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Entries For: January 2010
Three Magic Books, Part Three
Congratulations! You have already added two great books to your library - one that teaches you the tools of the English language, and one that offers motivation to get you started on putting that language to use, and to keep going once you are underway. Now for the third of the Three Magic Books - the one that will give you inspiration. And this is one book you won't have to buy!
Three Magic Books, Part Two
Okay, so you took my advice from last week's Blog and purchased William Strunk's "Elements of Style." You've studied it and learned a few things about punctuation and syntax, and now you wish to apply these newly memorized rules to your novel. But the problem is, how to get started - or if you have already begun to write your book, how to keep going. As American satirist Will Rogers said, "Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there."
Three Magic Books
A new year has begun and perhaps some of you are thinking of starting that novel you have been wanting to write (or perhaps you have already started on it but gave up half-way through, and now you want to dust it off and see if you can finish it). I am frequently asked for advice on how to write a novel, or how to get started, and most especially, how to keep it going once you have started. My response is usually in about five thousand sentences filled with tips, tricks, advice, warnings, examples and pep talk. Today, I am going to make it simple and help you to get started by sharing with you the secret of Three Magic Books that will get you on your way to completing a successful novel.
The New Decade
I received an email from a friend yesterday in which she wrote, "Happy New Year and Happy New Decade!" She then went on to enthuse, "Let's hope this decade is better than the last." As I was framing my reply, I paused. Was this truly the beginning of a new decade? Wouldn't a decade start with the number One? If you are counting, say, ten apples, you wouldn't pick up the first one and call it Zero. So how can 2010 be the start of a new decade? The new decade will begin a year from now, on January first, 2011.
La Advina
