by lzadmin | Nov 9, 2014 | ROCK your Writing
This is not a post about funny characters. This is about creating character personalities based on the 4 humors. The what? Here’s a quick refresher course on the ancient Greek categories. Hippocrates ( 460–370 BC) is responsible for taking an even more ancient...
by lzadmin | Nov 2, 2014 | Reading & Writing, ROCK your Writing
Has your writing gone to the dogs? Are you in need of some insPAWration? There are days when—doggone it—writers feel like they’re workin’ like a dog with nothing to show for it. IN THE DOG HOUSE Is your manuscript on a genre...
by lzadmin | Oct 28, 2014 | Reading & Writing
Standing in front of candy-filled shelves is a good place to contemplate, because therein lies every writer’s story. A WRITER’S TALE Once upon a time, you heard the of your friends upon announcing you were writing a novel. They didn’t...
by lzadmin | Oct 26, 2014 | Reading & Writing, ROCK your Writing
Writers love creating characters. Personality. Physical Appearance. Dress. Mannerisms. Dialog: It’s what we do! It’s how authors bring characters to life. But did you stop to think about your characters’ morality, or more specifically, what level of...
by lzadmin | Oct 19, 2014 | Reading & Writing, ROCK your Writing
Any teacher knows Bloom’s Taxonomy. For those not in the teacher loop it’s how educational psychologist Benjamin Bloom classified the levels of thinking. Teachers use the classifications to foster and inspire students’ higher-level thinking skills....
by lzadmin | Oct 12, 2014 | Reading & Writing
On rare occasions, writers may leave their creative cave joining with friends and family to partake of festivities and merriment. On said occasions these friends/family are bound to ask casual questions about your writing, novel in progress, and/or your current...
by lzadmin | Oct 5, 2014 | Reading & Writing
“Honey, did you forget about that Halloween party we’re invited to?” “Noooooo. Not tonight. I’m on a writing role. Can’t stop now.” “Your friends miss you. You need a break. And you have that crazy look in your eyes...
by lzadmin | Sep 28, 2014 | Reading & Writing
Writers should understand their readers’ preferences. This is often a difficult task. Some readers are faithful to one genre only. Others read everything from hardcore literary SciFi to romance. Readers can’t be pigeon holed. Or can they? Novels and cars...
by lzadmin | Sep 21, 2014 | Reading & Writing, ROCK your Writing
Writer’s BLOCK. It’s a phrase striking angst and fear into the hearts of writers. The inability to write—anything. The writer stymied, unable to move the plot along. BAH! Don’t allow that evil phrase to coil around your soul like a serpent....
by lzadmin | Sep 14, 2014 | Reading & Writing, ROCK your Writing
Writers are creative. Plots and characters appear, evolve, and invade our minds, haunting us until we unleash them on paper or computer screen. That’s fun! But there’s another aspect of writing that isn’t quite as fun. The grammar-punctuation part....
by lzadmin | Sep 7, 2014 | Reading & Writing
Writing is fraught with angst and panic and euphoria and creative outbursts and emotional meltdowns. Writers experience the highs and the lows–which is a good thing because it helps us recreate the feelings in our characters. However…. those mood swings...
by lzadmin | Aug 31, 2014 | Reading & Writing, ROCK your Writing
Temperature symbolism is hot-hot-hot. Turn it up for burning anger or passion that sizzles. Turn it down to reveal character and mood. But be careful, the heated adjectives can be ambiguous in the cold reality of writing. Temperature can: reveal a novel’s...
by lzadmin | Aug 24, 2014 | Reading & Writing
Whether you believe there were 9 original muses—the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne—or 3 Muses, the fact remains that there exists a few lesser known Muses. You’ve probably encountered one or two of these stealth Muses because they love tormenting….uh, inspiring...
by lzadmin | Aug 17, 2014 | Life & Laughter
As a mom to four grown children, I found that there were a few tasks—important tasks– I neglected to teach them before sending them into the cold cruel world. Why is that, you ask? Moms and dads are busy. It’s often easier and faster for parents to...
by lzadmin | Aug 9, 2014 | Reading & Writing, ROCK your Writing
Characterization 101: Writers have quite an arsenal of ways for conveying a character’s personality. Whether overt or subtle, the savvy reader knows that characters are brought to life only if the writer has effectively done their job. So how does a writer...