I survived the week with my Scout Troop at Canadian Jamboree. That involved living in a tent for seven days, cooking and eating whatever food the jamboree organizers saw fit to provide and keep sixteen scouts in line. It was not my day job but it also wasn’t a holiday. The good news is, when we left for home, everybody said they had various amounts of fun and everyone returned mostly intact. No major incidents or injuries with my crew for which I am grateful. I also returned home with lots of new fodder for stories. Specifically, how kids interact with each other. I will probably start using it when the nightmares stop. 😉 The real positive I took away […]
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Knowing Your Audience
I thought I would talk about audience today. Specifically, knowing who you are writing for and how you can ensure that you’re hitting the mark. I’ve been shown the value of understanding who might want to read my stories several times. When I sent in Mik Murdoch, Boy Superhero originally, I kind of knew who I expected my eventual readership to be: boys, ages 9 – 15. Simple enough, right? After all, the book is about a boy in that age category who wants to be a superhero. I expected some girls might like it and the occasional adult too. Then my editor, Robert Runte, and I had the chance to meet last Fall. He told me that when he […]
Read moreLots Going On
There are a lot of times that I think I’m my own worst enemy. I get myself going on multiple projects, then, just for good measure, I throw a few more things into the mix. For example, I’ve got a couple writing projects, a book being revised, two anthology ideas developing and I’m going to World Fantasy Convention on October 27th. That should really be enough, but I’ve also decided to do NaNoWriMo again. Oh yeah, and those are only my writing commitments. I’ve also got family, work, Scouts, my Get Published podcast and a couple other things. Yup, I’m definitely my own worst enemy. Oddly enough, there are times when I have to sit back and take a deep […]
Read moreHours in the Day
Let me begin by saying this article is not going to be Michell’s whinefest. It may seem like it (at least early on) but it really isn’t. Honest. That old saying “There’s not enough hours in the day” is certainly feeling real to me lately. I have two big writing projects going on: editing my fantasy novel for submission and NanoWriMo. I’ve also got the podcast which takes up several hours per week (interviews, editing and mixing all take time) plus I’ve got the work and home commitments. I’ve pretty much given up on television, which makes me sad. So many great shows, no time. What this time crunch has done for me is given me the appreciation of using […]
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