Wendy Strain: Musing

Burnout Busting Made Simple: Try this simple exercise to relieve your sense of stress.

It’s that time of the year again when we’re all running around full-out trying to find the perfect gifts, attend all the parties, send all the cards, put up the right decorations, and somehow still keep the doors open on our businesses. It’s a perfect recipe for burnout. After a while of non-stop action, I get to a moment of rest breathless and disoriented, wondering if it was all worth it.

Are…

This morning, I heard an advertisement on the radio for a great service. It’s something that lots of people need. It lends itself well to relationship marketing. But their dedication to service and their relationship with their customers was overshadowed by their closing words of desperation.

“We want your business.”

I winced on their behalf. Even the tone of voice sounded like Oliver asking for…

Is your business a wild animal?

Have you ever had this happen to you?

You’re running your business, everything is going smoothly, you feel like you finally have this whole entrepreneurship thing down, and then another big challenge hits.

Maybe it’s time to start applying for grants. Maybe you need a new type of license. Or maybe it’s time to scale up and all that entails.

Whatever the challenge is, it’s something you haven’t…

#vocabulary #WordChoice @Tara_R

Welcome to Two for Tuesday, where you are offered two similar, yet distinct, words to spark your imagination. One prompt will be an ordinary, oft used word. The other prompt will be a little more expressive, maybe even unfamiliar.

Each word will include a definition to help get you started.

“The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

Wh…

When to Research and When to Stop

When writing fiction, some people assume research is not needed. After all, aren’t we supposed to make everything up? But being accurate adds realism to your story. Not many readers will want to keep reading a book with marked inaccuracies, especially when they easily could have been looked up. You can’t ask your readers to buy into your created reality when the facts are wrong. This month we’ve…

Using Psychology to Research a Character: Testing

Want to know your spirit animal? There’s a test for that. In fact, there is a test for just about anything you want to know. Most of us know the ones on Facebook are just for entertainment but some are valid tools used in psychology to help people better understand themselves.

But what about personalities? Are they formed by the way we see the world. Or do they come pre-installed?  Here are just…

The Master Class has returned! Every week, I will introduce you to three prompts. Choose one, write about it, link up, and move to the head of the class. It’s that simple.

The rules:

Read the prompts.

Write a story answering the prompt. This can mean you use the prompt as your title, somewhere in your story, or as the idea.

Please share the prompt you chose.

Share the url to your story in the…

Dolor and Shadow by Angela B. Chrysler

Title: Dolor and Shadow Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Author: Angela B. Chrysler Rating: 4.2

As the elven city burns, Princess Kallan is taken to Alfheim while a great power begins to awaken within her. Desperate to keep the child hidden, her abilities are suppressed and her memory erased. But the gods have powers as well, and it is only a matter of time before they find the child again.

When Kallan, the…

Friday Flash Fiction Train

All aboard the Friday Flash Fiction Train! Each week, a new prompt will take us to parts unknown – sit back, check out the prompt, and enjoy the ride.

But first, some rules.

Every week, a random prompt will be posted on Friday. Participants have until Wednesday at 12:00 PM EST to write and submit a response in the comment section. Your story must be posted in the comments to count.

The catch –…

#writingprompt #photography @OurWriteSide

Welcome to the Darkroom where we open our photo album to you to help spark your creativity. Each week we offer a new photo, but the story is yours to write.

The Rules, because there are always rules:

1. The photo is here to spark your imagination. Use it as the landscape for your story, to remind you of a moment in your past, or the punch line to a joke. Use the photo as inspiration in any way…

5 Tips to Apply Your Mad Research Skills to Book Marketing

Hello OurWriteSiders,

We know we need to do research. Many of us delight in disappearing down the dark rabbit hole of the internet with the excuse of “research”… er, I mean, for practical and real research! Right?

We enjoy sitting and watching people in public as “research.” We chuckle at the memes like this:

But when it comes to marketing, so many of us just shut down. “I don’t know how to do…

The Importance of Research in Fantasy

I know what you’re thinking: fantasy as a genre invites the reader to suspend their belief. After all, few people truly expect to enter a cave and discover a live dragon inside sitting on a horde of treasure. Many of us accept that magic, at least in the forms seen in many books, does not exist in our world. Unicorns, mermaids, faeries, and many other creatures that populate thousands of fantasy…

What to Research when Writing Your Novel

This month we are talking about research. As fiction writers it can be really tempting to just make up what we don’t know. But having realistic information and details in your story will help the reader suspend disbelief and get immersed in your story. One incorrect, made-up detail could cause your reader to put down your book and never pick it up again. So let’s talk about some different things…

Welcome to Two for Tuesday, where you are offered two similar, yet distinct, words to spark your imagination. One prompt will be an ordinary, oft used word. The other prompt will be a little more expressive, maybe even unfamiliar.

Each word will include a definition to help get you started.

“The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

Wh…

The Master Class has returned! Every week, I will introduce you to three prompts. Choose one, write about it, link up, and move to the head of the class. It’s that simple.

The rules:

Read the prompts.

Write a story answering the prompt. This can mean you use the prompt as your title, somewhere in your story, or as the idea.

Please share the prompt you chose.

Share the url to your story in the…

Guest Posting: Why Do You Have to Try It?

When you are a new blogger, you make sure you write quality content for your own blog, in the hopes that your traffic will increase. Sometimes, that does not happen and can leave a blogger very despondent. What you might not know, is that some bloggers write for other blogs without getting a cent for it. It might sound ludicrous at first, but there are some benefits to writing guest posts. Many…

Alice: The Wanderland Chronicles by J.M. Sullivan

Title: Alice: The Wanderland Chronicles Genre: YA Horror Author: J.M. Sullivan Rating: 4.5

Ever since the outbreak of the Plague, life hasn’t been easy, and for seventeen-year-old Alice Carroll, it just got worse. Her sister, Dinah, has contracted the ‘un-deadly’ Momerath Virus and without a cure, will soon be worse than dead. She’ll be momerath.

Alice must leave the safety of the Sector and…