Blog Posts

Writing Opportunity: Growing Up in the 21st Century

8/23/2019

Happy Summer! I'm working on some longer blog posts, but in the meantime I wanted to share a possible writing opportunity.

Writers between the ages of 12 and 24 have the chance to submit non-fiction stories and poems between 500 and 1,500 words focused on growing up in the 21st century for possible inclusion in an anthology. The website includes more guidelines and instructions for how to submit: https://sites.google.com/view/growingpainsanthology.

I'll close with this quote from Julia Cameron:

Surprises and IWSG Monthly Blog Hop

8/7/2019

Every month, the Insecure Writers Support Group poses an optional question that members can answer in their blog posts. Special thanks to Alex Cavanaugh for founding IWSG and to this month's hosts: Renee Scattergood, Sadira Stone, Jacqui Murray, Tamara Narayan, and LG Keltner.
The question for August is:

Has your writing ever taken you by surprise?

I usually have a general idea of how my novels will end, but sometimes as I’m writing, the course of the story changes. This can be an asset for a thriller, because I can’t telegraph an ending I didn’t originally plan. Robert Frost said, “No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.” It can be nice to be surprised by an unexpected idea for a plot twist.

Sheep the Cat

In non-writing news, my daughter adopted a tabby cat from the local shelter. "Sheep" is sweet and loving -- a happy addition to our family.

Helpful Links

Now on to this month's helpful links. Each month, I like to share writing, reading, and productivity resources.

For writers: Goodreads offers some ideas about managing your author settings on their site. And ICYMI, last week I posted ten tips for beating writer's block.

For readers/listeners: Do you like true crime? Here are some podcasts you might enjoy.

About productivity: 10 Tiny Tweaks That Will Change Your Life by Laura Vanderkam.

Lastly: if you worry about privacy, you can opt out of some popular search sites. This article from Lifehacker explains how.

Happy Summer!

Ten Tips for Beating Writer's Block

8/1/2019

By Yvonne Ventresca

Ten Tips for Beating Writer's Block title image

Sometimes “writer’s block” is really “writer’s rut,” and simple methods can overcome the problem. Other times, more effort is required. Here are ten ways to get back to creative happiness.

Suffering from writer's block? Try these techniques.

Change your writing location. If you write at home, try a coffee shop or a public library. Take a ferry ride. Sit in a park or other outdoor setting. If you generally like quiet, try a more active environment and vice versa. Altering your sensory experience (noise level, etc.) while you create can have a positive impact.
Make yourself accountable to other people. Try arranging time to write with a friend in person or for more scheduling flexibility, arrange to do “sprints” (timed periods of focused writing) with people online. Use #writingsprint on Twitter, for example, to find others who want to write at the same time. Knowing others are involved can help keep you on track.
A related concept is to keep in touch with an accountability partner. When I have an actual editorial deadline, I tend to work more consistently. I manufacture the same effect by telling a writing friend I’ll check in each day (or at the end of each week) and ask them to gently nudge me if I don’t.
Change your physical writing process. I alternate between drafting with pen on paper and editing/revising on the computer. The switch between handwriting and typing helps keep the process fresh instead of an endless slog of sameness.
According to Ernest Hemingway, one technique to prevent blocks is to stop writing for the day when you know what comes next. “The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next,” he said. “If you do that every day. . . you will never be stuck.”
Set up positive reinforcement. Promise yourself coffee/chocolate/social media time after you’ve completed a certain number of words or spent a set amount of time revising.
Take a different approach to a difficult scene. Try writing it from an alternate POV or change the scene's setting. You can also try interviewing your character on paper about the work-in-progress. Or ask, “what do I need to know to write this scene?” and journal the results. Sometimes figuring out a missing piece of information can unlock a story.
Refill the creative well. Julia Cameron suggests going on artist dates, solo activities that bring joy: “Since art is about the play of ideas, they feed our creative work by replenishing our inner well of images and inspiration.” Visit a museum, color a picture, take photos -- do something alone that allows you to daydream.
Be kind to yourself. A draft is something to be revised later. Perfect words don’t need to flow effortlessly onto the page to make progress. Allow yourself the time and space to make creative mistakes.
Try typing (or writing) ANYTHING. If I’m really stuck, I set a timer and whine (on paper) about not making progress. When the timer goes off, I’m usually sick of complaining, and I can get back to work.

