Tag: life

10 Ways to Find Writing Inspiration

10 Ways to Find Writing Inspiration

F.A. HuffmanLeave a comment

Being a writer isn’t as easy as some people think. It takes time. You have to come up with ideas. Then ultimately you have to write it down into a cohesive manner. After a while, you will find it hard to find inspiration. Inspiration has evaded me before, and there have been times where I had to make myself write. I don’t like feeling like I’m being made to do something, and I’m sure most of you are the same way. If you’re looking for some inspiration to help you get motivated to write, I’ve got a few tips for you.

  1. Books

What better way to find inspiration that with a book. You don’t even have to go with inspirational books, but you can. Any type of book; fiction, non-fiction, young adult, fantasy, horror, whatever your favorite type of book is. That book might just hold that piece of inspiration you’ve been looking for. Stephen King’s book IT helped me figure out how I wanted to organize my book.

2. People Watching

This is my favorite. I’ve always been a fly on the wall type person. Or a wallflower. Whatever you want to call it. So sitting around and watching other people has always been entertaining, and it’s the perfect way to get inspired to write.

3. Brainstorms

Sit down with a pen and paper and start writing things down. Write the different ideas you’ve been playing. Don’t worry about organizing anything, just write. Something on that paper could end up becoming your next big success.

4. Writing Journal

This is great for any writer. It’s not something you have to write in every single day, but it’s there for you if inspiration strikes. You can write down quotes, snippets, plot twists, characters, or dialog. All you need is a simple spiral bound notebook.

5. Dreams

This may not be very easy, but keeping up with your dreams may give you some ideas on what to write about. There was one morning I woke up and I could remember a dream I had that night, and I wrote it down because I thought it would be a great plot for a story. I’ve not used it yet, but I still have it written down and ready if I ever want to write it.

6. Exercise

Breaking a sweet is a great way to find inspiration. There’s something about physical exercise that gets the brain working.

7. History

It’s amazing but looking back at history can give you inspiration. Look back at some of the greats like Leonard di Vinci, Helen Keller, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, and Gandhi.

8. Nature

Tired of staring at a blank screen? Take a walk outside. Spend some time and nature and let your mind relax. Appreciate the things around you. Notice the beauty of a sunrise or sunset. You’ll be amazed at how well this will help you find inspiration.

9. Friends

Have real conversations. Spend time with people you like and just talk to them. You never know what’s going to come up, and it might just inspire something inside you.

10. Music

Find some music that inspires you and play it while you’re writing. This could be classical, hard rock, metal, whatever gets your mind working.

That’s my tips for you today. I hope some of these help you to find inspiration the next you are stuck. If you have some tips to help people find inspiration to write, please share them in the comments.

The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today. – H. Jackson Brown Jr.

 

Mark Your Calendars

Mark Your Calendars

F.A. HuffmanLeave a comment

You’ve heard me talk about my book Loved by Death over and over again. Well, I’m excited to tell you that I have finally finished it completely, and it will be available for purchase on August 31.

I can’t really say how I feel about it. I still have a lot to do, and a lot to worry about. I have to make sure I promote it properly, otherwise, it won’t go anywhere. And that would just be depressing. I’ve spent years working on this book and I want other people to enjoy it and love it like I do.

I also have to make sure I don’t let myself get carried away or too frustrated if things don’t happen as quickly as I think they should. I feel good about the book overall. I think it’s the best I could do, and I do love the story.

I’ve got some last minute things to do to get the book formatted and ready. I’m also going to see if I can get some people to read it and leave me ratings on Amazon to help with promotion. FYI, if you’re interested in leaving me a rating on Amazon for my book, I would send you a free copy of the book.

The book will be available as an ebook as well as paperback. That’s my message for the day. Just some crazy ramblings from my brain about how anxious and scared I am about publishing my first book.

If you have experience in this area, please, leave a comment and let me know how you dealt with the stress and worry.

There is marvelous peace in not publishing. It’s peacefull. Still. Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. – J.D. Salinger

The Killer of all Great Writers

The Killer of all Great Writers

F.A. HuffmanLeave a comment

Today we are going to talk about the biggest killer of all writers.

 

Writer’s Block

 

Calm the screaming. I know, it’s scary, but it doesn’t have to end your career. There are ways around it, and I’m sure I will write many more posts on the subject. There’s no need to feel bad. Every writer gets it. Even the best most famous writers have to deal with writer’s block. I’ve got 14 ways to help you work through writer’s block.

Before we get into how to combat writer’s block, let’s look at what could be causing the block.

