I am not a poet. Yes, I have written poetry, and some of it might even be palatable, but overall, it would receive no finger snaps upon hearing them. What I do have, however, is poetic license within my fiction and non-fiction writing. Just like fiction, there are elements within poetry that when developed well can heighten the caliber of the work. Some of those elements include voice , imagery , sound , rhythm , and structure ; I'm sure you already see how these elements find their way into fiction, too. We can all agree that fiction writers care about the voices of their characters , especially the voice(s) of the main character(s) that readers follow throughout a novel. What these characters say (and don't say) and how they say it informs readers and helps them to make the characters real in their minds. In developing their characters and the worlds in which they live, fiction writers also care about the use of imagery . This, of course, does not mean to write flowery pr...

  Image by Greg Reese, Pixabay Comedy is one of the toughest genres to write. If you try too hard to be funny it sounds forced and… well, just plain not funny. Some of the most skillful humor writers manage to make comedy integral to a story, not forced but fluid. Read all of Shon Bacon's excellent post here . Creative Passionista  Shon Bacon is an author, a crafter, an editor, and an educator whose biggest joys are writing and helping others develop their craft. You can learn more about Shon at her website, ChickLitGurrl .  

As writers, we always say something like, "Man, I wish I had time to write. If I did, nothing would stop me." What happens when, oh, a medical pandemic arises, forcing you to stay in place? Crickets. And for many of us, no writing. Although I see a plethora of memes every day telling me that I need to hustle hard and that I'm a slacker if I'm not using this time to grind and write, overall, I have not practiced self-loathing over not writing a book a day during this pandemic. I've been doing some writing--on social media, and I've been an editing queen, but for the most part, I've used this time to develop another talent: designing digital products to help keep people organized and "planned-up." This talent has morphed into a new Etsy shop, #HUGSlove Studios . For the shop, I create digital planners, planner pages, and stickers. I've created journals for writing self-care love notes and for journaling your coffee- and...

I love quotes. There are some quotes that I use when I meditate. There are some quotes I post throughout my office as inspiration. And all these quotes, to some extent, help me to understand me--my emotions, hurts, pains, happiness--and make me better. My most favorite quote is one that, literally, fits in EVERY SITUATION IMAGINABLE, and it comes from the late great tennis player and humanitarian, Arthur Ashe: In both a professional and personal manner, this quote wedges in and lifts me from the muck--whether that muck is not writing or living in our current world. image by pexels through pixabay SUD in the Professional For this example, I will use writing, specifically, writing this blog post. Start where you are . I'm in a space of insecurity. I don't know if I can be effective as a writer. If I want to be. If anyone would even care if I was. Lately (and by lately, I mean a really long time), I haven't had the energy or care to write--not in any sig...

Let’s just get that word out of the way now because it and all its ugly friends—worry, doubt, and anxiety to name a few—often play a role in how or why we write (or don’t). We all at some point have fears, and it seems that we creative types have them in constant, overpowering waves. As I moved into my twenties and began to write in earnest, fear was my constant companion. Every year, there is a plethora of stories published. How was I going to compete? How was I different from or better than those who were already published? Those two questions swirled inside my head all the time. Who did I think I was to think that I was good enough for other people to want to read my work? It didn’t help that some editors recommended that I “write blacker.” The fear of writing expanded to me wondering if and how I could pander to the publishing world my blackness for the sake of being published. When you let fear in, it becomes a squatter. It comes not to visit and have some tea, a little ...

I do not miss 2018. Yes, we're only eight days into the new year, but as time ticked us toward 2019, I was so ready to give 2018 the boot. Looking back, I want to say that everything that could go wrong, DID go wrong--personally, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, financially ... even literarily. Here at The Blood-Red Pencil, we have articles on writer's block and how to jumpstart your creativity and find inspiration . I've even written a few of them. Yet even having this place of wonderful information didn't keep me from plunging into the darkness of the Creative Void. I started and stopped more projects than I can count. I prayed for inklings of inspiration to initiate writing. I, in a lackluster fashion, played with my photography and doodling and writing dreams in the hopes of lighting a fire under me. I questioned whether creativity still dwelled within me. And then ... two amazing things happened toward the end of 2018 that would lead me to a bright...

