13 Super Useful Books for Writers

13 Super Useful Books for Writers

Collectively, we are all writers. We all write something, regardless of what our goals or plans are, we are all writers. I’ve noticed there are so many resources out there, on the internet and in print, that seem to suggest there is a “best” way or even an “only” way to write. While their ideas and methods might work fantastically for them and for others, writing isn’t a one way or no way kind of process. Each and every single one of us has our own set of particulars in our process. I completely understand how frustrating it can be for a writer just starting to find their way, to feel overwhelmed with all the Bests. But how does one find their ideal process without first learning of others? I don’t have a definitive method for writing. I don’t have a one size fits all process for each type of writing I … Read more

3 Ways You Can Get to Know Your Characters

3 Ways You Can Get to Know Your Characters

Whether you have one WIP or ten, two characters or one-hundred, staying true to who they really are, isn’t always easy. If a character does or says something out of character without a valid reason for it, it can throw readers off, or even completely out of the story. It can cause problems with believability and clarity. Not to mention, cause the reader to no longer like, understand, or even care about the character. It’s no wonder then, that we writers want to be sure we truly understand and know our characters in order to properly tell their story. Through my own research, there seems to be an unwritten scale for the level of knowledge the writer should know about the different types of characters. For main characters (or those with a point of view), we should know as much as, or even more than we know ourselves. For secondary characters … Read more

Project Tracking

Project Tracking

Do you ever find yourself, working away at your current work in progress, only to have a new idea begin to brew? What do you do with that new idea? Especially if it keeps pulling at you? As of right now, I have one very large epic fantasy WIP. Book 1 is my number one fiction priority seeing as I’ve put a “no more excuses, it’s getting published in December of 2017” deadline on it. But I also have an active science fiction novella in the works and two short stories. I wrote the original first draft for the series novel in November of 2014. It has found itself shelved a lot over the past couple years.  In between working on it, I’ve started the novella, multiple short stories and a few partial first drafts for other full length novels. Not to mention having a few nonfiction pieces, freelance and client projects, and Infinite … Read more

Story Tracking Worksheets for the Non-Planner

Story Tracking Worksheets for the Non-Planner

I shall keep this post nice and short today in honor of the first day of NaNoWriMo so we can all get back to writing fast. You can grab your copy of the story-progress-worksheet right back there. Again this worksheet isn’t really for planning, but for post-writing. It’s a place to jot down important developments, ideas, or just notes of what you’ve already written. I keep mine right next to my computer at writing time. While it isn’t necessarily too difficult to go back through what I’ve written to find a name or “check” something when writing a later scene that needs previous scene information, I find once I start looking back, I keep looking back and eventually, I’m not moving forward. But when I only allow myself to use these worksheets to flip through to find that information, I’m not seeing exactly what I wrote, I’m only seeing the important … Read more

Tips for Writing that First Draft in 1 Month

Tips for Writing that First Draft in 1 Month

For those of you who had decided early on that you would be participating in NaNoWriMo this year, the month of October might have seemed just as busy and stressful as you anticipate November to be. I’m not much of a planner when it comes to plotting out a story. But, this year, I’ve talked to and read how others have been working hard to plot everything out. Many have explained they hope this allows them the opportunity to just write in November. No need to figure things out on the fly and limit “writer’s block”. Everything is right there on the outline. I’ve mentioned it before, I discovered NaNoWriMo in 2014 during the last week of October. I had no time to really plan anything out. I was still deciding if it was something I wanted to try. We host Thanksgiving at our house (We also host Christmas Eve … Read more

A Letter to My Friends, and NaNo is Coming.

A Letter to My Friends, and NaNo is Coming.

A Letter to My Friends   I haven’t done a thing lately but observe. I’ve found myself, a mental nomad, a wandering thinker, lost yet stuck. I’ve found myself stuck in a trap of writing and working on the same things others are discussing. I know, we all have our own voices, our own perspectives, and maybe different opinions and information based on our own experiences and expertise. But the sameness and repetition is bringing me down to a point of having too much information, too many suggestions and advice to really be able to move forward. How many articles, blog posts, and social media posts can one read on the same topic before it begins to confuse us? How many before what we set out to do, seems impossible to do, because instead of not having enough information, we have too much? Should we, those that write and talk … Read more

Books, Free Course, Cool Stuff and More Coming Soon!

Books, Free Course, Cool Stuff and More Coming Soon!

Sooo, how’ve ya been? Good I hope. The first thing I’d like to mention is that I’ve decided to separate Infinite Reverie’s social media from my own. If you currently follow me on any of the platforms, and would like to follow Infinite Reverie, hit the follow button again. They are now linked to Infinite Reverie’s instead of mine, those, I’ll continue to use as an author. It’s been crazy around here, a good crazy though. Here’s what we’ve been up to. Books First, and what I’m most excited about, my first published book will be available very, very soon! It’s a science fiction (with a little bit of the supernatural) novella, and will be available in e-book and paperback. Salvation: Winter’s Night follows Ella Kane and her friends as they find themselves unwilling participants in the ultimate destruction of the human race. With time running out, can the unnatural … Read more

Spring Cleaning for Your Writing?

Spring Cleaning for Your Writing?

Here in Illinois, it’s a real back and forth between being Winter out or being Spring out. One day it’s a whole 40 degrees out and the next 70, and then of course, back to 40. I mean, it could rain and snow in the same day, and it does. But we’re used to that here, it means Spring has begun. Each Spring many of us start the process of spring cleaning our homes. This year I’ve come across a few articles about this process in our homes, as well as business cleanses. I’ve decided Infinite Reverie could benefit from going through a business cleanse this year. All this talk about cleanses though got me thinking. Yes, it will be hard work but fairly easy to give my business a good cleaning, but what about my fiction writing? I don’t really classify it as a part of Infinite Reverie, those … Read more

The Importance of Names: Naming People, Places, and Things

The Importance of Names: Naming People, Places, and Things

Names are important. When we were naming our fifth child we had toyed with the idea of Kiera. We both really like the name itself. Only problem was so far the last four all exhibited traits of their name’s meaning. The most common meaning of Kiera I found was: The dark one. Enough said. Instead we chose another path, Olivia: olive branch; peace keeper. Even at the age of six she does have the ability to defuse a situation between her older siblings, not that she doesn’t instigate a few of those situations herself to begin with. How that all works I have no idea, maybe it’s us parents that treat them as such and they adopt that mentality. Okay, so I know not everyone fits into that example. But at least consider last names, they do give us a person’s ancestry, even if it may only be a small portion of it. … Read more

UAECWP, author, writing, writer, planner, calendar,

Introducing The Ultimate Author’s Editorial Calendar and Writing Planner

About a week ago I finally received my first ever proof for my first ever physical creation. I was so nervous and excited to open that package to see what it actually looked like. Surprisingly, I didn’t open the package for at least an hour after holding that box in my hands for the first time. Were the margins off? Is the type too small? Too big? Is there enough space to write on the lines? Is it too thick? And so on. I finally did open it up. The margins were fine, the type is a good size, there is plenty of space to write on, and while it is thick, it’s easy to use. Here it is. I created it with Createspace, and it is available for sale here on Amazon.com. Check it out and let me know what you think. But what exactly is the Ultimate Author’s Editorial Calendar and … Read more

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