K S Ferguson on What Readers Want From a Hero #Fantasy #WriteTip #AmReading

What makes a hero? According to bestselling thriller author John Sanford, a hero has to be handsome (or beautiful if female), intelligent, and successful. Think about your favorite books. Does that description apply to the characters you liked most, the ones you were thinking about weeks, months, or even years after you put the book down? Writers are warned to stay away from clichés. If all main characters meet Sanford's description, won't...

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Ultimately, People Will Think What They Think, Says @AmyLewisAuthor #Life #Grief #Memoir

Integration: Inviting all parts of yourself to the dinner table I am a chameleon; I’ve known for a long time. I sit across from someone, even a stranger, and within 60 seconds I can unconsciously read them and magically transform myself into what they want/expect/need me to be. This can make dating a nightmare when the day comes that they realize I am not that person. But otherwise, I don’t see this quality of mine as a problem. It’s allowed...

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10 Things You Didn't Know About Sophie Kinsella by Madi Brown @Madithe1brown #MustRead #ChickLit

10 Things You Didn't Know About Sophie Kinsella SK (Sophie Kinsella) is easily the SJP (Sarah Jessica Parker) of Chick Lit. She's written over a dozen novels, with each of her works centering around strong female characters that modern day women love to read about. If she's extremely fashionable, enthusiastic about her career, and if she still holds a place card for family and friends then we're all in aren't we? Many of us have read her...

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@KimberlyShursen on What Indie Writers Should Not Do #WriteTip #SelfPub #IndieAuthors

Five Things “Thou Shalt Not Do” as an Indie Writer By Kimberly Shursen  Author of Itsy Bitsy Spider, Hush, and Lottery Oh the ups and downs in the life of an author. You’ve released your first book, and finally it reaches 29,000 on the Amazon rankings. Your stomach is doing continuous somersaults. Suddenly, the novel soars into the top fifty books in your genre. OMG! Is there any sweeter feeling? And then wham,...

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@MargaretWestlie Shares an #Excerpt from ANNA'S SECRET #AmReading #Historical #Mystery

Angus trudged toward home after accompanying Sam to his own gate. The moon had risen and the countryside around was a shifting panorama of shadow and light. Presently he reached his own gate and stood for a moment gazing across the fields that were his farm. It’s a shame that this land’ll likely grow up in trees when we’re gone. I regret not having a son. I have no one to leave my property to, and the fields that I stopped farming two years...

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@MarcADiGiacomo on Marriage & Saving Someone's Life #AmWriting #AmReading #Thriller

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Marc A. DiGiacomo 1)      I am a real New York Police Detective (retired) who worked for a small town. 2)      In A Small Town was my first published work but it isn’t my first story. 3)      I am a huge fan of the band Pearl Jam, In A Small Town, is a shortened title of one of their songs. 4)      I have saved...

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Craig Staufenberg Shares His Pet Peeves of the Publishing Industry @YouMakeArtDumb #AmWriting

Pet Peeves of the Publishing Industry I’m annoyed by how nice everyone in the publishing is. Really. I’m sure there are some rude people, but I haven’t encountered them. Only nice folks, and that makes it hard to dislike the publishing industry as a whole. It’s much easier when you see “publishing” as this monolithic beast with a stranglehold on creativity, especially your own creativity. But that’s just not the case. Which means there are...

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DOUBT - INSIDE/OUTSIDE by @JennyHayworth1 #JehovahsWitness #Abuse #AmReading

Imagine that someone you love dies. You no longer can see them, speak to them, or touch them or have any literal experience with them except within your mind and heart. This is what being disfellowshipped or disassociated from the Jehovah’s Witnesses means to those who are cut off. They are treated as if they are dead to those remaining in it. When I was an active member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and believed a hundred percent in it, I...

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A Day in the Life of Author Mikey D. B. @mikeydbii #AmReading #Dystopian #Thriller

It all begins at five in the morning.  I wake up, make a protein packed breakfast and watch parts of documentaries while I eat.  I’ve watched documentaries on Hitler, Bigfoot, social media conspiracies, economics, magic, and basically anything I can find on Netflix that interests me at the time.  Anyway, after I eat/watch I finish getting ready for my day and then make the drive to work. Sometimes these drives to work are...

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