Melissa Maygrove

A few weeks ago, I tried something new, and it really sped up my drafting.  After reading about how--doing basically the same thing--Ava Jae over at Writability Won NaNoWriMo In 9 Days , I thought I'd post this for my writer friends who are struggling to make their word count. I typically write very clean, meaning I'm a picky polisher in my initial draft. It's closer to publish-ready than most, but it takes me forever. Besides research, the main thing that slows me down is coming up with fresh ways to describe emotion, movement, facial expression, etc.  I decided to try something different if I found myself really stuck. ( You know....when you sit there for twenty minutes , debating about a single phrase or word, and draw nothing but an icky cliche or a total mental blank. :P )   I started putting a note-to-self ( e.g. Show Harrison's outrage. ) or a cliched/bad version of what I was aiming for in brackets, and then letting go and moving on. I've left...

Below are links to articles I've come across lately that I thought you might enjoy. Craft Tips Do you struggle to avoid head-hopping in your work, or find it difficult to smoothly switch POVs? Jami Gold can help.  7 Methods for Handling Point-of-view Changes Ava Jae at Writability posted about tackling the overwhelming job of editing. How to Edit in Passes Multi-published author Sylvia Rochester also has a good post on editing. Taking Out The Trash Author Politics

This is my Insecure Writers Support Group post for July.   IWSG is the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh. It's a monthly bloghop that offers a safe haven for writers to express their feelings and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. It's also a venue for offering support, both in the form of comments and positive posts. Writers of all kinds are welcome.  We 'meet' the first Wednesday of every month. If you're interested in learning more, click on the link above. And don't be intimidated by the size of the group. We're not expected to visit everyone on the list.  Alex's awesome co-hosts for July are: Nancy Thompson – http://nancysthompson. blogspot.com/ Mark Koopmans – http://markkoopmans.blogspot. com/ Heather Gardner - http://hmgardner.blogspot.com/ Please stop by their blogs and say thank you. ### Once again, my pre-made IWSG post sat empty until the eleventh hour because I wasn't sure wha...