A Pratfall to Avoid When Writing Short and a BOOK FREE through Friday!

Write Short to Succeed Just Released in Audio! Read on for how to get a FREE EBOOK or AUDIO BOOK copy!

Much of the reason for my success in writing short stories comes from my avid reading of short stories. Recently, I've noticed a disturbing and major flaw in many of the short stories I read. 

They're too long. They're padded. This is bad for a novel and much worse for a short story. This happens most often in anthologies or collections from a number of authors.

I've wondered about why this might be occurring so often and come up with a possible explanation. In this era of eBooks, publishers of anthologies, whether they be traditional or authors in a collective, sometimes focus on word count of the individual stories to the detriment of the collection.

Now I've submitted and published in many anthologies over, um, a number of years. Since I'm now focused on several other writing projects, I don't submit as often as I used to. However, I still check anthology calls.

A number of them now have strict limits on words. No less than 3500 words is common.  In romance, often the short stories must be longer, no less than say 5000 or 6000 words.

Why? I believe it may be because the publishers are attempting to have a large number of pages. Because of eBooks, readers expect a lot of reading for their money. In order for a publisher to be able to set a good price for an eBook, there have to be quite a few pages. Or so many of the publishers seem to think.

I may be wrong in this, if so please mention it in the comments! Whether I'm wrong or right, there's an easy solution: have your stories the length they're meant to be. Resist the urge to pad to be able to submit. Realize that a satisfactory read is far better than one that slogs. Remember that a well written story will sell.

Now: FREEBIES! Today through this Friday Write Short to Succeed is FREE on Amazon!
AND: If you comment and give me your email address I will send you a code for a FREE download of the Write Short to Succeed from Audible. (Comments with addresses will not be published.)

ENJOY!

How to Fail Perfectly and FREE EBOOK!

Perfectionism is a sneaky, underhanded destroyer of creativity. A powerful energy suck.

Now, I can hear all you creative people out in Creative Land shouting: "I know all about the pitfalls of perfectionism! I've read the articles! I don't do that anymore. I'm perfect at not doing that anymore!"

Re-read my last exclamation. That's why I called perfectionism sneaky and underhanded. Even if we recognize how attempting to be perfect in any endeavor leads to frustration and failure, still we struggle. An example? I just rewrote the last sentence five times. In a first draft.

If you're an artist, do you find yourself starting a project over again before you finish? As a dancer do you find yourself practicing a step even after you know you're doing it "well enough" to move on? For a musician, do you get stuck on a piece?

And of course, for myself as an author, I rewrite and rewrite before I finish the draft.

Why? Why does this happen?

The simple answer: perfectionism sneaking in, that little monster.

For one simple reason: creative people want to be the best ever with their creations.

That's a good and powerful thing. That is to be commended. Celebrated. We work at our craft. We know we must try and try again to improve our craft.

Except. Except. Perfectionism rears its ugly, ugly head--as in, look, a cliche! In writers, it crawls in under the guise of the all-powerful editor.  "That's an awkward sentence..," the editor whispers.

So, what to do?

One trick: recognize and gently, gently escort the critic out of your mind. Recognize that the impulse to perfectionism is only the impulse to improve--gone a little wild. Accept the gift of the impulse without giving in to it.

When you catch yourself in perfectionism mode, work to not beat yourself up about it. Instead see the steps above and exercises below.

Exercises:

1. Keep a list of what sets you off into perfectionism. Jot down when it happens. Are you tired? Are you trying to force the work? Is it a new work? An old one you haven't been able to finish? Don't try to change/fix/judge the list as in "I'll finish the old work or die trying!" Just observe.

2. When perfectionism is whispering or even shouting, answer it, gently, with reasons. "Yes, that is an awkward sentence. They happen. I'm not perfect." And then move on.

3. OR: shout at it, argue with it, be totally ridiculous with it. "I love my awkward sentences! They're perfect!"

3. If the perfectionism blocks you completely, it's okay to let it win, for that moment. Switch projects. Go play on another project. Take a total break and walk away.

Now for some FREEBIE fun! Through Thursday, June 22, 2017, Mild West Mysteries: 13 Idaho Tales of Murder and Mayhem is FREE! Enjoy!

FREE now in eBook! Go here: Mild West Mysteries. 

Christmas Romance Audio Novella Giveaway! Free! While supplies last!

Some of this year's Christmas Decorations

To get you off in a festive mood, here's a gift to get you into the holiday spirit. While supplies last you can have a code for an audio book download of A Crispy Rice Christmas FREE.

Fun, clean Christmas romance! A Crispy Rice Christmas!

This will be a download from Audible, the audio book arm of Amazon. You will have to go onto Audible.com and sign in (no membership required) to redeem. Yes, they'll send you a few emails asking you to become a member, those can be ignored. And yes, I would love an honest review IF you have time! But mostly I really loved writing this story and want to share the Christmas joy!

So COMMENT (with your email written out as in: name dot yahoo dot com and I won't publish your comment either) for your free audio book!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

Three Awesome Books for a teaser of Book Sale coming August 6th!

Fun, Fun, Fun!

There will be over 20! authors selling their books at the Book Extravaganza this August 6th. A wide range of genres and styles will be represented, enough for any reader to find much to read! 

Many will be on sale or offering other specials. Here's three to tease.

Register to win a FREE copy!

Finding hope in all the wrong places.

Rebecca is a well published author. In her Christian romances she demonstrates why. 

And all her titles at the book sale will be ON SALE for only $10 each! Plus you can register to win a free copy of her latest work, Winds of Change. Find out more about Rebecca and her wonderful writing at her Amazon author page.

One Brick at a Time, a heart wrenching and heart warming biography you won't want to put down.

One Brick at a Time is Elaine Oostra's life story. She shares her fond and sometimes humorous memories of childhood as well as the struggles and pain of growing up with a mom who suffered from mental illness. 

Want some fun, fast reading? Mild West Mysteries abounds in thirteen cozy mystery short stories of the West as never seen before. 

Also, I'll be running a Buy One Get One of Same or Lesser Price HALF OFF with all my four titles: Starke Naked Dead, Mild West Mysteries, The Mall Fairies: Exile and Write Short to Succeed. 

For more about me and my wacky Idaho adventures, visit my Amazon author page.

Hope to see you Saturday!

FREE Workshop Writing Conflict and a writing tip!

Yup, you heard right, FREE workshop on Writing Conflict: Hows and Whys. And a FREE workshop one time only. At the Victory Branch Library,10664 W Victory Road, Boise, ID 83709 on Wednesday July 20th from 6:30-7:30 pm.

Why a workshop on writing conflict? In teaching my Write Short to Succeed workshop, I noticed a major struggle among newer writers. What was the difference between an anecdote, vignette and a short story or article or memoir? How to create a work that readers want to read? The answer is simple: conflict. Conflict creates the scene, the characters, the story arc, why a reader should read an article, and more. Without conflict, the writing fails.

Why a free workshop? Because Writing Conflict will be the second in my Hows and Whys series, the first being Write Short to Succeed. So the authors who attend will "pay" for the workshop by giving me honest feedback.

Write Short to Succeed out now!

Here's a tip about conflict:

In any writing, whether it be fiction or nonfiction, short or long, ask yourself: What is the problem? Where is the problem? Is the problem obvious? Can you state, "The problem is...." or not? If you can't answer at least a couple of these questions you don't have conflict. And you have a problem.

How to have conflict in every word, sentence and paragraph of your writing will be covered in the workshop. Hope to see you there!

And authors out there in blog land: how do you see conflict? How do you use it? Abuse it?