Chat Try

by Ane Mulligan @AneMulligan Or so I thought.  Why didn't someone tell me? Sure, a novella contains fewer words�about one quarter of a full novel to be exact. And I thought that meant less work. Ha! I mistakenly figured I wouldn't need all that goal and motivation stuff. After all, this was short and a romance.   Sugar, I had a lot to learn. I mean, you can put your boots into the oven, but that doesn�t make them biscuits. And throwing words willy-nilly onto a page does not a novella make. It took a weeklong binge of Hallmark Christmas movies to open my narrow mind to an ugly fact: It takes the same amount of time to work up the character interviews, learn their goals, motivations, lies, wounds, etc.  And that list doesn't even include the plot. Help! I didn't think of that part when I signed up. No, when some friends called for submissions for a collection, I just opened my big mouth.  The deed done, I needed to figure out how writing a novella was different . ...

by Ane Mulligan @AneMulligan Let�s face it, pictures are worth ... yeah, yeah, a lot. There are many kinds of memes: funny ones, political ones, life commentaries, inspirational ones, and more. But for this post, I�m focusing on book promotion and author promo. I love to use memes to promote my books. I�ve learned a lot about them over the last few years.  Five Tips about Making Memes 1. Software You don�t have to have high-priced software. If you use a Mac, Swift Publisher 5 is a $40 program. I love this program. I even make the banners we use in our Community Theatre with this program. Other good resources are PicMonkey or Canva. There are free versions and paid versions. There are other online resources as well as other software like Adobe photoshop.  If you have a favorite, share it in the comments! 2. Free Photos Be sure you use photos that are not copyrighted. Some resources are pixabay.com, pexels.com, morguefile.com. There are others. Be sure to check them careful...

by Ane Mulligan @AneMulligan We�ve all read novels that held us tightly engaged from page one to �The End.� Then we�ve read others that while good, we could read a chapter and put it down. There can be various reasons, but I believe when we can experience the story not just read it, we overlook a multitude of possible problems. So how do we get a book that offers an experience? By taking a lesson from a layer cake. When is a Novel Like A Layer Cake? When you add layers, of course! To draw your readers into your story, you want to create an experience for them. But that experience is filtered through your POV character. You know that already? Good. But are you layering the five senses into your fiction so the reader hears, sees, smells, tastes, and feels it? It�s actually a matter of �showing vs. telling� gone wild. Your characters, plot, etc. are the flour, butter, and liquid you mix to build your cake � uh, novel.  The 5 Senses are your icing. The icing on a cake is what makes it...

by Ane Mulligan @AneMulligan We�ve all read novels that held us tightly engaged from page one to �The End.� Then we�ve read others that while good, we could read a chapter and put it down. There can be various reasons, but I believe when we can experience the story not just read it, we overlook a multitude of possible problems.  So how do we get a book that offers an experience? By taking a lesson from a layer cake. When is a Novel Like A Layer Cake? When you add layers, of course! To draw your readers into your story, you want to create an experience for them. But that experience is filtered through your POV character. You know that already? Good. But are you layering the five senses into your fiction so the reader hears, sees, smells, tastes, and feels it? It�s actually a matter of �showing vs. telling� gone wild. Your characters, plot, etc. are the flour, butter, and liquid you mix to build your cake � uh, novel.  The 5 Senses are your icing. The icing on a cake is what mak...

by Ane Mulligan @AneMulligan According to a song lyric by  Linda Rondeau :  Home, home in the industry Where the writers and publishers play Where seldom is heard  An encouraging word And the skies are so cloudy all day  Thanks, Linda for letting me borrow the lyric. Yes, I've experienced discouragement in my writing journey. Maybe it was a rejection, or comments from a contest judge, but they threw ice cubes on my dreams.  But I soon realized discouragement was not getting me anywhere and definitely not published. So, after I kicked a cabinet or two, I pulled up my big girl britches,  toned my rhino skin   and got over it. The thing is I�ve never want to be told my work is wonderful if it isn't. How mortifying would that be? And how untruthful by the teller.  Iron sharpens iron I was blessed to find critique partners who love me enough to push me  hard . We can't get our feelings hurt if we're told something doesn't work�not if we're serious...