Overcoming Writer's Block

It happens to everybody. You start writing a novel, you tell everyone, you're so excited--and then you reach that roadblock. You're bored, your characters are stuck in a rut, and nothing is going the way you imagined it would. What do you do? Give up?
Don't give up! The world could be dying for that creation, and chances are if you put it down you'll never pick it up again. Plow through. Even if it's the worst piece of writing you've ever done, you just have to keep going through it. Even if you despise it, keep writing.
But if you can't bring yourself to keep going on the path you're going, change it up. Kill off a character, start up a romance, put some mystery, change something. Make it different, interesting. Keep yourself going. If you have a plan and it's not working, throw it out! Wing it! Because maybe your unplanned twists and turns will be what makes you stand out. What makes you sell.
I don't plan. Planning makes me hit a snag very fast. It's then that I have to throw the plan out the window and just go for it. When I decided that plans were killing me, I decided to not do them at all. My only exception is a mystery I'm currently writing--that way, the culprit doesn't show up out of the blue.
If you didn't plan, don't know how to put a twist in, and are still stuck, then maybe it is time to put it aside. If the idea is good enough, trash the rest and try again. If you decided you hated the idea, then try something else. But only do this as a last resort--if nothing is working, and if it all feels wrong. Otherwise, just try and work with it.
Another way is to join a writers' website, post your chapters and get readers who will be terribly disappointed if you stopped and said, "I hate this idea." They'll push you to keep going, and keep going you will.
I hope if you experience writers' block that you'll try my ways. Please tell me if they worked!

Five TV Shows that I Love

Here's a list of five TV shows I love, and how family-friendly they are.


Doctor Who: There are two different shows when you Google this. The old Doctor Who show started in the sixties, ended in the eighties, and was brought back in 2005. For family-friendliness, there are a lot of scary episodes, some innuendos but nothing explicit, and a little bit of language. Recommended for 13+, but anyone old enough to watch it definitely should.
Once Upon a Time: A fairy tale show based in Maine. Created by the writers of Lost, it's a show that takes a lot of twists and turns and keeps you guessing until the very end. Family-friendliness, again, not for kids. Some violence, the first season is the worst with innuendos, and more language than Doctor Who. 13+
Scorpion: A show about a team of geniuses who work for the government while trying to fit into the "normal" world. Endearing characters and exciting. Quite a bit of language, though none of the worst two swears, no sexual content, but a LOT of violence and tense scenes. 16+
Merlin: A brilliant retelling of the story of King Arthur. The first four scenes are pretty family-friendly; you rarely see any blood, and the battles do a decent job of cutting away. There's a bit of British language in it, nothing extreme. 12+, I'd say.
Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes: A cartoon that aired on Disney XD and lasted for two seasons. For older kids, but adults will enjoy it too for its connection to the comics and entertaining characters. 10+

I'll give a detailed description of each of these shows in later blog posts. Enjoy!

Tips for Getting Your Self-Published Book Noticed

A common phrase is "Never judge a book by its cover." Is this true in the publishing world and the world of readers? Unfortunately, I don't think it is. A good cover is the first thing somebody's going to see when they look through Kindle and Amazon. You could have the most wonderful book description and story, but if you can't get someone to click, it's not going to matter. A good way to make attractive book covers for nothing is through Pixabay, where you can get free images not under copyright, and Canva, where you can format the pictures or look through their covers, with some being free and others being about a dollar in American money.
After you design the cover, make sure your blurb is done well and grammatically correct. After all, if your book description has typos and mistakes, what does that say for the rest of the book?
Properly identifying your book genre is another key. Make sure you know what age range you're directing it at and what genre it is. You don't want someone buying your book believing they're getting a young adult book and then ending up with an adult book.
Your search tags are another important piece. This is going to require a good deal of research and Googling. Google what the best search tags for your genre and age range are and work with those. Again, don't mislead people--only choose tags that describe your book.
Now you've posted your book on Kindle and Amazon. What now? Advertising. I haven't quite gotten to this part yet, but use social media and stuff like that to advertise. Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, all that stuff. Get your book out there, get it NOTICED. Even if you have to do giveaways, special offers, get people to read it, get reviews. The more reviews you have, the more chance someone's going to pay the money to get your book and read it.
Finally, there's the next step beyond eBooks--your paperback copies. Amazon is affiliated with a company called CreateSpace. They print your book for you and you can order a copy for about five dollars a piece (not including shipping.). This is a good way to do author meet-and-greets, get it sold at bookstores, donate it to your local libraries... I'm still experimenting with this phase, so more on that as I get further along.
Hope these tips help you!

The Most Important Thing in a Book to Me

What do I look for when I read a book? For me, the most important thing in a book is character development. You can have the most amazing book and story line ever, but if your characters are two-dimensional? It will never hold my interest.
It's extremely difficult to find the right combination to make a good character. They should have reasons for doing everything, have some sort of personality, and the good guys should be likeable or at least relate-able. Nobody should be a "side" character. Each person should be given as much attention as the person before them. We don't want any flat characters--otherwise people will overlook them and they'll be totally useless.
There's a phrase I've heard-- "I could watch them go shopping and still love them." A good character means that somebody could watch your characters do anything--even go grocery shopping--and still want to read more. In my opinion, good characters can make people overlook a lot--even potentially boring story lines.
That's my advice for you today!

Book Genres

So, you've decided to write a book, but you don't know what to write. Maybe you want to write something you like, or something you think other people will like and want to read. Here's a crash course in book genres!
My personal favorite; fantasy. Magic, other worlds, battles, stuff like that. If it deals with spells, witches, dragons, or princess getting abducted by dragons, chances are it's a fantasy novel.
Science Fiction; aliens, other planets, phasers and lightsabers (copyright alert!) and time travel. This one can be a little confusing to write, especially if you go with time travel. Superheroes also fall into this category.
Horror: The soul purpose of frightening somebody. Scaring them out of their mind, or making them think twice. It can be psychological or frightening. Two good examples of horror would be Alfred Hitchcock and the Twilight Zone, as well as almost all of Stephen King's books.
Mystery: Murders, robberies, smugglers, kidnappers...if you have someone trying to solve a crime, that's a mystery! Make sure you have the criminal picked out beforehand; this genre may require the most planning ahead of all of them. A good example of mysteries would be The Hardy Boys or Perry Mason.
Romance: Romance is one of my person least-favorite genres, but it's extremely popular. Anything about a person falling for another, or being torn by two different people (the often-spoken-of "love triangle") or just loving someone else. There must be someone loving somebody! Otherwise it wouldn't be a romance... can't give you any examples. Just look at your local bookstore and there will probably be hundreds with muscular men holding beautiful women in their arms on the covers.
Humor: Slapstick, witty, or just totally ridiculous, this is the comedy genre. Something just intended to make somebody laugh. Perhaps one of the hardest genres to write. Can't give you any examples for this one.
Spiritual: Meant to inspire you with religious themes. Can't give you any examples for this one either. I'm a Christian, certainly, but I can't think of any right now.
Historical Fiction: Anything based off of History at any time or place. Must have some facts and historical things. You can invent some things--it's fiction for a reason--but there has to be some truth in your story. Gone With the Wind is an example for this.
Non-fiction: nothing can be made up. Must be entirely fact, and can't have anything false in it. Biographies, stuff like that are non-fiction.
Well, this has been a quick run-through of popular book genres! Hopefully now you know what genre to write!

My Retold Rip Van Winkle Story

Rip Van Winkle was extraordinarily lazy. He was charismatic and easygoing, well-loved by the other villagers, except his wife. Poor Mrs. Van Winkle had the patience of a saint, but running a household with their two young children by herself drove her to her wit’s end. “Rip,” she told him one day as she made him scrambled eggs and tried to calm their crying son, “be a dear and pour the coffee when it’s done, won’t you?”

            “I’m afraid, my dear, that I simply can do nothing until I eat,” Rip answered casually. “Would you have your poor husband starve while he pours coffee?”

            Mrs. Van Winkle’s patience snapped. She grabbed the pot of coffee and dashed it into Rip’s face furiously. Fortunately for Rip, the coffee was only half done and didn’t scald his face. Despite that, his wife’s actions angered him. “All that I’ve done for you,” he cried, “and you throw coffee in my face? I’m going out hunting, and if I starve to death out there it’s your fault!”

            “I hope you do!” Mrs. Van Winkle yelled after him, now trying to calm her daughter and her son.

            It was the last thing she would say to him.

            Rip whistled to his dog Wolf and they went marching out of the town. Old friends and children waved as he passed by, his rifle on his shoulder, whistling a jaunty tune. Everyone in the town loved Rip—except his wife. He was in a cheery mood, despite his dark hair and short beard being soaked in coffee. His wife had given him a reason to escape from chores, and he took advantage of that.

            With Wolf at his side, Rip climbed the mountain near the town. It wasn’t a big mountain, more a large hill than anything else. But the townspeople took great relish in the hill as their pride and joy. Rip climbed it, knowing there wouldn’t be any game at the top. He knew there was a tree at the top that he could lay beneath and take a nap.

            He was greatly surprised to find a group of little bearded men at the top of the mountain, playing ninepins and drinking some sort of alcohol. Rip’s mouth watered at the sight of the liquor; his wife forbade the drinking of it. “Hello, gentlemen!” he called congenially. “Might I join you?”

            “Do as you will, Rip Van Winkle,” one of them answered. Those were the only words they spoke to Rip. Cheerfully Rip skipped the rest of the way up, laid his rifle aside, and started playing ninepins and drinking the moonshine they’d brought.

            It wasn’t long before the moonshine affected Rip and he laid down, falling asleep instantly. The bearded man, a bit taller than the rest, stood over Rip. “Laziness is repaid in kind,” he told the sleeping man. “Sleep for twenty years as punishment for your idleness. Is that not what you wanted?” Then he and his companions disappeared from sight.

The Olympics!

The Rio Olympics have begun! An exciting two-week venture of staying up until midnight to watch the prime time sports, cheering on my country, and having fun!
Long story short, the Olympics will occasionally come up in my blog posts. Who's excited for them, and what country do you support?
U.S.A.! U.S.A.!