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Point of View: Five Strategies for Winning NaNoWriMo

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NaNoWriMo is coming up next month, and authors all over the country will be sitting down at chaining themselves to their laptops, ipads, or notepads to scribble out a “winning” story – 50K words in 30 days (and don’t forget, Thanksgiving is in there too). So here are my tips for getting to 50k by November 30th. 1) Plan Out Your Story in Advance: This isn’t absolutely necessary – some of us are born pantsers, after all. And of course, if you are a plotter, you can plan out your story with varying levels of detail, from a note scribbled … Read more

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Author Spotlight: Jamie Fessenden

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Jamie Fessenden

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today, Jamie Fessenden – Jamie is an amazing writer whose work spans the distance between Viking History to Contemporary to Sci Fi, and includes the recently released book Violated, that deals with the aftermath of a sexual assault. Thanks so much, Jamie, for joining me! J. Scott Coatsworth: How would you describe your writing style/genre? Jamie Fessenden: My style is fairly clean and concise. I don’t like to have any wasted words in … Read more

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Point of View: Six Steps to Prepare for Your Adoring Public

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I’m about to meet one of my adoring fans. OK, so they’re also a great friend and writer, so it’s not the same as meeting a fan (or fans) cold. But it got me thinking – what are the things any writer should do before meeting their fans? So here’s my list – I hope you find it helpful: 1) Shave and shower. OK, so the shaving part may not apply to everyone. But it’s important to give a good impression to your fans. Sure, in their minds-eye, they see you in your writer cave. But they imagine it as … Read more

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Author Spotlight: Vance Bastian

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Vance Bastian

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today, Vance Bastian – Vance is an amazing writer, a talented voice-over artist (who also does audio books, if you’re interested), and and one of the founding members of the WROTE podcast. He’s also a helluva nice guy. Thanks so much, Vance, for joining me! J. Scott Coatsworth: How would you describe your writing style/genre? Vance Bastian: Slightly snarky, fan-boy urban fantasy with hidden linguistic gems. I love inside jokes that don’t detract … Read more

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Point of View: Trouble Right Here in River City

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River City Chronicles

I’m about to embark on a brand new adventure, something that I as a writer have never done before. I’m going to write a serialized piece of fiction, a story that unfolds slowly and publicly week by week on my blog. And as if that weren’t enough of a challenge, I’m going to release each new episode simultaneously in both Italian and English. Several things have come together recently to make this possible: I started a new blog for myself as a writer in June, which needed content I published Between the Lines with Dreamspinner Press in July, a magical … Read more

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The Weekly Fix: Re-Life Part Four – The End

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Re-Life

Hey all, Today’s the day for The Weekly Fix. Every Thursday, I’ll add a new scene or chapter of a free story, until the whole thing is here on the blog – and then I’ll add it to its own page on the site. It’s a great way for you to test drive my writing, for free! Here’s part four – the final part – of “Re-Life”. Hope you like it! Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four They left the hostel, and Jozy summoned transportation. A v-winged taxi like the one that had brought him … Read more

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My Top Five Excuses for Not Writing Today

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scott and parsley

As writers, we all know time is not our friend. We have stories to tell, and they won’t get told if we spend all day figuring out reasons why we’re not yet ready to write. And yet about ten percent of my potential writing time goes to procrastination. So here, without further ado… hey, what the heck is an ado, anyhow? My top excuses for not writing today. 1) I Got So Much Writing Done Yesterday: So I had a great writing day yesterday. I actually exceeded my goal, so I’m way ahead of the game. I can afford to … Read more

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Author Spotlight: Lloyd Meeker

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Lloyd Meeker

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today, Lloyd Meeker – I met Lloyd in person for the first time at this year’s Rainbow Con and we had a great time. Thanks so much, Lloyd, for joining me! J. Scott Coatsworth: How would you describe your writing style/genre? Lloyd Meeker: I write fantasy, murder mystery and suspenseful love stories—often all in the same story. I often say I write metaphysical gay fiction, and if that doesn’t send a person screaming … Read more

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The Weekly Fix: Re-Life Part Three

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Re-Life

Hey all, Today’s the day for The Weekly Fix. Every Thursday, I’ll add a new scene or chapter of a free story, until the whole thing is here on the blog – and then I’ll add it to its own page on the site. It’s a great way for you to test drive my writing, for free! Here’s part three of the second story today – a four-part short story I wrote about a man who wakes up in s strange place. It’s called “Re-Life”. Hope you like it! Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four … Read more

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WROTE – The Evolution of One Author’s Journey

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Hey all. SA “Baz” Collins here. When Scott asked me to guest blog on his site I was immediately intrigued. In the short time I’ve come to know Scott and his works I’ve been nothing short of impressed at the sheer volume of work he does in queer storytelling (writing novels being just one aspect). So what to write about? I pondered talking about my current work (Angels of Mercy – which has a new release coming out at the end of September) that dives into homophobia in competitive sports (in this case American high school football). And while a … Read more