Top 10 Blog Posts for May

In case you missed any, here are the top 10 posts for May.

1. Moleskine Hacks for Fiction Writers:  I never go anywhere without my Moleskine to take notes.

2. Is There a Strong Woman Character or Are We Being Fooled?:  We have tons of books with women protagonists.  But do we have strong women characters?

3. Engaging Readers with Social Media:  Check out the discussion in the comments on whether writers should do writer blogs.

4. 5 Lessons I Learned on Finding Time to Write:  ”How do you find time to write?” is one of the most common things writers ask.  Find out what I do.

5. 5 Links on Time Management for Writers:  Check out what other writers are doing to manage their time.  There are some great links in here.

6. Writing with the Jellyfish:  On my journey to embracing being a pantser and working with my unique writing process.

7. Technology Hacks for Dealing with Twitter Spammers:  Check out some of the great tools that are available to keep spam out of your Twitter feed.

8. Should You Write with a Cowriter?  The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly:  It sounds like a great idea, but is it?  Check out what I did wrong.

9. Triberr Review: Useful Tool or Shiny Toy:   The Triberr owner dropped in for a few comments, so check it out what he says!

10. Balancing Writing and Social Media [UNLEADED]: It’s easy to get locked into “promote, promote, promote” and forget to write the book.

For you:  What subjects would you like to see?  Post in the comments below.

 

Moleskine Hacks for Fiction Writers

Have you run into a situation where using technology made more work instead of simplifying it?

That’s one of the reasons I started using Moleskin notebooks.  You’ve probably seen them in Barnes and Noble, or even Target.  Rows of simple notebooks in different colors, itching to be picked up.  There’s an artistic feel to them, a special kind of magic.    Other notebooks like the one below feel like homework.

But what would you use it for?  Here’s a few hacks to try:

Ideas 

Ideas often come in spurts, and it seems like never at convenient times!  How do you record them?  I’m always scrabbling around for a piece of paper.  Recording them all in one place sure makes it a lot easier!  During Ravencon, I was getting such good information during the workshops that I was getting ideas, so I added them right there in my notebook.  I know exactly where they are, and I don’t have to go hunting for scraps of paper or files.

Research Notes

Have you ever stumbled across an article in a newspaper that has something you know is perfect for your story?  Usually it’s at the worst time — no paper to write on.   I’m always tearing the articles out and stuffing them in my pockets, but then I forget to take them out and record the information.  But a Moleskine is small enough to bring everywhere, and it only takes a second to pull it out and add a quick note.  You can’t even do that with a cell phone in that time!

Critique Groups

I’ll bet you’ve been doing critiques, and probably getting critiqued.  A Moleskine is a great place to note comments on another writer’s work, and also to note comments on your own.  It’s all in one place, so it’s easy to refer back to it at a later date for that one comment that didn’t seem important at the time but now makes sense.  I like the aspect of writing it down, rather than trying to type because there’s going to be a temptation of trying to capture it all.  Writing forces me to hit the points that catch my attention, because are usually the ones I need to pay attention to.

Workshops

Right along with the critiques are online workshops.  If you’ve tried one of them, it’s a lot more work than reading the lessons.  There are exercises that have to be completed.  The Moleskine is a great option for working through the lesson and having everything in one place.  At the convention workshops, all I had to do was carry around one small notebook and a pen, and I was set.

For you:  What are you using your Moleskine for?  What kind of hacks do you have that you’ve found work?  Post your comments below.