  1. Timing – Maybe it’s not the right time for you to write. Maybe you need to let your ideas stew a little bit more before they can be written down.
  2. Fear – A lot of writers will struggle with fear when it comes to actually putting their ideas down on paper. They are afraid of sharing a part of themselves. They are afraid of being criticized and judged. They are afraid that it will be the only thing they write. I know fear has been what has slowed me down on getting my first book out.
  3. Perfectionism – For a writer, the book is never done. Even once its gone to press, you’ll still be thinking about how you could have changed something. At some point, you have to be finished with it. Perfect doesn’t exist. It’s only an excuse.

While dealing with writer’s block is tough, here are some things you can try to break through the wall.

  • Find some inspiring quotes and read them for inspiration.
  • Make bullet point lists of ideas.
  • Call somebody you haven’t spoken to in a while.
  • Spend some time with a person that lifts you up.
  • Come up with a regular schedule.
  • Make some coffee.
  • Listen to music.
  • Freewrite.
  • Read a book.
  • Switch up your environment.
  • Play.
  • Exercise or do something that keeps your blood pumping.
  • Get rid of your distractions.
  • Take a walk.

The important thing is to create some momentum to get over that wall.

If your still not sure what to do, here are some things that you should not do to try to overcome the block.

  • Refusing to write until you are inspired.
  • Wallowing in self-pity.
  • Making excuses or procrastinating.
  • Watching TV.

If you’re looking for that magical fail-proof way to overcome writer’s block, here it is:

WRITE

Don’t waste time waiting for inspiration. Begin, and inspiration will find you. – H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Catch Me On Facebook

Catch Me On Facebook

F.A. HuffmanLeave a comment

This one is going to be short and sweet. Since Facebook has made changes to their sharing policies, I have made a page specifically for my writing, blog posts, book promotions, and so on.

This way my blogs can be shared immediately after I publish them. I was just sharing them on my regular page, but Facebook made that harder.

I will probably also post regular updates to Facebook that I don’t publish here, so make sure you follow me there to stay up-to-date on everything that I have going on. I also have Instagram and Twitter if you want to follow me there. I post every day things on Instagram so you would get a bit of an insight into my everyday life.

I’m working tirelessly to get my exposure up before I publish my first book so that it is a success. I’ve tried publishing short stories and the like before, but they never did well because I didn’t put the time and effort into it. I have spent several years working on this book, and I plan on writing several more books for Wolfsbane Chronicles, so I want to share it with the world. This is my passion and my dream, and I am going to make it a success.

Twitter Handle: @mylidlradio92

Instagram Handle: @mylidlradio

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/author.feliciah

Search without Google is like social networking without Facebook: Unimaginable. – Evgeny Morozov

 

4 Self-Publishings Tips that will Give You Exposure

4 Self-Publishings Tips that will Give You Exposure

F.A. HuffmanLeave a comment

By the end of August, I plan on having my first novel available on Amazon. I’m scared out of my mind about doing so because of all the unknowns. Will people like it, will people read it, how do I make sure people even know it exists?

I’m sure if anybody reading this has self-published a book, or plan on doing so in the near future, you’ve had these same thoughts. We’re going to take a little journey through some things that we can all do to self-promote our books so that hopefully all of our hard work doesn’t go to waste.

Giveaway

I know we all are interested in making money and giving your book away isn’t going to do that, but everybody likes free things. While you may not make any money, giving your book away for the first day or so after its launch could end up getting you more exposure. The people that purchase your book during that time may leave a review, which will get your name out there, and if they like it, they will come back and purchase more books.

Reduced Price Offer

Once your book has been up on Amazon for a month at its full price, you can use their reduced price offer that comes with a KDP countdown. This will lower the price of your book, which you choose, for a certain period of time. The people who view your listing will see a countdown timer showing how much longer the book will be available at that price. This promotion will also boost your numbers sold, which will help to boost your author rating.

Pick a Niche Category

You need to search through Amazon to make sure you pick the best two categories for your book. You need to make sure that you pick a niche that is going to help you get to the top of the charts.

Social Media

You have to use your social media accounts in a smart way because overexposure can end up hurting you. Try to limit yourself to only three accounts like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. And don’t post multiple daily links to your book either. You will overwhelm your viewers and drive them away. It also helps to make sure that you have a picture with your link. People are more apt to click on a link if it comes with a picture.

That’s the tips I have for you today, but there are lots more out there. There are also a lot of websites that can help you promote your book as well. The thing to remember is that you have to work at it. No matter how good your book is, people won’t buy it unless they know it’s there.

Some self-promotion:

As you know, if you have read any of my other blogs, I have been published twice in Millhaven Press. You can still get both journals to read my stories.

Get Millhaven’s Tales of Suspense here

Get Millhaven’s Tales of Wonder here

Get both journals here

I don’t care if a reader hates one of my stories, just as long as he finishes the book. – Roald Dahl