Be unbreakable this morning people…#ClapYourHandsEverybody
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Tag: wordpress
Knowing Where To End Your Story
Good advice. I would add that for me even just knowing where my story will END helps me to find my way to the beginning. Usually, if I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, then I can write the story.
The other day someone asked on kboards just what they ought to do if they knew where they wanted to END their story, but not where they wanted to START it from.
This is basically how I answered that question.
For me, a story is a little like a journey. It really helps if I know WHERE I want to start off from and WHERE I want to get to. It is kind of like that whole Google Quest map thing where in order to get directions you have to punch in BOTH locations to find out how to get from here to there, providing you don’t mind driving through that brand new school that was built last month and hasn’t made it’s way onto Google Quest yet.
So – if, as in your case, I just DON’T know where I am starting from – I’d probably just try and…
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Wise Ink: ERROR: Kindle’s Latest Warning Message
Wow, check out this post from Wise Ink about Amazon’s coming Error Message. This is exactly why I prefer to always have a paperback copy of my books available. Electronics are not dependable and in the case that a great book is flagged because of minor errors or formatting issues, leaves the reader to do nothing but abandon that authors work. With no option to purchase a paperback / hard copy, what options are available for the reader but to abandon that book altogether? I’m not concerned about this to be honest (I try not to worry about things much anymore, especially things I can’t change) but I do see how it can be a hindrance to many Self-Pub authors. I would suggest making your work available in as many formats and on as many platforms as possible and to have an author website or blog set up as another option from which readers can find your work. I would have a paperback/hard-copy on standby just in case. Yes, technology is increasing every day and changing the book publishing industry, but don’t believe the hype. Readers still buy paperback books! To take it a step further, you can set up a DBA (“Doing Business As” name – A fictitious name (or assumed name, trade name or DBA name) is a business name that is different from your personal name, the names of your partners or the officially registered name of your LLC or corporation) and try to get your books stocked at a major distribution company where you can buy in bulk directly from them. I know, easier said. I probably just spoke of something nearly impossible unless your Oprah but it can be done. (In my “Flash” voice “Believe in the impossible!”) The process is long and challenging and tedious and I’m sure we will all be wanting to pull our hair out BUT I think it will be of great benefit in the end. I’m interested in why B&N NOOK, KOBO, and other platforms are not as prominent as Kindle as additional sources in which ebooks are sold. While I can’t “knock” Amazon for wanting to distance itself from the the lack of “Grammatical / Formatting professionalism”, I’m not sure if relying solely on Amazon as a source where readers can find your book is wise.
Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Bernice McFadden
Good Morning Lovelies and welcome back to another segment of Writer’s Quote Wednesday as hosted by Colleen of Silver Threading. This week I am quoting from Bernice McFadden:
“I write to breathe life back into memory and to remind African Americans of our rich and textured history.” – Bernice McFadden
I had to reread this quote a few times. I understood it well. I had to reread it to make sure they were not my own words. Its as if McFadden had found a way into my head. Maybe the ancestral blood that links our DNA pulled from the genetic instruction and spoke our hearts into words. Maybe she just heard it in my bones, but this is one of the many reasons why I write: “To breathe life back into memory and to remind African Americans of our rich and textured history.” The quote suggests there is something not living among us, something not honored, not recognized, not praised. It is my hope that my work can be part of the resurrection
About The Author: From Her Author Website
BERNICE L. McFADDEN is the author of nine critically acclaimed novels including Sugar, Loving Donovan, Nowhere Is a Place, The Warmest December, Gathering of Waters (a New York Times Editors’ Choice and one of the 100 Notable Books of 2012), and Glorious, which was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine and was a finalist for the NAACP Image Award. She is a three-time Hurston/Wright Legacy Award finalist, as well as the recipient of three awards from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA). She lives in Brooklyn, New York. The Book of Harlan is her latest novel.
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Stop Wasting Time
You get up. Go to work. Complain at work. Blog at work and complain about blogging. Count the seconds until the day is over. The day is over. Go home. Make dinner. Kiss the wife / husband. Kiss the children. Complain about work tomorrow. Eat dinner. Go to bed. Get up. Go to work. Complain at work. Count the seconds until the day is over….
Has it ever occurred to us that there is more to life than just existing? How many of us can honestly say that we enjoy every minute of time we have in a day? By “enjoy” I do not mean spending your days partying like a rock star, going to clubs, getting rich or die trying. I mean as in to appreciate, or to value. Yes, your career or job may not be what you want at this time but you are there for a reason. It could be because your smile puts a smile on someone else face. Could be because your “Good Morning!” warms someone’s heart. It could be because your “weirdness” is not weird at all. If only the world was just as crazy as you are, maybe it would be in a far better place. If only it carried your light.
And what of those in-between moments? When your on lunch, what are you doing in that time? Are you reading and nourishing your mind? Are you studying for something? Are you seeking to be a better person today than you were yesterday?
And what of it when you come home? Are you cherishing those moments or complaining about them?
It would have been nice to have our expiration dates tattooed to our chest when we were born. To have written on our birth certificates:
March 12, 1956 – September 9, 2020
That would have been nice but it would have also made our lives a lot different than they are now. Many of us would be far better people and seek to live far better lives. We would give more, and we would care more. Except, this isn’t reality. The covenant we make to die when we breathe our first breath does not come with a date. And when its time to go, and our life flashes before our eyes, the years we wasted we are going to desperately want back. Do something today that is going to actually mean something when the dust settles and the gravediggers are singing your song.
Choices
I woke up this morning to this scene in The Matrix Reloaded. I’ll just leave it here:
Oracle: We can never see passed the choices we don’t understand.
Neo: You mean I have to choose whether Trinity lives or dies?
Oracle: No, you already made the choice. Now you have to understand it.
– The Matrix Reloaded
The Oscars: Our Fight
OK, so what’s my thoughts on this? Well, there’s the good, the bad, the ugly and everything in-between. There’s the surface and then there’s what is beneath the surface but I’m not going to get into all of that. There’s some dark clouds in Hollywood but there’s some sunshine too. As far as the Oscar Boycott is concerned, I don’t have much to comment. On this cool, yet beautiful Saturday, my day of rest, my Sabbath, and my calm. On this day, where I usually do not post, I needed to write this and I choose to keep it beautiful.
From the positive end of the spectrum, there’s a glint of light attempting to bud and to shine and to erupt into something beautiful. Something is trying to break through the hard shell, pierce the darkness, and replenish the damaged soil in Hollywood. Who knows what will come of it. Will blacks gather as a cohesive unit to achieve something of their own? It is not really just about the Oscars. It’s about a jolt of consciousness that is needed, and perhaps now being conceived, to move this powerful people. Come forward Gideon. Come forward David. Come forward Samson. Come forward and tell your story the way that it needs to be told.
The PBS Blog 