Season's Greetings From Dava Books, and a Special Giveaway!

Happy Holidays, Everyone! Deck the halls, spread good cheer, dress up, eat cake, and . . . get ready to write in 2013!

From now until the end of the year, I'm having a special book giveaway on my website, Valeriestorey.com. With any book order placed from my site, I'll include a FREE copy of The Essential Guide for New Writers, From Idea to Finished Manuscript. All book orders from my site always include free domestic shipping, too. Offer will end at the stroke of midnight, January 1, 2013.

Tip of the Day: Books make the best holiday gifts. Ever. (And they're so easy to wrap.) Share your favorites with friends and family, and don't miss out on my FREE offer. Enjoy the season!

12 Ways to Break Through Writer's Block

Yay! Our first question from the first winner of my blog birthday giveaway:

LadyDBooks.

Diana asks: "How do you deal with writer's block?" A great question, especially now that Nanowrimo has finished and some of us may be feeling completely burnt-out.

To answer Diana, I think it's important to define "writer's block." For me, it's whatever makes me want to run away from my writing:

• Perfectionism.
• Fear that my words won't match my vision.
• Fear of not making the right choices.
• Fear that I'm going too slow.
• Fear of submission.
• Fear of my own voice.
• The WIP is just too big and ambitious.

Grrr! So how to burst through those blocks? How about:

 1. Collage. A stack of old magazines, a glue stick, a damp clean-up cloth, and some kind of paper or journal can keep me happy and "writing" for hours. There's something so dreamy and magical about the process, I could almost say it's the answer for every life problem in existence! Whether it's a scene, a character's wardrobe, or the solution to a plot-hole, collage can save the day.

2. Change genres. It's good advice to "write what you love to read," but sometimes you can too easily compare yourself to your favorite writers, and bingo--you're blocked. Try reading and/or writing in a genre you've never met before.

3. Make an appointment to meet yourself somewhere outside the house or usual work place. I particularly like bookstore cafes, but laundromats, hotel lobbies, and waiting rooms make great places to sit down and "just write" without the need to explain myself.

4. Take an old manuscript and tackle it from a different approach . An old,  unsold manuscript can feel like a millstone, one that's sapping your energy for fresh work. So start over: maybe the wrong character is telling the story. Or maybe you need several points of view. Perhaps present tense will add a new tension. Experiment.

5. Write with a friend. Writing with a buddy or a writer's group is a great way to stay productive. Go for at least an hour (no talking!); read your work to each other, then write for another hour.

6. Use a book of prompts such as A Writer's Book of Days by Judith Reeves for a month. Decide how many pages to write per day (5 is a good number), but don't re-read any of your writing until the end of the month.

7. At the end of the month, find the connections between your entries. The mind loves to create order out of chaos. Reading through a month's worth of freewriting is an excellent way to find a theme, a character, or a setting you want to explore more deeply.

8. What's on your mind? Try some letters to the editor, or concentrate on writing blog comments as a daily writing exercise.

9. Start a new blog on a topic you love, but don't usually write about. Save and print out your entries--submit them as articles, or turn them into a complete book!

10. Forget about publication. Get a special journal, pens, whatever makes you happy, and just write--anything. It's your writing, written for yourself and nobody else.

11. Write about your resistance to writing. What's stopping you from writing? Let it all out. Interview your writing and your characters. Ask them what the problem is. The answers may surprise you--and get you writing again.

12. Keep a "still-life" journal or notebook. Instead of worrying about transitions, plots, and character arcs, spend some time just writing descriptions. Take a cue from still-life paintings: what objects are included? What's the setting? Mood? Why? What is the artist trying to say? Keep adding entries even on the days you're writing full steam ahead.

Tip of the Day: As lofty as "write every day" may sound, the truth is you don't always HAVE to write to be a writer. Enjoying and participating in the world around you can be just as important, and necessary, as a daily word count. Read, draw, travel, visit antique or thrift stores, go for a walk, observe and play. Taking regular time-outs goes a long way to preventing creative block. And be sure to pay a visit to LadyDBooks--rest and renewal guaranteed!