In summary

Use this image as inspiration to beat writer's block. Feel free to share. :)

Overall, don’t wait for the muse to visit. Be proactive in trying to create. Maya Angelou said, “What I try to do is write. . . . And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try. When I’m writing, I write. And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says, ‘Okay. Okay. I’ll come.’”

If any of these tips resonate or you want to share your own writer's block ideas, please comment below. Happy Writing!

Sunburns and the Power of Language

5/1/2019

IWSG Monthly Blog Hop

I'm honored to co-host this month's Insecure Writers Support Group blog hop, along with T. Powell Coltrin, Juneta Key, and Lee Lowery.

Every month, the IWSG poses an optional question that members can answer in their blog posts. Special thanks to Alex Cavanaugh for founding IWSG. I'm always recommending this helpful group to other writers! This month’s question is:

What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?

My brother and me, pre-sunburn

Growing up, we spent most of our family vacations visiting relatives in rural Ohio, which always seemed exotic compared to our suburban life. (They had horses!) But one year, my parents decided to take us someplace really exotic, someplace tropical. Not a big beach person, I positioned my towel under a shady tree and read Stephen King’s The Stand for hours. My younger brother played all day in the sun, without sunscreen (oops). When his severe sunburn kept us indoors during daylight hours for the rest of the trip, he asked me to tell him about the thick book I was so absorbed in. The Stand is an epic survival story about good versus evil, and I explained to him what happened, chapter by chapter, until he begged me to finish the book faster so we could both find out how it ended.

I realized the power of language. The joyous idea of storytelling took hold, and over time—after an English major combined with a "practical" Computer Science major, an MBA, a detour in the corporate world, and hundreds of other books read—I finally wrote and revised some of my own.

Two of those stories resulted in published novels: PANDEMIC and BLACK FLOWERS, WHITE LIES. One of my short stories, THE ART OF REMAINING BITTER, was selected for IWSG's HERO LOST: MYSTERIES OF DEATH AND LIFE anthology.

And guess what? Today's the day that IWSG announces the theme of their next anthology! You can discover the theme on the IWSG home page. Consider writing and submitting a story of your own.

Congrats to all the writers in the newest IWSG Anthology, which released yesterday. MASQUERADE: ODDLY SUITED is now available!

Mini-posters

I have several upcoming events coming up, including signing books at the Hudson Children's Book Festival. At this festival, I'm auditioning some signed "mini-posters" as giveaways. If you're local, please stop by! This is one of my favorites:

Quote from the thriller, BLACK FLOWERS, WHITE LIES

Quote from the YA thriller, BLACK FLOWERS, WHITE LIES

Helpful Links

Each month, I like to share writing, reading, and productivity links. Here are my recommended resources:

For writers:
I recently discovered Grammarly, a free Chrome extension that spellchecks your email and social media.
Want a peak into how a prolific, bestselling author writes? Check out this blog post, Here's How I Work, from Nora Roberts.

For readers:
If, like me, you read Nancy Drew books while growing up, you might enjoy this bit of history behind the series: The Creation of Nancy Drew by Jennifer Fisher

Productivity:
Should you get rid of your to-do list? This article, "Scheduling your priorities (and not your time) will supercharge your productivity," suggests yes, but I find the idea terrifying. I live by my lists! I use Wunderlist to keep me organized, plus old-fashioned paper and pen. How about you?

Scavenger Hunt, IWSG, Opening Scenes

4/3/2019

YA Scavenger Hunt (#YASH)

If you're taking part in the YA Scavenger Hunt, go here for #TeamBlue and the opportunity to win some amazing prizes, including my bonus giveaway of a $10 gift card.

