Writers in the Sky (TM): Tips to Strengthen Your Writing

Are you having a hard time understanding passive writing, tenses, and character elements? Have you read the books and taken courses - but none of it makes sense?

Then you need to read Ginger's article on 'learning to write.

Character Development: Creating Incredible Relationships

Creating Incredible Relationships

If you are like me (as the old gag goes - 'I know I am') you may be tempted to fall into a trap in relationships. The trap I mean is thinking that having a healthy relationship will make me happy. However, maybe that is completely backwards.

Maybe it is when we are happy that we create healthy relationships. But, wait a minute! A healthy relationship can obviously contribute to happiness. So, where do we start?

Everybody has a 'mood' that is most typical for them. It may be a good mood; it may be a not so good mood. For most of us our typical mood may range from the fairly good to the fairly bad with occasional excursions to the extremes.

The problem with moods is that we broadcast them. We think we are hiding how we feel, but really we might as well walk into a room and shout 'Hey, I have not had a decent relationship for years and I am about to go off and join a leper colony!'.

The problem is our body language is telling the world how we feel. The other people may not be aware of it consciously, but often they will pick up 'something' about us. This means that they will either be attracted (if their mood is in harmony with ours), or repelled (if their mood is out of harmony with ours).

Don't worry. This does not mean we have to spend the rest of our lives hiding under the bed! The key is knowing how to shift the mood we are in to a better one. Like many powerful things the way to do this is very simple.

Moods are on the 'feeling' level. However, moods are not created on the feeling level. Moods are created by our thoughts. These thoughts may be unconscious, but if we look we will find there is a particular stream of thoughts that go with any particular mood.

The fundamental key to shifting a mood is to become aware of the thoughts behind it and challenge them. It really helps to do this on paper rather than just trying to sort it all out in your head.

One technique goes like this: Get a piece of paper and draw two vertical lines so that there are three roughly equal columns.

On the left column write down all the thoughts that come into your head, no matter how awful (leave a gap of a four or five lines between them). The more ridiculous, or childish, they seem the better.

For example: say you are about to go to a party and you are getting moody or edgy about it. The thoughts might go like this: "There is no point in going. I never meet anyone I like. It is all a waste of time. They won't like me. There are all a bunch of losers anyway.".

Tip: do NOT write how you feel ('I feel angry...', etc.) as that is not a thought and gives you nothing to contradict.

Once you have some things in the left column (don't be surprised if you need more than one page!) you can work through them one at a time and by filling in the middle and right hand columns.

Look at the first thought you wrote down. Read it over and then in the middle column for that row write, 'This is just a thought'. That's it, for the middle column. You have begun to take charge of your thinking process and a new life awaits you.

Now it the right column write down some thoughts you would rather have instead. If the thought was 'I never meet anyone I like'. Other thoughts might be: 'Some kinds of events don't work well for me, but others do', 'Actually I met someone really nice when I went to... etc.'. Try and come up with at least three alternative constructive thoughts if you can.

If the thought was 'Nobody likes me'. Other thoughts might be: 'Not everyone likes me, but some people do', 'Nobody is liked by everyone...', .etc..

Then work through the other thoughts you listed and do the same things. Go to your second thought that is causing your mood and in the middle column write, 'This is just a thought'. Again, in the right hand column, write thoughts that contradict it.

If you get stuck in contradicting some thoughts then just move on. You'll get better at the trickier ones with practice.

After you have done this you will most likely find that your mood has shifted to a much better one. It may not get you from being really down to feeling over the moon (though sometimes it will), but it will usually always help you feel better. If you do this regularly, your general overall mood and attitude to yourself, your life and other people, will improve (even if it was already good to begin with) and you'll find yourself attracting a healthier type of person.

You may also find that is helps to be aware of the event that triggered the mood. Perhaps someone you know seemed to avoid you, or someone you liked did not reply to an email. Being aware of the triggers of our moods can help us intervene earlier and guide ourselves out of negative emotional mazes back to a happy and healthier life - and therefore into happier and healthier relationships.

If you want a more sophisticated way of doing something similar try these books:

Feeling Good, David D. Burns. Choose to be Happy, Wayne Froggatt.

The way to create incredible relationships is to start managing your feelings and moods. Life then gets much better, as a result of that, you'll find that your relationships will get much better too.



William Martin offers holistic tips and advice on dating and relationships. Check out this http://www.meetyourgreens.com




Other Sites:
Enspiren Press
An Editor's View
Book Lover's Blog
How to Write a Novel
Histoical Novel Writer's
Largest Free Writer's Online Course Site"

The Robert A. HeinleinCentennial Short Story Contest

Three prizes will be given for the best original short storiesreflecting the spirit, ideas, and philosophies of Robert AnsonHeinlein.

