INTRO: IS THE PEN STILL MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD? By: Kimberly Thorn

 The media, even writers, get accused of having an agenda or being biased.  But let’s face it, writers, we DO have an agenda!  Whether it is allowing our reader to escape reality for a time, to prove our point of view, to scare the mess out of someone, or to make our reader laugh, we do indeed have an agenda.  I think that as writers, our main agenda, or what should be our main agenda, is to allow our readers the freedom to think for themselves.  It’s our job to help allow them to do that.  As writers, we use our freedom of speech to express ourselves, and in turn, our readers decide for themselves what they think and/or believe of our writing.  Because of this, I believe that we writers have more power than we realize.  If you don’t believe me, just think about how many times you hear someone say, "I read it on the internet, book, magazine, newspaper, Facebook, journal, etc."  The bottom line is that words are extremely powerful and as words are what we work with, writers indeed have power. 

YOUR GUIDE TO BECOMING AN AMATEUR SLEUTH by Yvonne Saxon

You’ve decided to be an amateur sleuth? Great! You want to see justice done? Wonderful! You want to find clues, track down the bad guys, and hand them over to the police? Terrific! How do you get started? Do you check out your city’s crime line website, show up at the listed address, and start asking questions? Do you duck under the police tape late at night at a crime scene? Not a good idea, unless your plan was to end up in the back of a squad car. You could be charged with obstruction of justice, or worse yet, put yourself in danger. So how can you become a good amateur sleuth that helps solve crimes?

First, assess your qualifications. Are you likeable? Are you easy to talk to, a good listener, caring? Do people open up to you? Are you intuitive? Do you have a “sixth sense” about things? Maybe you get a sense of what the Oxford New American Dictionary says “feels to be true even without conscious reasoning.” Just like Miss Marple, you’ll need these qualities to be a good sleuth.

SITTING AND ROCKING BY THE SEASHORE by Maria Hudgins

I have recently returned from the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the hands-down best way to get “Sand in our Shorts.” The waves are reasonable-not too big, not too small. The sand is fine but not too fine. Dolphins, pelicans, and trawlers swim, fly, and motor by to keep you entertained. The sun sets behind you. Popular, but nowhere near as crowded as beaches elsewhere along the eastern seaboard. I’ve been going there every summer since Roosevelt was president. (Slight exaggeration)

CHARACTERS, CONFLICT, AND THE MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR® - (Part II) by Michael Rigg

 

Myers-Briggs (careerfitter.com)

Wow! How time flies when you have great blog posts to read every week! Seems like only yesterday when last we chatted. But it was eons ago—the beginning of June. We’re already in August!

My previous blog provided an overview of how I’ve come to understand the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^® (MBTI) and its use as a tool for developing characters and conflict in your stories. Feel free to take a couple of minutes to review it by clicking here.

In the meantime, here’s a quick refresher:

Katherine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers developed the MBTI. According to Introduction to Type^®, published by CPP, Inc., the MBTI springs from the psychological type theory of personality developed by Swiss psychiatrist Carl G. Jung to explain normal personality differences between healthy people.   

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.