Helpful Links: Productivity, Writing, Reading

Before I address the monthly blog hop question, here are some helpful links I wanted to share.

Productivity:
If you want to try the Pomodoro technique for focusing (read more about it here), there's an app for that. Go to the Marinara website and use the first option. The timer is automatically programmed for you.

For writers:
If you need help with opening scenes, check out these links.
Opening Chapters by Darcy Pattison
10 Things Your Opening Chapter Should Do by Anne R. Allen
The Great Debate: To Prologue or Not to Prologue? by Meg LaTorre-Snyder

For readers:
The Surprising Benefits of Reading Before Bed by Matt Berical

IWSG Monthly Blog Hop

Every month, the Insecure Writers Support Group poses an optional question that members can answer in their blog posts. Special thanks to Alex Cavanaugh for founding IWSG, and to this month’s awesome blog hop co-hosts: J.H. Moncrieff, Natalie Aguirre, Patsy Collins, and Chemist Ken.
This month’s question is:

If you could use a wish to help you write just ONE scene/chapter of your book, which one would it be?

The kissing scenes! My family reads my books, which doesn't help. :)

I love that it's light out so much later in the evening. What's your favorite part of spring?

I'm auctioning off a signed copy of Pandemic as part of Writers for Hope charity fundraiser to benefit RAINN. Visit the auction website to learn more information.

YA Scavenger Hunt #YASH Spring 2019

4/2/2019

Welcome to the YA Scavenger Hunt
for Team Blue!

Welcome to Spring 2019 YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors . . . and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for the team prize--books from Team Blue! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for a few days. If you'd like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

Scavenger Hunt Instructions

Directions: Below, you'll notice that I've hidden my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the BLUE team, and then add them up.

Entry Form: Once you've added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian's permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by Sunday, April 7th at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

Black Flowers, White Lies and Pandemic

If this is your first time to my blog, I'm Yvonne Ventresca, the author of PANDEMIC and the psychological thriller, BLACK FLOWERS, WHITE LIES. In addition to my YA novels, I've had THREE short stories published in anthologies.

In BLACK FLOWERS, WHITE LIES, strange events make Ella question what’s real. Is it a haunting or a breakdown? She desperately needs answers, no matter how disturbing the truth might be. In PANDEMIC, a teenage girl struggles to survive not only a deadly influenza outbreak and its real-life consequences, but also her own personal demons.

In addition to the Team Blue prize, I'm offering a $10 Amazon gift card giveaway. Look for the Rafflecopter at the end of this post.

Scavenger Hunt Guest Post Featuring Melanie Hooyenga

Multi-award winning young adult author Melanie Hooyenga first started writing as a teenager and finds she still relates best to that age group. She has lived in Washington DC, Chicago, and Mexico, but has finally settled down in her home state of Michigan. When not at her day job as a Communications Director at a nonprofit, you can find Melanie attempting to wrangle her Miniature Schnauzer Owen and playing every sport imaginable with her husband Jeremy.

More about The Slope Rules

Fifteen-year old Cally accepted her fate as one of the guys, so when she meets Blake, a hot snowboarder who sees her for more than her aerials on the slopes, she falls fast and hard. But their romance can only last as long as vacation.
Or so she thinks.
A twist of fate—well, her Dad opening another brewery in a new town—lands her in Blake’s school, but the charismatic boy she fell for wants nothing to do with her, and worse, the Snow Bunnies, the popular clique, claim her as their newest recruit.
Cally must learn to be true to herself—all while landing a spot on the ski team and figuring out who she is without her old friends. And when she finds out what Blake is hiding, she learns the rules on the slopes apply to more than just skiing.
Buy The Slope Rules here.

Exclusive Content from Melanie Hooyenga: YASH has ended, so this content has been removed.

Don't forget to enter the contest for a chance to win books! Find my favorite number (in BLUE) earlier in this post. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the blue team and you'll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

Continue the Hunt

To keep going on the YA Scavenger Hunt, you need to check out the next author on Team Blue: Robin D. Mahle.

