TREAT YOUR WRITING LIKE A BUSINESS by Guest Blogger Heather Weidner, Mystery Author

Writing was hobby for me for a long time. I dabbled when I had time, and I read every writing book that I could get my hands on. I did it for fun and without much thought as to what I would do with the end product once it was finished. I had no deadlines, and I could work on projects at my leisure.

When I decided I wanted to a published author, I realized that the process was a business and that I needed to treat it that way. That meant adding more organization, process, and structure.

Your Writing Schedule - I try to write or do something for my books every day. That could be plotting, editing, blogging, marketing, or growing my online following.

Life gets in the way sometimes. But you will see progress quickly if you set aside some time to work on your projects. When we moved to remote work during the plague, I did an experiment. I devoted my drive-time commute and my lunch hour to writing (almost 3 hours a day). I was amazed what I could accomplish in two years in three months. Figure out when you are most productive and write then if you can. I’m a morning person, so I love to get up before dawn when the world is quiet. 

WHEN STRESSED, I THINK OF WATER by Adele Gardner (aka Max Jason Peterson)

Recently, I immersed myself in an editing project that required me to put nearly all personal pleasures and goals aside for about seven months. While the project is entirely worth it, both for the poems themselves and the chance to collaborate with my dear friend, at a certain point exhaustion overwhelmed me. My powers of concentration and patience waned, and panic prowled about all that I could not fulfill. Amid the stress, one simple thought kept me sane: the beach. When I get through this, I'll go to the beach.

"Virginia Beach" by Ravali Yan ravali, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

A DAY AT THE BEACH by Jayne Ormerod

It’s that time of year, you know, beach season. A time to pack up your beach bag and escape to the shore for bit of fun and sun (and in my case, the inevitable sunburn).

Popular activities which can only be enjoyed at the beach include body surfing, boogie boarding, sand-castle building, and fighting off seagulls for the last potato chip on your plate.

As the sun goes down, you repack your bag and head for a local beach dive bar. Popular post-day-at-the-beach drinks include Pina Colada, Mojito, Orange Crush, and the much less popular but certainly appropriate Seagull Wine. Not something I've ever heard of, but I'm picturing a nice pinot gris with a soaring seagull on its label. I could not be more wrong.

MY WRITING JOURNEY by Sheryl Jordan

People often ask me how long it takes to write my stories. My response is it varies. It took me four years to finish my first novel. While it takes me anywhere from two weeks to three months to draft my short stories.

There are many things that impact my writing. When I started my novel, I had no idea how to even begin. I just started telling the story. I wrote and wrote. Then one day my vision went from being 20/20 to severely blurred, then the darkness came. I couldn’t see anything clearly. I wasn’t completely blind, but everything around me was so dark. It was a scary time in which my life changed. I couldn’t write for months, amongst doing other tasks I considered normal everyday things such as cooking a meal or driving to the store. My vision returned two months later as mysteriously as it had diminished. Thanking God every day for the return of my sight, this was an extreme setback as I had to catch up on life and get back to doing things as I did prior to my vision depletion.

THE INFLUENCE OF BOOKS by Teresa Inge

Like many kids of my generation, I read the most popular children's books that introduced me to delightful new characters, historical events, and stories that would come to stand the test of time. From simple narrative and watercolor illustrations to expanding my world and imagination, many books of my childhood managed to invoke good reading habits and a lifelong passion for immersing myself in a good book. 

Some of those books included Green Eggs and Ham, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Are You My Mother? and Babar. Babar had an influence on my reading development and imagination due to his adventures of living in civilization and survival in the jungle. I’ve owned a Babar stuffed animal for many years.

MY NEW AND EXCITING LIFE AS A NEWBIE WRITER by Kimberly Thorn

One of my writing goals for this year is to not only write more but to get my writing out into the world.  Put my words into action.  To be relevant.  To be heard.  To tell my stories.  With this new goal, I started taking some chances by entering contests that interested me.  But I wanted to be careful to avoid any scams. 

So far, the most interesting contest I have entered was the Writers Playground, LLC.  For this contest you have to register by a certain date.  Yes, there is a minimum entry fee of $28.  As long as you pay the entry fee before their deadline, you will receive an email from the organization on a certain date and time.  All entrants will receive the email that is the start of the contest.  In the email there are five different settings and five different characters that you are to choose one from each list to write your short story about.  In addition to these different settings and different characters, there is also a key item that you HAVE to include in your story.  Which you may use as a minor point, or it can be a major plot point, but you have to use it.  Once you chose one setting from the list and one character from the list, you have ten days to write your story.  Yes, ten days only!  You can write about anything, any genre, but you must include those three perimeters.  You also only have a maximum of 3100 words to do it in!  Next, email them your story and wait. 

HOW DO YOU LIKE YOUR MYSTERY, BLACK OR WITH CREAM AND SUGAR? by Yvonne Saxon

 

Choosing a mystery to read is like going into a coffee house and starting at the big board of coffee drinks: there are a lot of choices! Which one do you choose? What do those names even mean? Because mysteries are as varied as coffee drinks, why not choose you next mystery like you’d choose a coffee? How? By looking at the “menu” and the “ingredients”!

Let’s start with the basics. To make a good cup of black coffee, you need the right ratio of boiling water to high quality beans. Whether dripped, poured over, or pressed through, the right amount of water to beans will produce a satisfying cup. The right ratio of crime to be solved and interesting characters to solve it will produce a satisfying mystery.