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!

How To Combat Abrupt Writer’s Apathy by Brooke Faulkner

Credit image: Pixabay.com

As a writer, I struggle with writer’s block from time to time (ahem… that’s totally not an understatement.) But lately, I’ve been dealing with an issue that’s slightly different… it’s not that I can’t come up with anything or move forward on what I do have. It’s that I lose interest in–or stop caring–about my subject part of the way through writing on it.

Sometimes it’s because I realize that what I have to say isn’t as original as I thought. Other times, it’s because I look into an issue deeper and realize there is way too much information out there and I just don’t have the time to give it the justice it deserves. Sometimes, I have no idea why, I just lose interest or motivation. It’s not exactly writer’s block. It’s…

Abrupt writer’s apathy, if you will.

Technology and the Writers of Tomorrow by Katie Kapro

Every summer in my small city, the streets of downtown are overrun by flocks of elementary school kids wielding notebooks and pencils. They wear neon yellow backpacks with “Summer Writing Camp” emblazoned on the front. The flocks, generally corralled by a teacher and TA, hole-up in coffee shops, museums, and public parks, dispersing amongst the patrons with eager observational stealth. They listen in on strangers’ conversations, taking notes on people’s speaking patterns, storytelling rhythms, and mannerisms. They eavesdrop, in other words.

All the kids in these flocks are aspiring writers. Somewhere along the line they fell in love with stories. Some will tell you it’s because they love to read, others because they love to imagine, others because they simply nerd out over the art of stringing words together. Twenty years ago, I was one of those kids; squarely in the reading camp.