During finals week, I came across the following note on a white board: The white board was outside of a professor's office. I was intrigued and stopped to reread the note. Lord knows that as a professor, I have wanted to write these very words on my office door. But I knew I never would, and I was pretty sure this professor was not the writer either. I tilted my head, side to side, rereading the note. Why this did short note from a student make me pause? Because of the mystery hidden within these four words. Several thoughts ran through my mind. Perhaps the student was just being overly dramatic. It wouldn't be the first time a student espoused these words during finals. Perhaps the student knew the professor would know who wrote it and would find humor in it. I have students who purposely revel in student-driven angst for cheap laughs from me. Perhaps the student was truly feeling low, and these words were an act of reaching out. My office always had ti...

I am a lover of most things comedy: stories, movies, and TV shows. For me, comedic writing is one of the toughest genres to write. So many of us (new and old writers) try too hard to be funny, and in the end, it sounds forced and… well, just plain not funny. Comedies entertain me, and they also make me think. Slapstick, ridiculous comedies (sometimes fused with drama) like Psych ; genre-shifting, parody-laden, bawdy comedies like Archer  (my fave show on TV); and comedies that speak harsh truths to social issues, such as Chappelle's Show all speak to my funny bone. As a writer, I like thinking about the comedic writers' ability to make comedy integral to a story, not forced but fluid. The biggest takeaway I get from good comedic writing is TIMING, and to that end, comedy has a lot to do with music; it, too, has rhythm, tempo, beat. Those stories, movies, and TV shows that infuse comedy in a fluid way, making it integral to the storyline, have a rhythm to the sto...

I loved reading Dani Greer’s " Word " yesterday; it spoke to me on many levels. One thing I particularly liked is that she makes us aware of non-fiction writing we might tend to overlook because it might not be seen as the "real writing." As for my "real writing," like Dani, the number of words I’ve written for any fiction project can be counted on one hand. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been writing, however. And the writing I have been doing has helped to keep my creativity thrumming while I’m on a fiction writing hiatus ("writer’s block" just sounds so harsh). How has non-fiction writing helped my creativity? I connect with people . Last year, I joined CLMOOC , Connected Learning MOOC - a massively open online collaboration. During one of its cycles, I participated in a postcard exchange where we all sent postcards to random people who signed up for the cycle. I received postcards from the US, Canada, and overseas, and the postcard writ...

We've written a lot about protagonists over the years at the Blood-Red Pencil. Here is a selection of oldies-but-goodies: Maryann Miller : Ask The Editor - How bad can a character be? Kathryn Craft : Busted!—Janet Fitch caught championing an unlikable protagonist Patricia Stoltey : One Method of Creating Characters in Fiction Dani Greer : Hearing Voices: The Sound of Kindness Shon Bacon : Building Character Helen Ginger : Putting Yourself into Your Book

I have a confession to make. I am a writer. Well, I was before life stepped in. Well, I was before I let life step into my home and make itself comfortable while my writing wilted in the back of a stuffed closet. And, yes, I write here for Blood-Red Pencil, I write in preparation for teaching, I write in my journal, but you all know what I mean, write, er, right? I'm talking about the writing that transports you into a new world that you create, a world full of angsty characters and obstacles and drama and love and hate …and all the other wonderful components that go into making a story. THAT's the writing I HAVEN'T been doing. And when you are a creative at heart, this is painful. When you have characters and ideas taking up space in your mind, but your heart isn't moved to write, this can be extraordinarily painful. Right now, I'm at an impasse. There has been NO progress in my writing life, and there will be no progress until I stand and make a ...

So, you have a book or multiple books on Amazon, eh? Great! You’ve probably taken time to head over to the  Author Central page on Amazon  to give readers some information about yourself. And after you did that… …you might have worried more about checking your book rankings on Amazon than providing a little feng shui to your author space. If so, worry not, for below, you’ll find five ways to help you spruce up your author page! #1 - An image can be worth a thousand words. The first thing readers see when they land on your author page is your face. Think about the personality you want to convey to your reader and change your image periodically to reflect that personality. #2 - Well, hello, my name is… Just as your life changes, your bio should change. It’s your HELLO, your WELCOME, your INTRODUCTION to your reader, so it should pop. It doesn’t hurt to do a quarterly check on your bio, cutting descriptions that might detract a reader, adding information that reve...