new work

Encouragement Pages-1/3/2022

It is a new year!

With this being the third day of the new year, it is time to dust off your old work, and get to it! Remember these three things:

1.) Plan your time. If you don’t make time to write. you won’t write.

2.) Prepare to write. Writing is/can be demanding, and if you are not diligent or intentional about what you want to do? You will never write.

3.) Be gentle with yourself. This may be the hardest one! Sometimes we want the work to be done in a blink! But it doesn’t always appear that way. Do the work one word at a time.

I’m already proud of you!

Happy Writing!

With Love & Ink,

JBHarris

Find Where Your Heart Is

“You only fail if you stop writing.” -Ray Bradury

The question most often fielded by writers is, “What are you working on?” From that picture, enter the WIP (Work In Progress). There is a pleasure that comes from discussing the new work–its like talking about a crush.

Or a new love, that loves you back–just as much as you do.

All these gorgeous blank pages waiting on the stroke of your hand, the sparks of your imagination. With this steady seduction, I want you to imagine the work you want to create. What you want the reader to see, feel, imagine or experience.

I want you to fall in love with the work first. If you have not fallen in love with what you are creating…no one else will.

Write what you love–love what you write.

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On Your Mark! Get Set! Go!

Make sure you tune into the bonus episode of the podcast by clicking here.

Let this episode of The Writers Block podcast propel you towards greatness. I’ll talk about the pitfalls, discouragements and even my progress in and towards NaNoWriMo!

Follow me–ThisGirlFriday on NaNoWriMo. We will get through this together!

Encouragement Pages: 06/14/2019: Push It

There is a power in writing what people don’t expect. There is a joy in writing what you think people aren’t prepared for. There is a power in shocking an new or dedicated audience!

Writing is the coolest adventure you will ever undertake. But in that power, I want you to resist the urge to write safely. I want you to embrace all that your writing ability grants! I want you to be able to be confident in your journey of writing. I want you to still behold the wonder of the worlds you create–and not be afraid to unlock (or destroy) them as necessary.

With Love & Ink,

JBHarris

From The Editor’s Desk: Why You Need A Beta Reader

There is nothing wrong with having honest feedback.

There is nothing wrong with having someone else look at your work with the sole purpose of feedback.

Beta Readers are the secret weapon in any writers’ tool kit. This army of your own enlisting help you to weed out what works, what’s boring and what you need more of. The best analogy I can give comes from a process my grandmother did while baking.

When she would bake cakes or pies, she would make what she called a test cake. When she would do this, she would like a few taste the cake. The purpose of the process was to figure out if the cake needed anything added or taken away: more sugar, less vanilla, don’t cook it so long.

It was the feedback coupled with her expertise made what she created all the greater!

The same is said for beta readers! These people are the secret ingredient to what you need to make your work–before the prices of editing!–as reader desirable as it can be.

A good rule of thumb is after a draft is complete is have a small group of readers (friends, family, classmates) to look over your work purely for feedback! You can do the mechanics and other clean up later.

As Nora Roberts said, “You can’t edit a blank page.”

[images from guardian.ng and findbetareaders.com]