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What Is the Dear Diary Workshop?

April 27th 2010 12:42
The Dear Diary workshop began with an idea on the Wriye forums. Someone said they were thinking about writing a diary for their character for one month, and titling it 'A Month in the Life Of __________'. I decided to write a diary for Astarael, Goddess of Death in the world of Tamraq at the time of the first two Jihad books.

It was a great experience. I got accustomed to writing in Astarael's voice, got to know her on a more personal level, and managed to write a thousand words every day, even though I didn't get around to posting all the Dear Diary entries I wrote. I chose to call it the 'Dear Diary Experiment' because I started each entry with 'Dear Diary'. (There will be links to some of these posts at the end of this one.)

I enjoyed it quite a bit, and later did the experiment again, writing from Alaendril's point of view during the war. Alaendril is an important character both in my series and in the world of Tamraq, where they take place. Again, I managed to write every day, get to know one of my key characters, and get used to writing in his voice.

This workshop is designed to help you create a diary for your character. During the workshop I'll be posting prompts, things to get you thinking about who your character is, and ideas for different ways to write the diary. I will be doing a Dear Diary project in the month of May myself, so you'll also get to see some of the diary entries I write.

If you are a member of the WriYe forums, there is special content that will only be posted there, so be on the lookout for interesting stuff in the challenges forum. If you aren't a member, I'm not sure if it's too late to sign up, but if you want to participate in the forum activities there, the link is here(clicky).

If you would like to read some of my previous Dear Diary posts, take a look at the following:

~Dear Diary is a post introducing the concept of the Dear Diary exercise and Astarael.

~Dear Diary 2 is the second Dear Diary post. I seem to have misplaced the first one.

~Dear Diary 13 is the thirteenth Dear Diary post, in which Astarael talks of the toll the war is taking on the people as well as on the Gods.

~Dear Diary 18 this post is Astarael remembering the day she told the Council the Demon is a traitor.

~Dear Diary 1 (Alaendril) this is the first post of my second Dear Diary workshop.

~Dear Diary 3 in which Alaendril discusses the difficulties of trying to help a girl he found on day two who doesn't speak his language.

~Dear Diary 6 in which Alaendril returns to the border of Appollinia and meets a God.

If you want to read more, check out Best Of Fictional Worlds 2007-09

Expect more posts about the Dear Diary workshop in the coming days.
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I meant to do this on Saturday, but life got in the way.

As most of you should know, earlier this year I decided to create another website for Fictional Worlds. Last month I decided that this would be my personal website and would also include information about Fictional Worlds.

Today I'm officially launching that website. You can check out my home page, read my new personal blog, find out more about me, and find out more about Fictional Worlds.

While you're at it, check out the Best of Fictional Worlds page, and if you've got something you'd like to say about my blog or my website, then you can now contact me more easily than ever.

With the release of this website, I'm looking for someone that's willing to help me format a newsletter and market research. The newsletter will be once a month, and will include some markets for fiction writing, an original article from me, links to my favourite blog posts of the month, and an original article, poem, or flash fiction piece from another writer. If you'd like to work with me on this, you can contact me at the above link.

I'd love to hear your opinion about my new website, including any suggestions you might have about how to improve it. Through this website I hope to let you all discover more about who I am and what I hope to do with my life.

The website will always be a work in progress, just like this blog and my writing career. I'd love for you to join me on the journey of creating an amazing website designed to help my readers out.
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Exhaustion and Excitement

April 21st 2010 12:28
I've spent the last few days relaxing and reading a book that I'm going to be reviewing on Friday. I've only gotten one chapter of my book written, but after playing intense catch up last week, I feel justified to this break.

The next few days here are going to be very busy. Tomorrow I'll be posting links to some blog posts, Friday I'll be launching a book review and giveaway, Sunday I'll be writing the first pre-Dear Diary post on this blog, and on Monday or Tuesday I should be posting an interview. I'll also be launching the new website either this weekend or early next week.

Today I'm just going to write a chapter of Phoenix Falling and read as much of my book for review as I can. I hope all of you have something to read today too.
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Some Reading Suggestions

April 9th 2010 12:54
I don't know about where you are, but up here the weather is miserable and wet. It's spring and the world is alive, but this weekend I plan on staying in, getting some work done, and reading a new book. If you're looking to stay in and do some reading yourself but don't know what to read, I've got a few suggestions.

I'm going to start with some books


[ Click here to read more ]
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Just Something To Point Out

March 28th 2010 14:18
I'm popping my head briefly back in here this weekend to bring to you a wonderful blog post. It's at Problogger, and not only does it have great advice for blogging, it points out some things about our society's treatment of body image.

Dear Blogger: Do You Hate Your Customer?
[ Click here to read more ]
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A Long Way Gone: Memoirs Of A Boy Soldier

I read this book for my English class. I was asked to choose a biography and my teacher recommended this book. I'm glad that he did


[ Click here to read more ]
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Thoughts On Nanowrimo 2009

December 2nd 2009 12:08
I have a lot more to say on this, including the big 'credits' post that I'm planning, but I just wanted to get in a few words now.