Why I Love National Novel Writing Month

Here we are at the last week of National Novel Writing Month and the big question looms: how's your word count? If you're falling behind (like me), take heart. We still have a good five days to catch up, and I suggest we grab those pens and/or open those Word files right now, or at least as soon as you finish reading this post!

On the other hand (and there always is another side to every story), you may have reached the point in your manuscript where you're thinking it doesn't matter whether you make it to the required 50K or not. You've done your best to write when you could during the month; you've made a great start to your story; and you got what you came for: inspiration. That's a good result too. It would still be nice if you could cross the finishing line, but there's more to Nanowrimo than just printing out your winner's certificate on 11/30. Some of my reasons for participating regardless of whether or not I win include:

• Nanowrimo is an excellent break and time-out away from my regular schedule of editing and rewriting my current WIP.
• It's a chance to re-discover and reconnect with my writer's soul.
• I get a new book out of it!
• It reminds me of why I do any of this: I can't wait to find out what happens next. And if I want to know, I have to write it.
• I can turn it into a writer's retreat during what is usually a very hectic month and time of year.
• It's a meditation.
• It's a chance to practice a new genre or style I might not ordinarily explore.
• I get to do some artwork. Whether it's a collage with my magazine cut-outs grouped together for writing prompts, or a drawing of one of my character's homes or ball gowns, it's all creative expression.
• Nanowrimo is community. All those other writers in the same boat; it's the one time of year when we can seriously discuss our progress, problems, plans and ideas.
• It's an opportunity to throw "publishing" and all it entails out the window. Yay!
• It renews my writer's license: I can make left-hand turns! Parallel park! Reverse! Easy-peasy. So take THAT, Inner Critic!

No matter where you are in your manuscript this week--and many of you may have already reached your goal (my hearty congratulations to you)--the main thing to keep in mind is, you're a creative genius. The fact you signed up for Nanowrimo is the proof in the pudding. Now all you have to do is choose whether you want chocolate, butterscotch, or pistachio. And ... keep writing.

Tip of the Day: Five days, people. You can do a lot with that. If you're feeling a little blah about everything, here's an idea:  make yourself a digital collage using a site such as Pinterest.com or a royalty-free picture library that illustrates a scene in your story. I did that last week with the picture heading this post. The autumn leaves and violet earrings matched a section of Four Girls and Six Colleges perfectly and got my pen moving in the right direction--toward THE END.

We Have Winners!

We have winners for my Big Blog Birthday Giveaway: (How many times can you say that fast?)

Diana Rogers

Rita Squier

Sherry Ellis

Congratulations, ladies, and thank you so much to everyone who contributed to making my blog giveaway a success. Even if you didn't manage to make it to the top three, I truly appreciate your questions and suggestions for blog posts, and will be using them over the coming weeks. Better still--your names will be going into my next blog giveaway sometime next year, whether you leave a comment then or not. So don't worry, I'm making a list and checking it twice! Congratulations again to my winners; be sure to watch the mail for your prize packages.

Tip of the Day: Winning any kind of contest or random drawing is always a cause for celebration--but first you have to enter! The Internet and blogosphere is full of great places to win prizes. From now until the end of the year, start looking for writing and art/creative blogs or websites calling for entries. With any luck you could be their next winner!

My Altered Book and Nanowrimo 2012

This past week I've been obsessed with getting ready for National Novel Writing Month. Yes, I'm going for it again, but this time with a unique purpose: I want to write the text for my altered book.

I haven't blogged about the altered book project for a while, but that doesn't mean I've been ignoring it. To date, I've:

• Gessoed all the pages.
• Laid down layers of water color crayon on each page for my backgrounds.
• Collaged each page with at least four images, sometimes more.

And there are a lot of pages--way too many and far more than I had bargained for. In hindsight, I now realize I should have gone through the book and gessoed several pages together to make a maximum of 24 thick pages instead of the dozens and dozens of thin ones it's taken me months to fill. Oh, well. Live and learn!

The stage I'm now at is I need to find--and write--my text, and here's where Nanowrimo comes in. My plan is to write a 50,000 word novella based on my altered book's title: Four Girls and Six Colleges, and then take random sections of text to paste or write out by hand onto my collaged pages. The hope is to end up with a completed altered book, as well as an illustrated novella, and maybe something more: I'm considering turning it all into a small animated film as well. Exciting!