Bonus Giveaway: $10 Gift Card

In addition to contributing to the YASH giveaway, I'm offering my own personal giveaway as well. One winner will receive a $10 Amazon Gift Card. (This prize is open internationally.) Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Liberty States Fiction Writers Conference and IWSG Monthly Blog Hop

3/6/2019

Link Roundup: Productivity, Writing, Reading

In case you are new to my blog, I like to include some interesting links I've come across.

Productivity:
Do you work from home? Check out the three productivity tips in this article by Karen Holst: Feeling Uninspired? How to Spark Creativity When You Work From Home.

For writers:
The annual Liberty States Fiction Writers Conference is happening in New Jersey the weekend of March 30th! I'm excited to teach two workshops, including one about Technology Tips and Tricks for writers. You can learn more about the conference here.

If you write for children/teens, there's a helpful Q&A with editor Katherine Gibson of Zonderkidz through SCBWI Michigan's website.

For readers:
"Reading books is directly tied to living a longer life." Just in case you need another excuse to read....Reading: the secret to living a longer life.

In case you missed it, Ian Parker's New Yorker article detailing a famous author's possible deceptions reads like something you'd find in a fictional thriller: A Suspense Novelist's Trail of Deceptions.

IWSG Blog Hop

Every month, the Insecure Writers Support Group poses an optional question that members can answer in their blog posts. Special thanks to Alex Cavanaugh for founding IWSG, and to this month’s helpful blog hop co-hosts: Fundy Blue, Beverly Stowe McClure, Erika Beebe, and Lisa Buie-Collard. The March question is:

Whose perspective do you like to write from best, the hero (protagonist) or the villain (antagonist)? And why?

Although I love a strong (often creepy) antagonist, I've always written from the point of view of the protagonist. I like showing the heroine's POV and the obstacles (or "rocks" as Nabokov would say) she must overcome in order to succeed.

Happy Almost Spring!

#AuthorLifeMonth, WriteOnCon, IWSG

2/6/2019

Useful Links: Productivity, Writing, Reading

Before I get to the monthly IWSG blog hop question, here are some links I wanted to share:

Productivity:
Seven mini-resolutions that will make 2019 your most productive year ever by Laura Vanderkam. (I especially like the idea of making Monday mornings count.)

If you're looking for some tools to make you more productive, check out 10 Tools To Make Every Day More Productive by Adam Connell.

For writers:
WriteOnCon is an online kidlit writing conference starting this Friday. I've contributed a “live blog” about suspense which includes a few techniques to increase tension in your stories. (A live blog is essentially a blog post where you can ask questions and get immediate answers for an hour after it goes live.) Registration costs range from $5-$20.

I've enjoyed writing short stories in between working on novels (including "The Art of Remaining Bitter" in IWSG's Hero Lost anthology). But can short story writing make your longer fiction better? Arthur Klepchukov thinks so: How Writing and Submitting Short Stories Improved My Novel.

For readers:
Children and young adult book awards were announced at the American Library Association midwinter conference. Congratulations to all of this year's the winners! And if you love thrillers and mysteries, Mystery Writers of America recently announced the 2019 Edgar nominees.

IWSG Blog Hop

IWSG

Every month, the Insecure Writers Support Group poses an optional question that members can answer in their blog posts. Special thanks to Alex Cavanaugh for founding IWSG, and to this month’s helpful blog hop co-hosts: Raimey Gallant, Natalie Aguirre, CV Grehan, and Michelle Wallace. This month's question is:

Besides writing, what other creative outlets do you have?

Pandemic photo from my Instagram account

I received my first camera as a gift when I was nine. For years, I loved taking pictures, but it often took a backseat to other activities. When I joined Instagram, I remembered how much I enjoyed photography. Here is one of my Pandemic book photos.

This month, there's a fun Instagram Challenge created by Dahlia Adler called #AuthorLifeMonth. Writers post pics like "biggest distraction," "writing fuel," and "author fashion." Join me in the challenge! I'm on Instagram at @YvonneVentresca.

Luna wishes you Happy Valentine's day!

Here's a sneak peak at an upcoming photo for Instagram. (Luna the Schneagle wishes you Happy Valentine's Day!) Share your own Instagram handle or your blog info in the comments.

Have a Productive New Year

1/2/2019

Have the best year ever!

Happy New Year! If you're interested in setting goals for the new year, please check out my blog post from last week, Six Tips for Achieving New Year's Resolutions. Need inspiration about people who have achieved greatness? Read about 14 Inspiring People Who Found Crazy Success Later in Life or 25 People Who Did Great Things After Fifty. Here's to 2019!

IWSG Monthly Blog Hop

Every month, the Insecure Writers Support Group poses an optional question that members can answer in their blog posts. Special thanks to Alex Cavanaugh for founding IWSG, and to this month’s helpful blog hop co-hosts: Patricia Lynne, Lisa Buie-Collard, Kim Lajevardi, and Fundy Blue.
This month’s question is:

What are your favorite and least favorite questions people ask about your writing?

Least favorite question: I'm not a fan of "which actors/actresses would star in the film version of your books?" As much as I love pop culture, I don't think of my characters that way, so that particular question always gives me pause.

Favorite questions: I love talking about the creative process. Also: anything about revision. And I especially like analyzing ways to be more productive. In 2015, I dedicated my A to Z blog to the topic. (You can still access those posts here.) I've also been collecting ideas on my Productivity for Creative People Pinterest Board.

Quick productivity tip: Looking for free images? You can find some nice ones at Pixabay and Morguefile.

Here's to a happy, productive, and creative New Year!

6 Tips for Achieving New Year's Resolutions

12/18/2018

By Yvonne Ventresca

It's that New Year’s resolution time of year.

To paraphrase a concept in Julia Cameron's Finding Water: how old will we be by the time we learn to play piano, or complete a major project, or finish the novel? The same age we’ll be if we do nothing. We’ll all be older in a year, regardless of what we did or did not accomplish, so we need to make the most of our time.

To help make this the best year ever, first you have to decide what you want to achieve. Brian Tracy, author of Eat That Frog, suggests asking yourself, "What one goal, if you achieved it, would have the greatest positive effect on your life?”

Once you’ve decided, the hard part is making that goal happen. I have six tips to help.

1. First, consider whether the goal is under your control. If not, it might be impossible to achieve it. For example, if my goal is to have a novel acquired by an editor and published next year, that’s not under my control. My goal could be to draft a novel, and thoroughly revise it, and have my agent submit it, but I can’t actually control what happens after that (and certainly not an editor's timeline for publication). It’s important to make sure you are setting goals that revolve around your own actions.

Fun fact: the Babylonians are the first recorded people to make yearly resolutions over 4000 years ago.

2. Decide what your goal looks like when it's accomplished. “Being more healthy” is too vague, for example. Does that mean exercising three times a week or eating more vegetarian meals or meditating or what? Health has a lot of aspects to it, so you need to be specific. If your goal is to be more successful at work for example, figure out how you’ll know you’ve achieved that.

3. “The key to reaching high levels of performance and productivity is to develop the lifelong habit of tackling your major task first thing each morning,” says Brian Tracy, (Eat That Frog, page 3). “You must develop the routine of ‘eating your frog’ before you do anything else.” This can require a big shift in how we spend our days. When we accomplish significant things in the morning, we have a guilt-free rest of the day. The key is to try not to save the harder tasks for "later."

4. If this is a repeated attempt to achieve a goal, carefully consider why you haven’t accomplished it yet. What's preventing you from success? What can you do differently? Chris Bailey suggests starting each day by imagining it's over. Reflect on the three main things (you imagine) you are so glad to have accomplished. Then at the end of the week, check to see how realistic those three daily accomplishments were (The Productivity Project, page 42).

