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The Creative Posts

Keeping the Creative Writing Ball Rolling

by Annette Young

Picture the scene, your imagination is burning bright, ideas are cascading into your conscious mind one after another and the words rush in thick and fast….isn’t that just the greatest feeling? The moment when you are in the zone and your story and characters behave. No-one enjoys having to wrestle with a stray word or a stilted sentence, we’d all give anything to have the creative floodgates open on a single command, but of course, it doesn’t always work that way. So what’s the best way to keep the creative writing ball rolling?

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No? Forget It! Live Life to the Full

When I was a child, I was always told no. Oh, how I hated that word. I saw it as a continuous effort to scupper my plans to explore and to redefine my boundaries. I may have only been four or five at the time, but when you have a determined nature and an adventurous streak, the word no becomes the worst word in the world.

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Writing a Novel – Stereotypes and Boundaries

When I started writing my novel Who Killed September Falls, I had the image of my two main characters firmly planted in my mind. I knew that I wanted September to be wildly beautiful but flawed within her own personality and she had to have the perfect foil, Arianne Tawnison who was the loyal friend, the side-kick who recognised her role within the friendship but who gave willingly and gained much as a result.

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Writing Tip – Go Back So You Can Move Forward

We all need a little help and encouragement sometimes. Even with all of my years of experience writing for myself and for clients, it’s still nice to get some really positive feedback. A few of my more recent clients did just that, they rated my work and said that they absolutely loved the articles I had provided for them. A little bit of encouragement goes a long way and I have to admit, it’s a good feeling.

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Writing Success – Imagine It, Touch It, Feel It.

Do you dream of being a successful author imagining your very first book signing or, about clasping that first copy of your book in your hands? Perhaps you just want to see your name in print or to win your first writing competition? Everyone who engages with the written word creatively has some idea

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Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late

With the sad demise of actor/comedian Rik Mayall recently, it got me thinking about how we conduct our lives and play out our dreams. We think that we have all the time in the world to achieve our goals but the harsh reality is that we don’t. Although it’s easy to see that Rik Mayall more than achieved in his 56 years, many of us don’t and we need to question why.

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Calling All Competition Writers

As much as we hate to burst the bubble of creativity, here is a heartfelt plea to all competition writers everywhere. Please, please, please do read the rules. We see some wonderful submissions but of late, many do not adhere to the rules. We try to keep the rules as basic as possible but they are there for a reason. They provide a level playing field for all writers irrespective of publishing experience – so that everyone has the same chance.

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Writers – Why You Should Sweat the Small Stuff

As a writer, you have to build up a vivid picture for your reader. You might have a definite plan in your mind, but unless you can transfer those thoughts and paint those images with words, capturing them forever within the plot, your reader will not grasp the story as comprehensively as you would like.

I am lucky where I live in that the Pyrenees Mountains

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Want to Publish? Then Publish Something Good

I have been known to rant a bit, but then I believe passionately in writing and those wonderful feelings of satisfaction achieved after writing and publishing something worthwhile. Being an author is not easy. Your best work is often the result of laboured productivity where you have to wrench experiences from deep within and to share them with the world. You put your heart and soul on the line every single time you have something published. Writing is hard work, you face rejection, you feel the brunt of reader feed-back, you are filled with doubts at times about your own skill-set, oh and the road to making a million is a long and trying one.

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Writing Success – Ten Minutes A Day

writing success. In fact, I would say that the more time you have, the less productive you may be. I know it can be difficult to juggle work and family demands. I did just that for many years. I had a husband (ex now) who was grumpy if I disappeared laptop tucked under arm and, who did not (would not understand) my need to write. I had a full-time job and a part-time job teaching and I had already taken the first tentative steps towards writing professionally. I also had a disabled mother

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Book Marketing for New Authors – Jump, Leap and Bound Across Common Pitfalls.

Writing is hard work. We all know that but when you have toiled away for such a long time perfecting each word and are finally ready to burst upon the scene as a newly published author, it makes sense to avoid certain pitfalls. Book marketing is as important as the writing process. You can have the most wonderful attention – grabbing book but if no-one reads it, then your wonderful words are simply wasted.

The following tips are all simple but important steps if you are writing your book and looking to publish anytime soon:

Don’t skimp on the cover. Think about the covers

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Writing Success – The Long and Winding Road

You can’t write with sincerity if you have not lived. I found that out. I was shutting myself away after work, feverishly typing away on an old typewriter (it was 30 odd years ago) and capturing thousands of words on paper. I thought they were good but not good enough. Turns out I was right. Publishers rejected them. It was soul-destroying.

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Write Little and Often – Even if You Have to Nail Yourself to the Chair

Nailing yourself to the chair is a kind of extreme way of making yourself write, although there have been times when I would have almost considered anything to try to make myself get into the writing mood. I know how important it is to keep the flow of words coming even on those off days and a writing task that might take one hour usually could easily treble to three.

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