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Come on and join author Melissa Bradley as she sets off on her latest adventure...

WARNING

If you are not 18, please exit stage left. While there is normally nothing naughty here, I do write and review erotica so there are links to spicy stuff and the occasional heated excerpt.
Showing posts with label Robyn Engel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robyn Engel. Show all posts

Monday, July 8, 2013

Back From The Dead And So Much Missed News

I am so sorry I was gone the entire week. So much personal craziness and sickness, I can't even begin to discuss it all. Needless to say, I missed ALOT and I am going to make up for it today. I hope that my fellow American followers had an amazing Independence Day. I had a blast. Yours truly got to cruise the highway in 2013 white Dodge Challenger. A real beauty and I let the ponies run on those straightaways let me tell you. Check it out!

During my absenteeism here in the blogosphere, my awesome friend Tina over at Life Is Good tapped me for the Sisterhood of the World Blogger Award. How cool is that? Thank you so much, Tina. It has been a great joy to reconnect with you this year. You are incredible and inspirational.

Let me pass this great gift onto some wonderful sister bloggers:

Gwen Gardner, brilliant YA author
Robyn Engel at Life By Chocolate, my sister friend and amazing poet
Deniz Bevan at The Girdle of Melian, gifted fantasy and romance writer
PK Hrezo, wonderful writer and friend
Ella at Ella's Edge, friend and incredible positive energy force
KC Kendricks at Between the Keys magnificent writer, friend and fellow car lover
MJ Fifield at My Pet Blog epic writer, sports fan and fellow Whedonite
Susan Gourley Kelly at Susan Says super writer, friend and teacher
Mencara Mitchell, new friend and fierce writer

As if that were not incredible news enough, my amazing friend and cheerleader, Mina over at Some Dark Romantic also tapped me for an award, the Inspirational Liebster. Thank you so much Mina, sorry I am so late getting to this. Stop by her blog and say hello, she's a helluva woman and I adore her.  I'll have to do a proper post later as I want to do a proper acceptance.


Hanging my head in shame, I also missed the Insecure Writers Support Group. Sorry, Captain Ninja Alex and my fellow IWSG'ers. Here's an abbreviated post for that. Please check out my fellow members here.


As a writer, while it is important to kill our darlings, cut unnecessary words, scenes, dialogue, etc., it is also important to remain true to our stories and ourselves as authors. Never let anyone alter your voice or that of your characters. Edits should enhance a story, make it better, not change the course of your story, alter your characters to any great degree or change your voice as an author. It's important for first time published authors to know that a good editor makes your story better, he or she does not review your work or try to make huge changes. And never be afraid to ask for an explanation. It is your story.

Speaking of missing. I also missed the Blog Blitz for Brandon Ax at Writer's Storm. Go say hi.

If you love a horror, you should also check out the incredible super post by Craig Edwards of Let's Get Out of Here and Maynard Morrissey of Horror Movie Diary on  the horror classics I Know What You Did Last Summer and I Still Know Know What You Did Last Summer. These guys are terrific.

On the subject of terrific, the supercool Jeffrey Beesler drops by on Thursday to tell us all about Optical Osmosis, his incredible new story.

So what has been going on with everyone? I feel like I've been out a million years.




Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Insecurities Oh My! IWSG December Edition

It's time once again for the Insecure Writer's Support Group and holy cow it's the last edition for 2012. Where has this year gone? Hopefully there will be no zombies coming on the 21st and if there are, well, I'm ready. I took the Walking Dead's What Character Are You Quiz and I was Daryl. So if you all want to be on Team Mel come apocalypse time, head on up to Chitown, I'll hold a place for you. Just bring some supplies. ;)

Anyway, the IWSG is the creation of Captain Ninja Alex so we writers can have a safe place to air our insecurities, triumphs etc. More info and the other awesome participants are here.

Today I am talking about giving that story a title. I have the hardest time trying to name my stories. I suck out loud and sideways at it, going through pages and pages of notebook paper or staring for hours at a blinking cursor to try and figure out my titles. Even after all that, I STILL dither and tinker, only settling on a name at the midnight hour/last second before hitting SEND.

I just don't know what my problem is. Why is it so hard for me to give my stories names? Man, even my working titles don't help. Dream On was Contemporary Story, Maxie Briscoe: Werewolf  was Werewolf Story and my steampunk story was, you guessed it, Steampunk Story. And I do officially have a title for it now. The Physician's Lieutenant should be out in February. I guess this is something that I will struggle with until I die. Do you all have problems with generating titles for your stories?

Cool News

My sister friend Robyn at Life By Chocolate has her first book out, yay! Go check out Just The Right Time and give her a big congrats. :)

The brilliant Jamie at Mithril Wisdom is celebrating 3 years in the blogosphere. Yay! High fives Jamie!

Fellow writer, friend and kick ass babe extraordinaire, Morgan H has a great new writing blog called Write Drunk, Edit Soberer. Head on over and give her some props.

Writers 4 Writers starts tomorrow so head on over to Christine Rains' blog or Stephen Tremp's get all the pertinent details. Nancy S. Thompson is the first writer spotlighted.