MONDAY LINKS ~ Reads on Writing, Self-publishing, and Better Living: The Champion’s Mind

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Quote of the day

The vision of a champion is someone who is bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion when no one else is watching.

JIM AFREMOW, author of The Champion’s Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive

WRITING & SCREENWRITING

• Why flashback ruins fiction?, Kristen Lamb’s Blog | Tweet

Character is demonstrated by solving (or not solving) problems REAL-TIME. We do not need to go back in time to explain or tell what kind of person the protagonist is. She didn’t need to go back and tell me about the protagonist’s character when she could easily show me in the current timeline.

→Seize the Flashbacks!: A “How To” Book on Writing Life’s Memories from your Heart

• 3 Quick tips to help readers connect to your hero, Writers Helping Writers | Tweet

If you think about the stories you loved to read, the ones that made you forget to eat or workout or walk the dog…what about them stuck with you after the book was finished? Do you wish you could read more about the same plot, or do you want more time with the characters? 

→The Art of Character: Creating Memorable Characters for Fiction, Film, and TV

• Imagination and creative success, Davidjrogersftw | Tweet

When we possess the potential to perform something, if we vividly and in detail imagine ourselves performing it successfully, our potential will be released and we will perform nearly the same way during the actual performance as we did in our imagined performance. This insight—this technique—can help a writer or artist achieve greater success.

→Creative Visualization

• Writing about historical icons: Who owns the past?, Writer Unboxed | Tweet

Good historical fiction makes history come alive, transforming stuffy historical personages in dusty textbooks into vibrant, nuanced men and women who leap straight off the page and into the reader’s heart.

→Writing Historical Fiction: Viewing the Past Through the Lens of the Present (Writing Lessons from the Front)

• Alt Script: How to be original, Script mag | Tweet

The tram hurtles, out of control, towards the crowd of innocent bystanders waiting at the station. In front of you is a lever. If you pull this lever the train will be diverted onto another track, where it will kill a lone workman. The lone workman is diligently repairing that track. The decision is yours and yours alone. The question is, what do you do? Do you pull the lever and sacrifice the lone workman, or do you let the tram kill the crowd of innocent bystanders. 

→Why Does the Screenwriter Cross the Road?: And other screenwriting secrets

• When writing do you paint a visual picture through your action lines?, Go into the story | Tweet

Since movies are primarily a visual medium, strong scene description reflects that.

→Writing in Pictures: Screenwriting Made (Mostly) Painless

SELF-PUBLISHING

• 14 Ways to crash your book launch–Authors, do not try this at home, The Book Designer | Tweet

With a book launch – much like outrageous stunts or death-defying acts of daring – you really only have one chance to get it right. Other book marketing and promotional strategies can be tweaked and refined over time, but your official book launch comes around but once, and you’ll need more than a smidgen of courage to see it through.

→Your Epic Book Launch: How to Write A Book, Launch Your Book into a #1 International Bestseller, Raise Your Income, Make Money Online, and Build a 6 to … A Book and Make Money With A Book Launch)

• Get better facebook engagement, Author Marketing Experts | Tweet

Have you struggled with your Facebook Engagement? If so, check out this short clip about the most engaging things you can do on Facebook! 

→300+ Status Ideas for Facebook Pages: Sky rocket your Traffic, Sales & Engagement with proven & tested Status ideas formulas based on years of research.

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CREATIVITY

• Is creativity research elitist?, The Creativity Guru | Tweet

The most prominent historical studies of creativity focus on high-status individuals: top art schools, Nobel-prize winning scientists; corporate CEOs.

→Why Fly?: A Philosophy of Creativity (Creativity Research)

SELF-IMPROVEMENT

• Here’s a simple trick to perform better in stressful situations, Business Insider | Tweet

Most of us know how nerve-wracking it can be to lead a presentation at work. There are the nightmares beforehand about showing up naked to the conference room; the shaky legs and sweaty palms during the actual meeting; and the rumination afterward over your performance.

→Stress: Coping Techniques For Managing Stress To Help You Stop Stress Now (Stress Management Ideas And Tips For Managing Stress)

HEALTH

• The not-so-obvious benefits of sweat, Fix | Tweet

You might work up a sweat at various times: a long run, sunny summer afternoon, or an important job interview, to name a few. Whether it’s refreshing or unplanned, sweating leads to a number of incredible health benefits, some of which may be surprising.

→Sweat: Good For Your Body

SPORTS

• Why superstitions help athletes perform better, Science of us | Tweet

In his acclaimed book The Game, Hall of Fame NHL goaltender Ken Dryden described some of the various superstitions he picked up over the years, from nodding at a particular Montreal Forum usherette before home games to shooting a puck off a certain part of the boards at the start of pregame warm-ups.

→The Champion’s Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive

MARKETING

• Every marketing challenge revolves around these questions, Seth’s Blog | Tweet

WHO are you trying to reach? (If the answer is ‘everyone’, start over.)

→All Marketers Are Liars: The Underground Classic That Explains How Marketing Really Works–and Why Authen ticity Is the Best Marketing of All