Tags

, , , , , ,

Author Blog Challenge – Day 6 Recap

Yesterday was Day 6 of the Author Blog Challenge, and we still had people making their first posts. Message to the late starters: Better now than not at all! If you missed the posts on our Facebook group page, here are a few excerpts from posts for Day 6 of the Author Blog Challenge.

I loved reading the stories of where other authors’ book ideas came from. Still, it was a little nerve-wracking for me to write my own story, as I don’t generally use the Marcie Brock blog to promote my book. My marketing services? Of course! But not so much with my book. Nevertheless, my story is as relevant as all the other participants’!

Please click the names to read the full posts. Enjoy!

LORI CARTER BONN.
A great teacher doesn’t need words.
She lost her ability to talk over 25 years ago too…
but her life continues to speak in spite of it.
Words sometimes just get in the way anyway.

__________________

ANDREW G. COOPER. I was at my parents’ house in Wolfville, Nova Scotia for Christmas. That evening I decided to jot down some ideas about the character, just flesh him out a bit more. I ended up staying up the entire night. In the morning, after not sleeping at all, I already had the a handful of characters, a rough plot line, a setting and all together the beginnings of a novel. That day (the next day) I told my twin all about it, she seemed to like the idea. Since then I have structured out the entire book and am now working my way slowly but surely through the first part of it.

__________________

NIKKI MORGAN. The idea [of writing a book] joined the long lineup of ideas that I have, but as with many of my ideas, they stay just that. Ego steps in and says “you can’t do that,” “you don’t have what it takes,” or “you gotta be joking,” and they just linger around in idea heaven. BUT this idea was different to many of the others; it kept niggling away in the background; a piece of paper started to get filled with notes, ideas, chapter headings and a title. One day I opened a blank word document and just started typing, saved it on a USB and then again for a long time, nothing more happened.

__________________

GEOFF SNYDER. I think most of us know the bodily feelings we get when emotion kicks in and I’m convinced that it’s the primary force in which guides us. And if not, it needs to be. More often than not, I see people over-think and over-analyze a situation (God knows I’ve done this… a lot!) and create a very complex (and often busy, inaccurate) decision based on knowledge and noise they’ve gathered over the years. This is often self-sabotaging and damaging to others involved. We’re creatures of the heart and possess a certain amount of morality. I believe this to be something very personal and very natural for all of us and think we need to embrace it more than any other attribute assigned to us.

__________________

JO MICHAELS. I remember very clearly where I was when I got the idea for my book and the reaction because it was overwhelming that so many people believed I could do it. I was sitting with my study group at my house – we were filling out little cards to play our own version of trivial pursuit based on notes in our history class – and I was making the questions for the section on Genghis Khan. Already, I had become intrigued by the man and begun the research for my paper. My pen hit the table and I raised my head to look at everyone. They stopped writing and raised eyebrows at me.

__________________

ELLIE MENDEZ. For months I thought about the dress, imagined different stories and coupled with my personal experience of being jilted by my ex-fiancé, I came up with the story for my book. The original story was about three women and one wedding dress: the one who made it, the one who wore it as a Halloween costume and the one who wore it to her own wedding.

__________________

ELISE FEE. Does your life partner/mate/spouse feel free? Take a moment and step into their shoes. See your relationship from their eyes. Watch how you behave and treat them, still seeing it from their perspective. Are you surprised at what you see? Is your loved one free to do, be, say whatever they want? (Remember, how you respond to their choices is up to you, but it’s not your job to control their choices.)

__________________

DOROTHY RUPPERT. Unipolar disorder affects 15 million Americans and is more common in women than in men. All ages of people can experience this major depressive illness. It has been found to exist in children as young as five-years-old and in the elderly.  Contrary to popular belief, depression is not a normal part of aging.

__________________

LIBERTY MONTANO. You may have noticed I have been participating in a bunch of blog-a-thons as of late. That means I’ve visited about 5 times the number of blogs I normally visit (and that is a hell of a lot of blogs). I’ve learned two things. There are so many truly incredible writers out there. And too many of them need serious blog interventions.

__________________

KATHLEEN INGRAHAM. My middle grade novel, “How I Survived the Best Year Ever” came to be while I was struggling to write another novel. I was in my first semester of graduate school and writing had never seemed so difficult. After turning in some of my work, I admitted to my mentor that I did not feel connected to the story or the characters, and that writing was hard. She had some simple advice: find the story that you are connected to.

__________________

CARRI HENSLEY. As I contemplate the things I have committed to and the things I pile on (out of duty or compassion really makes no difference because they are equally heavy at the moment) I crave a cosmic DELETE button.  A button to reverse all the things I have “liked” over the last few months and then one last button to empty the trash.

__________________

CHRISTINE PELFREY. Maybe humans need to learn to go to the dog park.  Sniff some other guys butts and then share the sticks and toys.  We make lots of friends and nobody starts any wars over who has better toys.  We share the drinking fountain and nobody claims to own all the water.  It’s just more peaceful to share all the resources.

Thanks to all who posted!

Laura & Marcie

__________________

The Author Blog Challenge is hosted by Laura Orsini and her alter ego, Marcie Brock, of the Marcie Brock – Book Marketing Maven blog. Please visit Marcie’s blog for loads of great info about low- to no-cost methods of marketing for self-publishing authors.

__________________