a brand” manifesto down to the last punctuation mark.  That’s not the approach to branding I’m talking about. An author’s brand isn’t about selling.  It’s about recognizing that what we say and how we act affects what others think of us.  It’s about then taking an active role in [...]

Tagged as: advice for writers, blogging, branding, Chuck Wendig, Jami's rants, social media

Click here to read more

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →