Become a Creative Writer with a Letter – Week 2

August 30, 2018October 10, 2018 F.A. HuffmanLeave a comment

Welcome to the second lesson in my creative writing exercise series. If you’ve done the first lesson, then you have answered three questions. You may have even fleshed those out into a complete story.

Today’s lesson will have you writing a letter to your younger self.

It is literally as easy as it sounds. This younger self could be from just a few years ago, or it could be you as a child. In your letter, you can offer yourself some advice, explanations, praise, forgiveness, or compassion. Or you could even tell your younger self a story of what has turned you into the adult you are now.

When you are writing, try your best to view this younger self as a completely different person. This exercise will help you to see your reader as a real person with feelings and emotions. You can move or inspire a person with your writing.

Again, do your best not to overthink this. Take a couple of minutes to figure out what your core message is going to be, and then start writing.

There you have it. Day two, done. Come back again to get day three.

There is nothing to writing. All you do is sid down at a typewriter and bleed. – Ernest Hemingway

Get Writing with 3 Questions – Week 1

August 23, 2018October 10, 2018 F.A. HuffmanLeave a comment

I strongly believe that everybody is capable of being a writer. We all live extraordinary lives. We all have inspiration around us and it just takes a little work to get it down on paper.

If you are able to talk, then you are able to write. The thing is, the more you write, the better you will be at writing. That’s why I have decided to spend the next nine weeks sharing with you creative writing exercises to make you a better writer.

Welcome to week one.

Today’s exercise is called: Answer 3 Questions.

That probably sounds like a weird exercise, but hang in there.

For this exercise, you will come up with the answers to three questions. This is supposed to help you stimulate the writing process. The great thing is, you can come up with the three questions yourself. Of course, I will provide you with some examples.

Try to answer your questions as quickly as you can, and use whatever ideas come to mind. You can write as much or as little as you want, but the point is to let the creative juices flow. Try not to think too much.

Here are some example questions:

Why is the window open?

Who just snuck through that window?

Why did they have to sneak through?

Who is Stephanie?

Why is she so happy?

What is she going to do next?

What are Theresa’s plans for the day?

Why does she hate going to the doctor?

Where are her children?

That’s your first day. Come back next week to get the second creative writing exercise.

There is no greater agnoy than bearing an untold story inside you. – Maya Angelou

10 Ways to Find Writing Inspiration

August 22, 2018October 10, 2018 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.

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.

Catch Me On Facebook

August 10, 2018August 9, 2018 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

August 9, 2018October 10, 2018 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