risk

How Success Raises the Stakes…in Our Life

May 16, 2013 Over-Achieving Perfectionist
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In writing, we always want the stakes to increase over the course of a story. The problems get bigger, the risks get bigger, and the reasons the characters need to succeed get bigger. The same concept can apply to real life. When we first start a blog, it doesn’t matter if we fall flat on our [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, blogging, dreams, Jami Gold, Jami's rants, paranormal author, perfectionism, risk, self-doubt

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Three Tips for Better Storytelling

May 2, 2013 Writing Stuff
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Last time, we talked about how good storytelling can salvage even a poorly written book. As I mentioned in that post, storytelling skill is different from writing skill. Many people have a hard time defining what makes good storytelling—and that makes it difficult for us to improve. Yet I’d argue that storytelling ability isn’t as [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, cause and effect, Jami Gold, page turning stories, paranormal author, premise, risk, story seed, story structure, theme

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Why Do You Enter Writing Contests?

April 25, 2013 Writing Stuff
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A couple of weeks ago, someone (I won’t name who because I don’t want to embarrass her) asked me what score I’d received in a writing contest. I didn’t want to answer at first. I worried about making her feel bad or seeming like I was bragging. Yet I could understand her question. She’d noticed I [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, agents, dreams, editors, feedback, Jami Gold, paranormal author, risk, RWA, self-doubt, writing contests

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When Should We Upgrade to a Paid Site?

April 2, 2013 Writing Stuff
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Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve shared several posts about websites and blogging. I promise I’m almost done with all that. On Thursday, I’ll resume my usual balance of craft, author entrepreneurship, publishing industry, and writing life posts. (Believe me, I get as sick of ruts as you all do. However, I hope this [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, blogging, branding, guest blogs, Jami Gold, Kristen Lamb, paranormal author, risk, Tech Guy, website, website creation, WordPress, workshops

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Dread Writing Sexy Scenes? 5 Tips for Success

March 12, 2013 Writing Stuff
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Whatever genre we write, we often have to write scenes that make us uncomfortable. High on that discomfort scale for many authors are romantic scenes between characters. Whether we write romance or another genre with love interests, or whether the characters merely kiss or have sex with the door open to the reader, many of [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, Jami Gold, listening to characters, love, muse, paranormal author, point of view, risk, romance novels, romance novels are not porn, self-doubt

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Branding 101: Who Do You Want to Be?

January 29, 2013 Writing Stuff
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In the comments of my last post about watching our online behavior, some people worried about the bigger picture. Can we still be true to ourselves? Should we not express opinions at all? Would it be safer to stay offline? Let’s work through those questions in reverse order. Locking ourselves in a closet and just [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, branding, Jami Gold, Kristen Lamb, paranormal author, professionalism, risk, romance novels, self-doubt, social media

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What Writing Step Are You Afraid Of?

January 10, 2013 Writing Stuff
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I’ve said before that I don’t make New Year’s Resolutions. However, I do have several writing goals for this year. Like many writers, my big goal has to do with making progress toward being published, and that means I have to face my fear. For me, that translates into… *dun dun dun* Query letters. That’s [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, agents, beta reader, feedback, Jami Gold, paranormal author, perfectionism, queries, risk, self-doubt

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Protect Your Wrists: Exercises for Writers

December 18, 2012 Writing Stuff
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Back in August, the keyboard I’d used for forever (about ten years) died. I tried using several other keyboards of various ergonomic configurations, but they all made my wrists hurt by the end of the day. After weeks of these inferior (to me) keyboards, my right wrist got so bad I had to wear a [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, Jami Gold, NaNoWriMo, paranormal author, perfectionism, risk, Tech Guy

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Fan Fiction to Published Book: A Case Study

December 13, 2012 Writing Stuff
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Last time, we discussed the different options for publishing a story that had its genesis in fan fiction: name-change-only, reworking, and rewriting. Whether we believe there’s ever a “right” way to publish a story that began as fan fiction (fanfic), authors who completely rewrite their story should be recognized for at least making the attempt to avoid [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, ethics, fan fiction, guest blogs, Jami Gold, paranormal author, plagiarism, premise, professionalism, risk

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Can Writers Reuse Their Own Work?

December 11, 2012 Writing Stuff
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On the surface, this might seem like a clear-cut question. Unless we’ve turned the copyright over to another entity, it seems like we should be able to reuse our own work. However the issues surrounding what is sometimes termed “self-plagiarism” are more complicated than they might first appear. Many of us who blog will occasionally rerun [...]

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Tagged as: advice for writers, ethics, fan fiction, Jami Gold, paranormal author, plagiarism, premise, professionalism, risk

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