Self-promotion comes naturally to those raised on Instagram, YouTube, FaceBook and other social media platforms. However, if you are a pre-millennial like me, you may find it hard to toot your own horn. Did I just date myself with that expression? Whether you are just starting to pitch your work or are a published author (indie or traditional), self-promotion will help build your resume. What do I mean? Resumes typically list skills, experience, and training or education with the goal of securing work. In order to get published, a writer needs an editor to notice their work. First, of course you need to have a strong grasp on writing skills…
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Create a Board Book
Create a board book for that special infant or toddler on your gift list. Board books are typically concept books with a single theme: family, animals, vehicles, toys. Usually, one page will have an illustration or photo and the facing page will have limited text-sometimes a single word. With durable pages and personalized content, board books are sure to be read and reread. Choose a Recipient I’m a long-distance Grammy. To create a board book for my new grandchild, I focused on photos of family members including those of us who live in a different state. Grammy, Grandpa, and Auntie are featured on two pages each with rhyming text. I…
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Unfinished Projects
Today I want to talk about unfinished projects. While this blog is directed at writing projects, it can be applied to projects ranging from crafts to home improvement.. With three unfinished manuscripts, half a dozen unfinished short stories, and a pile of notes on projects in the development stage, I’m an expert on unfinished projects! The first step is to identify why you don’t finish your projects. Once you identify the why, you can tackle the how. The final step is to actually complete the work. In this post I will talk about the three barriers that prevent me from finishing a project: distraction, boredom, and fear. Distraction In a…
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Family Stories: Oral History to Written Record
Why write family stories? Family stories shape our impression of the world. Some cultures revere storytelling so much, they have designated storytellers–keepers of stories. The Icelanders have their Eddas, the Norse, their Sagas. In Western societies we have outsourced this position to TV and film makers. But there is something special about the cadence of words falling from the lips of someone who lived the tale. Listen No matter your age, ask your parents, your aunts, your uncles about their youth. If you are lucky enough to still have grandparents ask them to tell you their stories too. Someone said ‘every time an elder dies, a library burns down.’ In…
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NaNo Prep
NaNoWriMo is just around the corner. What’s that you ask? It’s shorthand for National Novel Writing Month. Each November since 1999, participants have attempted to write a 50,000 word novel. That’s a lot of words! Resources: Word Tracker NaNoWriMo’s website at NaNoWriMo.org is chock full of helpful resources. There’s a word tracker to show progress toward your word count goal. It’s set up as a graph. With days on the X axis and word count on the Y axis a target slope gives you a daily word count goal. Your actual progress shows where you stand in relation to the target slope. If you write every single day with no…
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What Should I Write About?
Where do you find ideas for stories? Well . . . there are plenty of places to discover something interesting or worthwhile to say. But to track them down, you have to keep informed about what’s happening in the world, brainstorm original ideas, and keep your ear to the ground for the curious, the weird, or the otherwise fascinating. Finding Something to Say Ideas for stories are everywhere. In the news, in that summer novel, in your neighbor’s backyard. Whether you’re writing fiction or nonfiction, an idea is out there waiting for you. Elizabeth Gilbert writes in Big Magic that inspiration is ripe for the writer who is open to…
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Welcome !
Thanks for visiting Find your writing nerd. In today’s post I want to tell you who this blog is for and what you can get out of it. I started this blog to encourage student and emerging writers. If you are a student, you have to write in school all the time. You don’t always get to choose what to write about. At Find your writing nerd you can pick your topic, learn about the ‘rules’ for writing, and access writer resources. There’s even an ask me about tab. The how to write section is divided into story and report. Story writing goes by many names. Your teacher might call…
