Where Normal Need Not Apply
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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I thought I already had a blog post about this topic, but I didn’t. Is déjà vu blogging a sign of something worrisome? *smile* Anyway, I want to thank agent Laura Bradford, who gave me the idea for this post when she shared several great tips on Twitter yesterday about beta readers and critique partners. For those […]
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We writers can be a strange lot. We live in our heads, we talk to imaginary characters, we rejoice when we think of horrible things to do to said characters, and we plot out perfect crimes, alien invasions, and the end of the world. But even beyond all that, writing affects our life in other ways. Maybe […]
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My post about combining comments from multiple beta readers in MS Word brought up a great question. How do we get beta readers? In the comments, Amanda Byrne asked, “[A]ny hints on how you can scare up more beta readers? … [O]nly one of them gets back to me in a timely manner.” Then Aldrea […]
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In my last post about Google search terms, I mentioned that we sometimes have lots of content around a search’s keywords and yet have never answered the question directly. In that case, Google just gave us an idea for a blog post. *smile* One search term that led people to my blog this past month was “What do […]
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In my post last week asking if we can have too much voice, some great questions came up in the comments. I decided to turn them into “Ask Jami” blog posts rather than bury the answers in the comment string. Earlier, I shared ideas on how to use color-coding to check if we’re “overusing” a writing element. […]
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“The voice didn’t grab me.” Uh-oh. Isn’t that feedback one of a writer’s worst nightmares? Voice is one of those things that feels like we either have it or we don’t. And we think we can’t easily change it because our voice is so internal to us. But all is not lost. We can develop and strengthen […]
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This is an updated version of one of my favorite posts, the first of many to receive the “Jami is insane” tag. It’s okay if you laugh with me or at me. Either way, I’ll understand. *smile* ***** (No disrespect to anyone—crazy, insane, loony, committed, batty, bizarre, eccentric, daft, demented, deranged, or otherwise—is intended by […]
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It was a dark and stormy blog post. *snicker* We’re continuing to prepare for the January 10-16th Pitch Your Shorts pitch session by tackling the issue of story openings. (Check out Tuesday’s post for everything there is to know about pitching.) While the purpose of a pitch is to get a request, the purpose of a story’s […]
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That’s right. I’m asking you to expose your biggest weakness. *locks the door so no one can escape* *evil grin* We all have weaknesses. I’m one of the biggest perfectionists around, but that doesn’t prevent me from having oodles of imperfections. It’s only by knowing where we need more work that we can improve. In […]
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