I know many authors listen to a playlist when they write. Some curate playlists with songs that encompass the atmospheric tone of the book or chapter. Others listen to songs whose messages match whatever scene they’re writing or that remind them of a specific character to help them get into that headspace. I’ll be honest:… Continue reading Music When I Write
In my last post, Reading Recap April 2023, I mentioned that the reason I didn’t read much during April was because I had something exciting going on in my life. Now that it’s official, I feel comfortable finally sharing it: I got a promotion at the library! I am now the Team Leader of my… Continue reading My New Job Position
As an aspiring writer, it’s to be expected that writing is one of my hobbies. While this is true, there are other activities I enjoy just as much and am just as passionate about. Some of them are predictable, like reading, but I think others may surprise you. Reading Since I subscribe to the age-old… Continue reading The Non-Writing Hobbies of a Writer
I mentioned in an earlier post that I sometimes use creative writing prompts to kickstart my writing mood. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I randomly chose to respond to this prompt from Promptuarium. It seemed like an intriguing premise, so I let my imagination fly. I’d planned to write only a few paragraphs expanding… Continue reading A New Writing Project?
I’ve been experiencing some major writer’s block recently, struggling to find any writing inspiration. Even writing this blog post has been difficult. So, instead of searching for inspiration from within, I decided to look for it in the world around me. If I try to force myself to write when I’m feeling uninspired, I either… Continue reading Inspiration Is All Around Us
Unlike a lot of authors I’ve read, I did not always want to be a writer. My journey to writing didn’t involve an “ah-ha” moment where I immediately realized my love of writing and knew I wanted to do it my whole life. Instead, my love for writing was more of a gradual discovery during… Continue reading My Journey to Writing
In the last few years, several of my favorite young adult novels have been republished with new editions featuring new book covers. This trend has been slowly expanding, so I thought I would do a side-by-side comparison of some of my favorite YA cover transformations. Most of these are from books that I’ve already read,… Continue reading Original vs. New YA Book Covers
I recently revisited my YA thriller work-in-progress, The League, and began rewriting it. Doing so has me reviewing the character sketches I made years ago for each of the novel’s main characters. The sketches basically serve as an outline of a character’s physical appearance, personality, history, motivations, and character arc to help keep me on… Continue reading “The League” Character Sketch: Keenan Montgomery
As the final post in my three-part blog series on building your author platform, the following lists contain invaluable resources that I used when creating the blog component of my author website. Not every writer needs an author blog, but, as many of the resources I listed in the first post of this series explains,… Continue reading Building Your Author Platform: Starting Your Author Blog
As the second post in my three-part blog series on building your author platform, the following lists contain resources that were invaluable for me while creating my author social media accounts. Setting Up Author Social Media: “The Ultimate Guide to Social Media for Writers 2021” by Dave Chesson – This article is a comprehensive guide… Continue reading Building Your Author Platform: Setting Up Social Media
Allison Burton 