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The Best Reason to Blog — 2015 Edition

Path through autumn leaves with text: Finding Meaning

Every Thanksgiving, I write a “the best reason to blog” post because gratitude is such a powerful tool. Thinking about what we’re thankful for forces us to pay attention to what has meaning in our lives. The daily grind can make us forget why we do what we do, but being grateful for the good things reminds us of what matters most.

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November 26, 2015

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Using Grammar to Strengthen Our Voice — Guest: Julie Glover

Dictionary open to "literacy" with text: How Grammar Can Strengthen Our Voice"

Many of us start down the writing path without knowing the grammar rules. However, it’s best to know the rules before deciding to break them, especially as the proper use (and abuse) of grammar rules can strengthen our voice. Today’s guest post from Julie Glover shows how grammar can make a difference.

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November 24, 2015

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7 Tips for a Writing Partnership — Guest: Jennifer Hale

Ampersand symbol with text: 7 Tips for Writing Partnerships

Successful writing partnerships are all around us. How do they do it? Why do they do it? What are the pros and cons? Would it work for us? Today’s guest is Jennifer Hale, one-half of a writing team, and she’s here today to share seven tips she’s learned along their journey.

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November 19, 2015

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Strengthening Our Observation Skills — Guest: Laurel Garver

Observation Scope overlooking Toronto skyline with text: How to be a Better People Watcher

It’s usually best to avoid “naming” emotions in our writing and to show those emotions instead. But to put the Emotion Thesaurus’s emotional cues into our voice, we might need to add our own spin, like from our observations of the real world. Today’s guest post has tips for how to develop our observing skills.

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November 17, 2015

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5 Common Myths about Emotions — Guest: Kassandra Lamb

Man holding head in hands with text: 5 Common Myths about Emotions

We all have emotions, so we all think we know how to write them. However, sometimes the best writing comes from exposing an emotional truth that we’re hiding from ourselves. So the better we understand emotions, the better our stories will resonate with our readers.

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November 10, 2015

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Self-Publishing? What’s Your Release Plan?

Stick figure at a chalkboard with text: "What's Your Release Plan?"

A common question among those getting ready to indie publish is “Should I use pre-orders or just publish right away?” My monthly guest post over at Janice Hardy’s Fiction University is digging deeper into our options for our release schedule and talking about the pros and cons for each choice.

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November 5, 2015

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5 Tips for Finding Point-of-View Errors — Guest: Marcy Kennedy

See-Hear-Speak No Evil monkey sculpture with text: 5 Ways to Find POV Errors

As we learn writing craft, we often go through phases. Just when we think we know everything there is to know, we discover another area to learn. One area I struggle with, even though I know the rules, is out-of-POV phrases. Luckily, one of my editors is a genius at finding these, and she’s here to share her tips.

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November 3, 2015

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Formatting for eBooks: Tips and Pitfalls — Guest: Angela Quarles

Graffiti scribbles on a wall with text: How Can We Avoid a Formatting Mess?

We’ve probably all heard stories about ebook formatting problems, but we can be at a loss for how to tell a good formatter from a bad one. What issues should we watch out for? What questions should we ask? Even if we traditionally publish, we might want to judge whether our publisher knows what they’re doing for ebook publishing.

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October 15, 2015

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