It's early morning inmy part of the world and I'm still recovering from a hectic month and a wonderful TGIO party. A lot of the people that I saw last night I won't see again until next Nanowrimo, until October or November. Some of them I might see once, twice, three times if I'm lucky, during the rest of the year. The forums begin to die and the Tonano chat dies with them, slowly but surely


[ Click here to read more ]
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Praying To The Muse

November 30th 2009 17:39
Nanowrimo is over in just a few short hours and I'm almost thirty thousand words away from my goal. For those of you who have insane numbers of words to write today-I wish you luck. It's going to be a long day, a hard day, and you and I are going to have to push to make our goals, but the effort is oh so worth it.

Pray to your muse. Beg and plead with it for its blessing and its kindness. In the next few hours the last thing you need is writer's block. You need to be able to just keep going, keep going in a frenzy with one plot point, one action your character takes leading fluidly into the next. You and I need a miracle


[ Click here to read more ]
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Excerpt: Snapshots

November 23rd 2009 12:15
This is kind of a long scene for an excerpt, but I can't just give you guys part of the scene, because that would not be very cool of me.

Dreaming of Eternia
[ Click here to read more ]
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Working

January 25th 2009 08:03
Writing isn't always easy. The words sometimes come only with force. Sometimes we get bogged down trying to create our worlds. We get fed up when we find out that somebody's already had the same idea. We get depressed, bored, fed up, angry with all the world and with our muses.

We get angry because everything we're writing sounds like crap. We get angry because we feel we aren't getting anywhere


[ Click here to read more ]
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Learning

January 17th 2009 03:52
Writing is in large part a learning process. A writer needs to be open to new things; this is why we have classes and workshops and books about writing. Not all things will work for you, this is true. We're all different. You probably won't find a class that's absolutely perfect for you. A method won't always work.

But if you don't try new things, how can you possibly know? Everything changes; our writing should too. Let's take the example of a well known author, JK Rowling of the Harry Potter series


[ Click here to read more ]
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Want to keep writing like you did during Nanowrimo? This is a great site to challenge yourself to write a certain number of words in a year-you can pick your goal!

Really Long Link
[ Click here to read more ]
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November's over-And now?

December 3rd 2008 13:23
Here are some links to various sites by and for writers-specifically those of us who have participated in Nanowrimo. Some of these are blogs/other sites by Nanos who have been a great support to me, some of them are designed to keep Nanos going throughout the year. So here goes:

The first link is a page on the Nanowrimo site itself-the 'I wrote a novel, now what?' page that they put up every year in the first week of December is now live


[ Click here to read more ]
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Fundraisers For Nano

October 25th 2008 17:25
Anyone who's been a long-term reader of this blog is already well aware of my goal for this November, but I'm going to go over that along with a few ways to raise money (without spending any) for Nano.

My thing: This year I'm planning on writing 250, 000 words during the month of November. I will blog at least twice a week, even if only with progress updates. If I achieve this goal, I want a few people to donate to Nanowrimo in my name, because I can't-similar to sponsorship. My goal is to raise at least $25.00, one dollar for every ten thousand words


[ Click here to read more ]
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Only Writers Can Understand Writers...

October 25th 2008 16:57
I have many, many different circles in which I travel. About seven different groups in which I hang out on a regular basis, and even more who I talk to online. And I have to say, my favourites are my writer friends.

Why? Because if I tell them I can't make it to something because I'm too busy writing, they understand. When I talk about my binder full of notes on different stories and worlds, they understand. When I talk about my love for words, they get it


[ Click here to read more ]
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When Everything Is Just Too Much

October 4th 2008 23:28
So let me tell you something. School is stressing me out; I'm trying to force myself to go but it isn't working very well. Things at home aren't pleasant either. I'm stressed; so stressed that I've been sick on and off for two weeks now. Nanowrimo is on the horizon.

It's times like these when anybody-writer or otherwise-starts to wonder about all their obligations and if they're worth it. It's times like these when normally I would abandon the blog for weeks at a time; I'm trying not to. It's sort of working. It's times like these when we just want to throw in the towel


[ Click here to read more ]
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Words On A Page

June 16th 2008 03:56
Writing: the art of putting COHERENT words on a page... and so much more.

Just because you can perform the act of writing words coherently doesn't make you a true writer. A true writer takes talent and hard work. To be a true writer you have to be determined to write, to want to write, to love writing


[ Click here to read more ]
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A Writer's Work

June 13th 2008 23:14
What good is writing?

Let me tell you what writing is good for


[ Click here to read more ]
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Getting Into It

January 4th 2008 04:29
I'll freely admit that for the last month, in fact starting December first, I have been completely slacking off. I wasn't going to much school but now I'm just slacking off in all areas of my life and it's something I need to stop doing.

My goal is to write fifty thousand words every month. That isn't difficult, but it's not easy to maintain that. I'm pretty confident that I CAN do it, all I need is dedication. I've been letting things interfere that shouldn't be allowed to interfere with my writing-namely, my love life


[ Click here to read more ]
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So here's my plan. I'm going to spend the next few days doing market research. I'm going to write out a list of likely markets and listing those here. That way I'll be motivated to write and submit, and you guys will see some possible markets.

I'm going to restart this blog fully ASAP, it's just I need some time to get myself organized and to get myself with ideas. Eventually everything will be back in good shape around here, but it will take some time [ Click here to read more ]
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