5. To help stay on track with your goals, you may want to hold yourself accountable by telling someone. People who share their goals often feel a stronger motivation to complete them. November was National Novel Writing Month, and people all over the world tried to write 50,000 words between November 1st and November 30th. What’s interesting is the idea that you track the words on a website, and you have writing buddies who can see your word count. Signing up in public adds a whole different dimension, because you feel this sense that you have to achieve what you said you would. It results in many completed first drafts.

6. How can you help free up time and mental energy to achieve your goals? One way is to develop a system to clear your mind. In Getting Things Done, David Allen theorizes that “Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them." This is an interesting concept. If there’s a lot of chatter in your brain, like you need a present for your nephew’s birthday, and you have to mail your bio for a book festival you'll be participating in, and why haven’t you called that person for your novel research – that takes up a lot of bandwidth, a lot of energy to remember. You can’t possibly be thinking about important strategic ideas, creative answers to problems, and meaningful insights if all this stuff is floating around your brain. Develop a system (paper or electronic) that works for you, and use it to store your all of your to-do information. Keep these notes someplace safe, make a system to check them regularly, then free up your mind for all the good creative work to happen.

I hope you find these tips helpful as you plan next year's goals. A quote to end on:

“For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice.” T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets

Here's to a fresh start in the new year! Feel free to share your resolutions in the comments.

<<Previous

Forward>>

Writing Opportunity: Growing Up in the 21st Century

Surprises and IWSG Monthly Blog Hop

Helpful Links

Ten Tips for Beating Writer's Block

Suffering from writer's block? Try these techniques.

In summary

Sunburns and the Power of Language

IWSG Monthly Blog Hop

Mini-posters

Helpful Links

Scavenger Hunt, IWSG, Opening Scenes

YA Scavenger Hunt (#YASH)

Helpful Links: Productivity, Writing, Reading

IWSG Monthly Blog Hop

YA Scavenger Hunt #YASH Spring 2019

Welcome to the YA Scavenger Hunt
for Team Blue!

Scavenger Hunt Instructions

Black Flowers, White Lies and Pandemic

Scavenger Hunt Guest Post Featuring Melanie Hooyenga

More about The Slope Rules

Exclusive Content from Melanie Hooyenga: YASH has ended, so this content has been removed.

Continue the Hunt

Bonus Giveaway: $10 Gift Card

Liberty States Fiction Writers Conference and IWSG Monthly Blog Hop

Link Roundup: Productivity, Writing, Reading

IWSG Blog Hop

#AuthorLifeMonth, WriteOnCon, IWSG

Useful Links: Productivity, Writing, Reading

IWSG Blog Hop

Have a Productive New Year

Have the best year ever!

IWSG Monthly Blog Hop

6 Tips for Achieving New Year's Resolutions

Get new blog posts by email:

Archives

Categories

Helpful Links

Suffering from writer's block? Try these techniques.

In summary

IWSG Monthly Blog Hop

Mini-posters

Helpful Links

​YA Scavenger Hunt (#YASH)

Helpful Links: Productivity, Writing, Reading

​IWSG Monthly Blog Hop

Welcome to the YA Scavenger Hunt ​for ​Team Blue!

Scavenger Hunt Instructions

Black Flowers, White Lies and Pandemic

​Scavenger Hunt Guest Post Featuring Melanie Hooyenga

​More about The Slope Rules

Exclusive Content from Melanie Hooyenga: YASH has ended, so this content has been removed.

Continue the Hunt

Bonus Giveaway: $10 Gift Card

Link Roundup: Productivity, Writing, Reading

​IWSG Blog Hop

Useful Links: Productivity, Writing, Reading

IWSG Blog Hop

Have the best year ever!

IWSG Monthly Blog Hop

Get new blog posts by email:

Newsletter: Sign me up!

Archives

Categories

YA Scavenger Hunt (#YASH)

IWSG Monthly Blog Hop

Welcome to the YA Scavenger Hunt
for Team Blue!

Scavenger Hunt Guest Post Featuring Melanie Hooyenga

More about The Slope Rules

IWSG Blog Hop