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Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable

A raccoon looking stuck in a tree with text: Feeling Uncomfortable?

I’m a perfectionist, so I had to get over a lot of my own issues to be able to publish my stories. Many steps along our writing path can make us uncomfortable, as we’re not perfect, not ready. But I never would have been able to publish if I hadn’t pushed myself to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.

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March 12, 2015

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The Perils of a “Dead” Genre

Black and white image of dead tree with text: What Should We Do with a Dead Genre?

It’s been almost a week since my release of Unintended Guardian, and I’ve been getting lots of questions about how I made my decisions for what to do with my books. Let’s start at the beginning: How did I decide on my publishing path? For that, we have to go back to when I first started on my writing career path.

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March 3, 2015

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Boom! Publishing Like Beyoncé

Firework explosion with text: Boom! Publishing Like Beyoncé

A bit over a year ago, Beyoncé surprised the music world by secretly dropping a new album with zero promotion in advance. Can we apply this strategy to the publishing world? If we run a lot of promo pre-release, by the time we have buy links, will people think our book is old news?

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February 26, 2015

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What Scares You about Writing or Publishing?

Woman looking scared with text: Do You Have Writing or Publishing Fears?

Many large, life-changing events can scare us—even terrify us. We might think, “It’s a good thing I didn’t know how hard it would be, or I might not have done it.” Sometimes writing or publishing can be terrifying, yet we have to move past our fears.

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February 24, 2015

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What Milestones Do You Watch for?

Badge for 100 Best Websites for Writers: Award 2015

As we go through life, we often struggle to recognize our progress. That’s especially the case when life feels like a giant treadmill that goes nowhere and accomplishes nothing. Milestones are one way for us to mark our progress, and they’re also great for reminding us to stop and celebrate the little (or sometimes, not so little) things.

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January 20, 2015

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How Do You Handle Negativity from Others?

Megaphone on a security fence with text: Do You Listen to Negativity?

At some point, we’re likely to run into negativity in our writing-lives. Feedback might be filled with cruel “give up” put-downs. We might be attacked by internet trolls. Reviews might rip apart us, personally, instead of focusing on our book. So the question then becomes, what are we willing to do to avoid it?

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January 13, 2015

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Branding 101: What’s Your Story?

Quilled paper snowflake with text: What Makes Us Special?

We often see inspirational quotes about how we’re the only one who can write our story. But sometimes we might look at that quote and think we’re not anyone special, so our story wouldn’t be anything special either. Let’s talk about how to get over the doubt and discover why might someone care about our stories.

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January 8, 2015

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How Do You Stay Organized?

Crumpled sticky note with text: How Do You Stay Organized?

With a new year, we often want to start on the right foot. We don’t want to repeat last year’s mistakes. (Let’s make new ones instead, right? *smile*) So to get and stay organized, I’d love to find a time management approach that helped me track everything.

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January 6, 2015

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The Best Reason to Blog — 2014 Edition

Harvest basket of colorful decorative gourds with text: The Power of Gratitude

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 our priorities. 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 27, 2014

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