Tip of the Day: Join me for Nanowrimo. Seriously. Although I've been planning my entry for a few months now, spontaneity can often be the key to success. And it's only 1650 words a day--you can do it.

P.S. Don't forget there's still time to enter my giveaway; the drawing will be at midnight tonight.  All you need to do is join the site and leave a comment. Super easy!

Got Blog? The Party Continues....

Happy Monday--and Happy Birthday to my blog the day after! Although the actual "birthday" was yesterday, there's still time to join the site before Friday, leave a comment telling me what you'd like to see in a future post, and have a chance to win one of my 3 prize packages, details here.

Today I was thinking about some of the reasons I started blogging all those four years ago.  Here's what I came up with:

• Initially I wanted a vehicle to help get the word out so I could sell more books. Yes, commercialism was high on my list!
• I also needed a way to build my "platform." Although I have a website complete with book ordering info and other pages: www.valeriestorey.com, I needed something to supplement the standing text there. A blog seemed the perfect way to do that.
• I'm busy, you're busy, we're all busy--too busy, unfortunately, to write lengthy personal emails (which replaced lengthy snail mail letters) to each other. But a blog is something I can write and then share with friends and family in one swoop. Believe me, I'm thinking of everyone one of you when I sit down to write each week.
• I love to teach writing. My how-to book The Essential Guide for New Writers, From Idea to Finished Manuscript has helped hundreds of writers to get their words down on paper. Blogging about writing is a way to continue that inspiration.
• I enjoy combining art with my own writing--and blogging fits right in with the creative arts. I have so much fun designing the digital collages that head up most of my posts.
• Working on my blog sometimes feels like I'm in charge of my own little literary magazine. I often think of what I would like to know more about if I was reading a magazine article, and then I write a post about it.
• Blogging has become an important writing practice and discipline for me. It's especially been helpful for encouraging me to show my artwork, eliminating much of my previous anxiety about opening my sketchbooks and portfolios for public viewing.
• More than anything, blogging has become a vehicle to share a conversation with my readers and other bloggers. Oftentimes this conversation is held on places like Twitter and Facebook, and even my writer's group, taking the blog off site and into a larger arena.
• And hey, it's just exciting to be a BLOGGER.

But bloggers need TOPICS, and here's where you come in:

Tip of the Day: If you haven't already, join the site, then leave a comment suggesting a topic you'd like me to write about in the future. I'll give you full credit for the idea as well as include a link to your own blog or website. And you might even win one of the giveaways! Good luck and happy creating. Drawing will be held on midnight, November 2, 2012.

Celebrating My Blog's Birthday--With A Giveaway!

Happy Birthday to My Blog! Four years old on Sunday, October 28. I can't believe how the time has gone so quickly, or that I've managed to stay dedicated and happy to keep the ball rolling. It's been a wonderful four years, and I want to thank you for staying with me and supporting my books and writing. And the best way I can do that is with a giveaway!

From now until midnight November 2, 2012, all you have to do to be entered into my random drawing is:

1. Join up and follow my blog (button on sidebar).

2. Leave a comment on this or my

next post telling me what you would like to read

about in a future post.

Easy! There will be 3 winners and each one will receive the same giveaway package:

 

1. A copy of the book I co-authored with parapsychologist, William Roll:

Unleashed, of Poltergeists and Murder, the Curious Story of Tina Resch.

2. A copy of my how-to book: The Essential Guide for New Writers,

From Idea to Finished Manuscript.

3. A journal.

4. A pack of my new-favorite (and very colorful!) InkJoy pens.

 

I think this is going to be a lot of fun. If you already follow my blog, that's great--just leave a comment regarding a future blog post, and you'll be entered in the drawing.

Tip of the Day: Let's party! Put on your thinking caps and do your best to come up with some interesting questions or a topic you'd like me to discuss. Even if you don't place in the giveaway, I'll be sure to give you credit and add a link to your own blog or website if I choose your topic. Good luck--I can't wait to hear from you all!