Melissa Maygrove

I'm relatively new at this fiction thing, but I've been writing long enough to know my moods affect my writing. When I'm upbeat and happy, the prose flows and I come up with some funny lines. But when I'm tired or down, I have to force the words onto the page only to wish I hadn't bothered. What about you? Do your moods and energy level affect your writing? Do you write anyway? Or put off the word count until your sun comes out again? Bad Day (Album Version) by Daniel Powter on Grooveshark Enjoy the music while you type your reply.  :)

Grammar Police Monday has been preempted this week  so I can bring you the...   Blood Fugue, Moonsongs Book 1 by E.J. Wesley Cover Reveal Author E.J. Wesley is throwing a blog party to celebrate the release of his new book cover and wants you to join in the fun. Jump over to his blog to learn about how you can win some awesome prizes, including $50 toward a cover of your own and advance reader copies of Blood Fugue . For those who don't know E.J., he's a super-friendly writer guy on the blogosphere who co-hosts a Twitter chat — #NALitChat, a conversation about the New Adult genre — every Thursday evening at 9:00 EST. Now, without further ado... Here's the Cover!

Whether you read fantasy or not, you gotta love that cover! :D Viper's Creed is the second book in The Cat's Eye Chronicles by T. L. Shreffler and continues Sora's story from book I, Sora's Quest , which was the winner of the SKOW 2006 Best Fantasy Award. (You can read both book blurbs below.) I've been asked to post a favorite quote from the first chapter of Viper's Creed . Here it is...

.           We left everything but the weapons. Clothes, food, toothpaste. There wasn’t time for things that weren’t essential to escape. The five of us went on foot in a direction that was meaningless to me. I had never seen what was outside of the edges of the safe haven, not since I’d been here. When Mac stopped abruptly after our fifteen-minute trek into the woods, we all froze at once, bodies poised and ready to attack, eyes searching for threats. .           “We’re here,” Mac announced. “What should we expect Marcus?”

I'm delighted to introduce newly-published author Kaitlyn Deann. Kaitlyn is a 17-year-old homeschooled student who lives in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. She's a friendly young lady who embraces a positive attitude. In fact, laughter is her favorite calorie burner. Kaitlyn recently published her debut novel, The Witches' Sleep, and she's joining us today for an interview. First, a little about the book...

This is a continuation of last week's lesson on verb tense. Today we're going to delve a little deeper —make that way deeper —i nto the issue. But, basically, the concept is the same. Verb tense is relative. Pay attention to the tense you're writing and stay true to that according to when the various actions happened in relation to each other. Do not shift from one tense to another if the time frame for each action or state of being is the same . Last week I mentioned basic conjugation, including past participle . For the infinitive 'to play,' that would be has/had played . I've noticed writers seem to make more errors when using past participle — both with regular and irregular verbs . One situation that often leads to an error is combining a contraction with one of these verbs. Let me show you what I mean.

Everyone has an opinion, and today you get to give me yours. :)  My one request (besides keeping it civil and family-friendly in the comments) is that you either vote on all three polls or none of them . Regarding works of fiction...

"I don't write time travel," you say.  Really? You don't? If you're not careful with your verb tenses, you just might be. Okay. I'm messing with you.  But verb tenses are important. No matter whether we write in first person or third, present tense or past, we need to be mindful of mistakes in verb tense. It not only harms the clarity of the story, but it can be a jolt to our readers as well. Since most of the errors I see occur in first person, present tense novels, and I don't write in first person or present tense, I'm going to do my best with this requested topic. Bear with me.

From the title, you may think this is a how to on author interviews. It's not. I've done a few, but I'm new to blogging, know virtually nothing of journalism, and have been flying by the seat of my pants every time.  I remember sitting there, dumbstruck, when the first interviewee asked me to send her some questions.  What the heck am I going to ask?

It's time for more commonly confused words... First on the list: appraise and apprise . If you estimate the value of something, you appraise it.  When you inform someone of a situation, you apprise them. Next: wonder vs wander : If you think about something curiously, you wonder about it.  If you roam aimlessly, you wander . Last: palate , palette and pallet . Your palate can mean the roof of your mouth or your sense of taste. A palette is a small board an artist uses to mix paint colors. A pallet is a small or makeshift bed. See you again soon. Thanks for visiting. :)

This is my Insecure Writer's Support Group post for August.  Enjoy... Just like grieving, writing has stages. Sometimes staying motivated is best accomplished by taking a break to laugh when we'd rather cry. Stage 1 - Wow! That would make a great story!