Top 10 Posts of 2017

First, let me say…

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2017 comes to an end this weekend. And it has been a doozy year of epic, history making proportions. For example, #MeToo, the fires on the west Coast. The devastation of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands after hurricane Irma and Maria. Black women being responsible for voting in Doug Jones, etc.

Before I begin this year’s countdown of popular blog posts on my blog, let’s first take a moment of silence….

Now which posts has made my top ten in 2017? Let’s start our countdown, from least to most views, with #10:

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Writing and Removing Clichés by J.Q. Rose

Hi Lidy, Thanks so much for hosting me today.

I hope readers will leave a comment below because I will add each commenter to a drawing for a free PDF copy of my cozy mystery, Deadly Undertaking. DEADLINE? Sunday, July 30th.

Today I attack my nemesis—using clichés in my writing. They are annoying for readers and a thorn in the side for editors too.

Writing and Removing Clichés by J.Q. Rose

For some reason clichés are not approved by editors when checking my stories. I don’t know why. It makes writing as easy as pie. These familiar expressions are as good as gold when it comes to taking a short cut in your storytelling.

Instead of writing a paragraph about how bad the storm is, I can just say the rain is coming down in buckets. The reader knows exactly how bad that is. However, after sending this in to the editor, the phrase will appear red-lined in the manuscript and a comment will show up in the margin gently reminding me that is a cliché. But seriously, if you have to describe how hot the weather is in a story, why can’t you say it was hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk? That really does explain the heat factor!

Q&A Interview with Author Michele Berger

 

Hi everyone! Today I’m introducing fellow Shewrites member, Michele Berger on her first ever interview on my blog. She has a new novella coming out, so let’s show her some love.

Hi Michele!

What is the book about?

What if a visit to the salon could kill you? What if a hair product harbored a deadly virus? My sci-fi novella, Reenu-You chronicles five women in the 1990s who find themselves yoked together coping with the spread of a mysterious virus. Reenu-You allows me to play with several topics: the social and political meanings of hair, female friendships and viruses.

30 Days of Poetry Love & Interview

 

Happy tenth day of poetry month! And it’s a two-for-one post this Monday. First let me introduce you to debut poetess Maheen Ahmed. Here’s her interview:

 

1)What does poetry mean to you?

Poetry definitely means a lot to me. It’s one of the few things that I writer very well, and that I’ve been doing for as long as I can remember. I think I started writing or re-writing small excerpts from novels or nursery rhymes when I was very young, and I started properly writing my own original content during the fifth grade.