$5,000 first prize$2,000 second prize$1,000 third prize

If you want a short declaration of who the man was and his works, then go to this link http://www.heinleinsociety.org/rah/thisibelieve.html


"And finally, I believe in my whole race. Yellow, white, black, red, brown --in the honesty, courage, intelligence, durability....and goodness.....of the overwhelming majority of my brothers and sisters everywhere on this planet. I am proud to be a human being. I believe that we have come this far by the skin of our teeth, that we always make it just by the skin of our teeth --but that we will always make it....survive....endure. I believe that this hairless embryo with the aching, oversize brain case and the opposable thumb, this animal barely up from the apes, will endure --will endure longer than his home planet, will spread out to the other planets, to the stars, and beyond, carrying with him his honesty, his insatiable curiosity, his unlimited courage --and his noble essential decency."

"This I believe with all my heart."

as read by Mrs. Heinlein received a standing ovation.


Here are some other websites that will offer extra information on different topics:

If you need to learn how to work at home as a freelance writer then this site will teach you how to get paid to write for free.

Have you seen those sites that teach you the secrets of building wealth but you have to pay. This site will teach you for free.

Free Writer's Lessons By EPIC Authors

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EPIC-eWorkshop/

EPIC eWorkshop is precisely what it sounds like. This is a learning experience for new authors and new-to-e-book authors. List members need not be members of EPIC (The Electronically Published Internet Connection) to join in. We'll be discussing the indie/e industry, publishing in general, submitting, finding an e-publisher, contracts, and any other business aspects of indie/e publishing.

While this is not a critique group, you may post query letters for comment, at any time. When classes involve list members posting excerpts, the excerpt rule will be lifted.

This is not a promotion list. We will certainly share submission successes and heartbreaks, but we won't be advertising anyone's books or services.

This list is for adults only. At the same time, there will be no explicit sexual content allowed on list. This is a workshop for everyone from Inspirational and Children's/YA through erotica, but it's a business/learning group in general and not dedicated to a particular genre. Erotic content is better suited to groups like ERWA (Erotic Readers' and Writers' Association), where the entire group is dedicated to erotic writing.

Please read the full list rules before posting. List cops are available to help you find your feet.


We are also accepting proposals for those who wish to give workshops in their particular area of expertise. Several members, including myself, have non-EPIC-sponsored yahoogroups where erotic content may be presented without offense. If you have an announcement of an online workshop, please feel free to post that as well.

Write Fiction for Money

Escape Pod: Takes science fiction tales in two lengths:
flash (up to 1,000 words, for $20), and short stories
(2,000 to 6,000 words, $100). They buy nonexclusive rights,
and prefer humorous pieces over dark, depressing material.
( http://escapepod.org/guidelines/ )


Pseudopod: Dark horror magazine. Accepts flash (500 to 1,000
words, $20) and short stories (2,000 to 6,000 words, $50).
( http://pseudopod.org/guidelines/ )


PodCastle: Fantasy podcast magazine. Takes flash (up to
1,000 words, $20), and short stories (2,000 to 6,000 words,
$100). ( http://podcastle.org/guidelines )

Kindle is only available to US Publishers

The current Amazon controversy is confusing. I would think that people were more concerned with the fact that Kindle is only available to publishers who live in the USA. This severely limits the books they can list. It isn’t because they cannot deal with people outside of their country.

The Amazon.com POD alternative works with publishers from around the world. If Kindle went through this venue then they could easily list ebooks from publishers residing in the UK , Canada, and Australia without any problem.

Here are some other websites that will offer extra information on different topics:

If you need to learn how to work at home as a freelance writer then this site will teach you how to get paid to write for free.

Have you seen those sites that teach you the secrets of building wealth but you have to pay. This site will teach you for free.

New Changes at Amazon

There has been a lot of controversy over Amazon’s new rule that books must either be listed through their own POD service, or books must be on the warehouse floor.
Authors are upset because many publishers are refusing to pay to list their books through Amazon’s system.

The confusion is based on a few things. Amazon is a bookstore. And, like any other bookstore, they have a right to choose which books they sell from their outlet.

Being online does not force them to list all books that are in distribution. There are other online bookstores which use the same system of housing books in a warehouse, and few publishers or authors complain if their books are not listed.

The only people who face a serious problem are small POD publishers. They are being forced to pay more money to get their books into channels that sell. While the fee is negligible, in publishing terms, it can severely limit the publishing capabilities of companies that try to release as many books a year as possible.

It has caused a lot of concern for authors. Will their books be removed from Amazon? The answer is probably ‘yes.’ They will need to contact their publishers and find out what their policy will be.

Will it have an effect on books that are listed on the ‘satellite’ Amazon sites such as Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.ca? No, there is no indication that the policy will change how the other Amazon divisions list books.

Third party bookstores list authors books on Amazon. They will continue to list their books on Amazon. So, mid list publishers will continue to have listings on Amazon.

Here are some other websites that will offer extra information on different topics:

If you need to learn how to work at home as a freelance writer then this site will teach you how to get paid to write for free.

Have you seen those sites that teach you the secrets of building wealth but you have to pay. This site will teach you for free.