Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Novel Planning and Procrastination
Appropriately, I’ve been putting this post off for days. Are you a chronic procrastinator? I am. I’m guessing a lot of you are too. For many of us, the best we can hope for is to be really productive while we are doing something other than what we ought to be doing. You know, like organizing…
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Attack of the Plot Bunnies!
Plot bunnies are story ideas, to put it succinctly. I have a folder within my writing folder to pen up my plot bunnies. I’ll write a few words, a premise, a location, sometimes only a bit of dialogue that I really want to use in a story. Usually I put just enough information in the…
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Help Wanted: Excerpt, Chapter Three
I’m starting to feel the pinch! Help Wanted is going to e-press by the end of the month, and I’ll be ready. For your third taste… 3. E IS ALSO FOR ENGAGEMENT Time went on. Maggie did well at school except that she remained shy. Amy’s maternity-leave anxiety about a closing came to pass, but…
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Help Wanted: Excerpt, Chapter 2
Help Wanted is coming soon! Another chapter to make you quiver with anticipation. Or something like that. 2.BACK TO THE REAL WORLD Amy didn’t have to wait long for more details. Rita tried several more times to contact Paul and he rebuffed her diversely. He wouldn’t answer her calls or her pings. Her emails got…
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Help Wanted: Excerpt, Chapter One
Help Wanted is coming soon! Don’t worry, the published product will look tidier than it does in blog-post format. 1. THE MAN IN THE BOX Bonk. Amy looked away from the television to the laptop on her desk. Her Gmail tab was flashing Paul Fournier. She clicked on the tab and looked at the chat…
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Gearing up to Publish Help Wanted
Barring unforeseen obstacles, I will be publishing Help Wanted at the end of the month. Help Wanted is different from anything else I’ve written, or will ever write. It’s a fictionalized true story about generosity repaid with abuse. I will be donating 50% of my royalties to WEAVE, an organization dedicated to helping women and children at…
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Outlining
I’ve addressed outlining in a couple of previous posts ( The Larval Stage of an Outline and The Bare Bones Outline ) but both of those were specific to individual works and hardly comprehensive. I don’t know if I’m going to achieve “comprehensive” in this post, but I’m at least going to open up the…
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The Inner Editor
Your inner editor is that voice in your head that tells you when you’ve made a typo, or written an awkward sentence, etc. A strong inner editor is not a bad thing, most of the time. When you’ve written your first draft you can let that strong inner editor loose on your work and hopefully…
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National Novel Writing Month (aka: NaNoWriMo)
Okay, I know it’s still September and NaNoWriMo doesn’t start until November, but I thought to myself, Why wait to tell people what it is? Before I get into the history and utility of NaNoWriMo, let me say this: It is not a contest, it’s a challenge. Nobody gets a prize and you’re not competing with…
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Plotting in My Sleep
Or at least near my sleep. When I’m in the planning phase, the outlining phase, of a new book I’ve found a pretty darn reliable way to work on ideas. I snuggle in to go to sleep and then start musing. Since I’m close to sleep, my mind wanders. Sometimes it wanders in a useful way…
Got any book recommendations?