Photo Credit: tedeytan via Compfight cc
Quote of the day
It’s never too late to start eating well. A good diet can reverse many of those conditions as well. In short: change the way you eat and you can transform your health for the better.
~T.COLIN CAMPBELL, author of Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition
WRITING & SCREENWRITING
- The three stages of the novel–writing journey, Storyfix 2.0 | Tweet
Sadly, most writers spend their lives in Stage 1, refusing to believe that storytelling has a process and principles that need to be in play. They just keep dreaming, keep writing, oblivious that they’re heading nowhere.
→Story Structure Expedition: Journey to the Heart of a Story
- One quick tip for effective first person writing, The Write Practice | Tweet
First-person perspective is kind of like cheese: some people love it, some people hate it, and when it’s poorly done, it grates.
→Writing the First Person Detective Novel: The I’s Have It!
This week’s video points out the important duties of a good characteristic moment in your book’s first chapter—and how you can write one that both hooks readers and launches a great plot.
→Elements of Fiction Writing – Beginnings, Middles & Ends
- 5 minutes to writing better guns and knives, Writers Digest | Tweet
Switchblades (aka “automatic knives”) are still around, but they’ve grown gray hair and moved to Florida. How stereotypical.
- More than just a flashback–introducing the easter egg, Kristen Lamb’s Blog | Tweet
I have found the same phenomena in this notion of “flashbacks”—ONE umbrella term to include every single instance of shifting back in time which we talked about last time. And, since many of the prestigious writing instructors will say flashbacks are a no-no, I sought (through this series) to be more specific with the term training wheel flashback.
- Script analysis: All is lost. Part 3: Sequences, Go into the story | Tweet
A sequence is simply a collection of scenes in a screenplay that have their own narrative arc and they have been around since the earliest days of cinema. Arising from this is something known as the sequence approach.
- Why spec scripts fail: No hooks, Script mag | Tweet
Hooks aren’t for fishing. Hooks are for catching. Catching, then holding. In our case, holding the attention of a reader.
→Hook ‘Em In Ten! (Screenwriting Blue Books Book 6)
SELF-PUBLISHING
- New: Pre-orders on Apple iBooks without ‘assets’, The Book Designer | Tweet
Apple has expanded a powerful feature on iBooks so that all authors who upload directly to Apple can use it. Apple is officially “agnostic” about how you get your books onto their platform (i.e. they don’t favor books from one source over another).
- Writing fast, building an audience and Facebook advertising for authors with Mark Dawson, The Creative Penn | Tweet
Recently, Forbes ran an article about Mark Dawson with the headline: Amazon pays $450,000 a year to this self-published writer. Today, I interview Mark about how he writes fast, the empowerment of being indie, Facebook advertising and email list marketing.
→Facebook For Authors (Building Blocks to Author Success Series 5)
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HAPPINESS
- 7 Lessons on earning the ultimate currency: happiness, Positivity Daily | Tweet
Give yourself permission to be human. When we accept emotions—such as fear, sadness, or anxiety—as natural, we are more likely to overcome them.
→Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill
NUTRITION
- 8 Secrets every nutritionist knows and you should too, New York Post | Tweet
We asked a panel of nutritionists to disclose their must-know, insider tips about healthy eating.
→Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition
PSYCHOLOGY
- What are the 3 keys to the creative thinking process?, The Creativity Post | Tweet
Creative thinking requires out-box, in-box, and new-box thinking skills to lead to innovation.
WORK
More Americans are working from home every year. Between less time on the road, saving money on gas, and getting to spend more time with family, there’s no need to go into to the office to do something we can do on our home computer or laptop.
→There’s No Place Like Working From Home: Get Organized, Stay Motivated, Get Things Done!
PRODUCTIVITY
- A productivity expert wants you to do nothing, Science of us | Tweet
David Allen, author of the best seller Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, recently gave an interview toFast Company’s Ciara Byrne in which he mentioned one of the biggest misconceptions about his five-step productivity method. It’s not just about endless checklists and perpetual productivity, he argues; sometimes, it is about deciding to do nothing. Sweet, sweet nothing.
→Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity