An empty room is a story waiting to happen and you ARE the Author of that story!
If you were to walk into that empty room right now, how would your story begin?
Write in the comments below and let’s get those creatives juices flowing and those writing prompts aplenty!
As always, stay quirky and write soon
Sandra xx
This video is the story of how my life changed in an instant and I never looked back!
Happy watching and let me know your thoughts!
As always, stay quirky and write soon
Sandra xx
P.S. Yes, my Fibro book will finally be published this year! Exciting times xx
So to quote Stephen King, he said that if you want to be a writer you must do these 2 things above all others:
Do you agree?
I have to say that as a reader who still reads slow in comparison to many – I cannot say I love the process of reading that much. In fact I didn’t even used to like reading for quite a long time. I am a writer, who doesn’t, or didn’t, like to read! The concept of reading a book to me is hard, but this is truer more of fiction than non-fiction, which is one of the reasons why I don’t as a general rule, read fiction. Unless it is a Children’s picture book! (I like writing those too but not had one published yet.) So I only tend to read what I like to write, which is predominantly non-fiction, and then the process of reading is not so hard for me and it is great if I am learning something!
THE most important thing for a writer to do is to practise their craft and write, and this should always be your number 1, not your number 2 priority as a writer! Your creative imagination does not need to read hundreds or thousands of other creative works, to be a writer, but it can help to improve your writing if you read and also it can help you with that all important research you may need to do, to help you with your own written piece.
Do you prefer to read or to write? Comment below because I love to read what you think!
As always, stay quirky and write soon
Sandra xx
When you are busy writing, it is easy to fall into the trap of writing the word “said” a lot, he said, she said, they said, you said, I said, we said, and so on. But what are some other words you could use instead?
Of course whether you can actually use these words for the article, poem, short story, novel, non-fiction book, or other, will largely depend on the three Cs; circumstances, context and overall content of what you are writing! And when you first put pen to paper, and you are drafting your initial thoughts, do not worry about always writing the word “said”. The most important thing for a writer to do, is to practise the art of writing and if you are too worried about being a perfectionist in those initial stages of writing whatever it is that you are working on, you won’t make much progress. In fact, you will stunt your own writing growth and that is the WORSE thing you want to do as a writer. You just want to get all the thoughts out of your head, the ideas, the dreams and visions, and not be held back by perfection. Finer details can be written as they are thought of, or can be elaborated on in the future, whatever you do, just remembering drafting is your friend and so is your writing, so don’t be too hard on it. And if “said” is the best word to use, or you are stuck for another word, just use it.
Many people want to write a book, or get a piece of writing published but they don’t. Why? Because they are worried about what people say, about being judged. I have to admit, it is scary when people can pick your work apart, having had no input into the amount of hard graft and slog you have had to go through, and life you have had to breathe into it, just for your writing to come to life and make it on the digital or paperback or hardback book shelf. But don’t let that stop you, yes, no one likes to see spelling mistakes and incorrect grammar and punctuation, but guess what? Even some of that is subjective! You heard me right! A single comma can go into a sentence in 3 different positions, for example, and still make sense, just where it is positioned can alter the way the reader thinks because of the emphasis it may or may not give to certain parts of the sentence. Then you have the American English spelling and the British English spelling, both of which are used and widely accepted, although you aren’t meant to mix the 2 in the same book, but is that going to be detrimental to getting your message across, not necessarily. Of course if you have a British character and American character and you use the American spelling of the words for the British and vice versa, it may have some impact, and if you keep chopping and changing spelling it may be annoying to the reader if they are not used to it, or it is highly noticeable to them, but if that is going to hold you back, just get your work out there and stop worrying. In my Asexual Perspectives 47 Asexual Stories book, I kept it raw and real by purposefully having both British English and American English spelling and different dialects in the same book, this way the reader knows I am not making their stories up – these are real life stories and I wanted to keep them that way, as raw and real as they come.
Now let me ask you a question. How many of those who are judging a writer’s work, have got a book published and can have the authority on what is the correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation, to always use? If they are not published themselves they don’t have that authority! It took me 2.5 years to get my first ever book out, it’s about redundancy, don’t make the mistake of never getting your piece out there. I have read books with lots of spelling and grammar mistakes but some of those sell better than others than are almost word perfect in the eyes of many – but those people are living their dreams, and leaving a lasting legacy! Don’t leave your legacy behind because those people who are judging you will be unlikely to care about you when you’re gone, but your writing will live on and help someone! Take action and write what you have always wanted to write, what you have always dreamed of writing, and what you were afraid to, and you can leave a comment below with the book you wrote and published AFTER the date of this post if it inspired you some way!
In the meantime, what other words do you like to use instead of the word “said”? Please write in the comments below as I love to read you!
As always, stay quirky and write soon,
Sandra xx
I love this video about 7 Lessons writers can learn from Harry Potter! (It does contain spoilers.)
The lesson I related to the most, was very relatable to my own life, not just writing, which was:
“Even if you have two characters that seem fundamentally different, you can find a commonality between them that creates a point of human connection.”
I think this is so very true of asexuals. Asexuality is a sexual orientation that is the lack of sexual attraction and I am hetero-asexual, not heterosexual. Meaning I am attracted to guys romantically – not sexually. Exact definition is heteroromantic.
So even though some of the asexuals I meet at my asexual meetups that I organise in my city, are almost completely different to me, we all share the one commonality of being asexual and that makes us relatable to each other and therefore helps me to meet people who I probably would never have met up with before and that is great!
Which is your favourite writing lesson from Harry Potter? Love to read you, so comment below!
As always, stay quirky and write soon
Sandra xx
This video is a collection of writers who are giving their advice of what it takes to be a successful writer and the host of the YouTube channel compiles a list of takeaways that make a writer successful!
Watch it to find out more!
I love 5 as I love Spiderman and superhero movies and I adore 9 as I believe it is essential to being a good writer and 10 I can relate to so very much. Which is your favourite and why?
Until next time, stay quirky and write soon
Sandra xx
I think this is an amazing video compilation of 7 Top writing tips from Author Earnest Hemingway. I totally agree with him about leaving your written work for the day, still knowing what you are going to write next and NOT emptying all of your brain in this way. That way, you will never have writer’s block! – This is an invaluable tip!
I also love tip number 4, re-read what you have written before to enable continuity – I think this is so very important!
Which writing tip did you find most helpful and why?
As always, stay quirky and write soon
Sandra xx
This TedX Talk is by Novelist Ann Hood about why it’s important to write and where she got ideas from to write.
From the TedX channel
“Ann Hood gives a passionate and personal talk about her life, how and why she began to write, along with events in her life that shaped the stories that were eventually turned into the novels she published. Ann Hood is the bestselling author of the novels The Knitting Circle, The Obituary Writer, An Italian Wife and the memoir Comfort: A Journey Through Grief, which was named one of the top ten non fiction books of 2008 by Entertainment Weekly and was a NYT Editor’s Choice. She’s won two Pushcart Prizes, Best American Food Writing Awards, and Best American Spiritual and Travel Writing Awards.”
What do you think? Can you relate?
Until next time, stay quirky and write soon
Sandra xx
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