You were supposed to see this post at the end of July, I know. Apologies. I’m more scatterbrained than usual lately and I forgot. But better late than never, right? The writing has been going exceptionally well. After The Great Word …
Tag: Typeface
So You’re a Beta Reader
This post, born in the darkest corners of my mind, is probably a direct result of my own novel being in the hands of a group of beta readers. Right now, I’m in that I-can’t-write-at-all-and-I-totally-suck-phase. Let’s talk about giving good …
Before you Share…
It’s a normal Tuesday and you’re scrolling Facebook. Everything has been going great today and you feel chipper. You’re happy for your cousin who’s pregnant again, you like the pic of that high school friend’s new puppy and you laugh …
Write by the Rules
I read an article this morning about why you should write romance novels only in third person point of view. In the past few weeks, a few people made comments on the writer’s groups I belong to about writing in a …
Writing, as Taught by Kids’ TV Shows
A year or so ago, I read a writing exercise idea on a blog that changed the way I view watching TV. The blogger in question would make notes of, then dissect the episode she was watching. She’d figure out …
Help a Blogger Out
Here’s an interesting turn of events. I don’t know what to blog about. At first, I couldn’t understand what the hell this caused this sluggishness. Sure, blogging is difficult sometimes. I’ve been doing this for six years and I know …
Motherhood and Guilt
Now, my generation is a weird one. In South Africa, our grandmothers were still typically part of the movement that women shouldn’t work. Most of them were home-makers for that reason. Our mothers, contrarily, were a part of the group that …
Uninspired
Some days, it’s difficult to get inspired. I’m having one of those days. I talked about this problem on Friday too, so you’ll know about my predicament if you’ve been around the blog. The recap version? Today, I have no idea …
How’s the Writing Going?
Everything is quiet again. Back to normal. It’s been a month since our visitors left (I can’t even) and, with the vacation posts out of the way, I can’t ignore the elephant in the room anymore. Too many people have …
Being in the Moment
A while ago, a friend suggested that I write something on this topic. Yea, I’ve been trying. Do I have a nice, glowy outcome planned for this post? No. Not at all. #idontknowwhatimdoing All I know is that this is …
Revising x 3 (Mini Q&A)
At this stage, I’m unable to think straight, but I’ve had some questions from friends and family and I want to answer them. Question 1 – How’s it going, Yolandie? *nervous laughter* Added to the fact that I’m revising like …
Book Review – Raven Kin
It’s a well-known fact (at least if you’ve hung around the blog) that I really admire my editor, Nerine Dorman. She’s taught me so much about writing that I barely recognise my old work these days, and I’m hopefully still …
You Are What You Make
I’ve been watching Tessa Violet for around two years now and she’s become one of my favourite YouTubers. Why? Well, she’s what I’m not. 🙂 She shares, openly, all of her thoughts and fears, and even rethinks some of her …
Downtime
Hi there. I know Mondays are supposed to be for Weekends in Pictures, but this weekend didn’t go down in that kind of way. While I do have a few photos, they’re just of stolen moments in between, and I …
Sympathy
In a way, this is a continuation of my train of thought from the stigma post. Maybe you want to click there before you continue. 🙂 For the most part, this post focusses on someone who suffers in silence, but …
A Quick Update
Nothing feels real in my life anymore until I share it here. ◄ That’s healthy. 😛 I had some awesome news this week and I want to share it with you. You know, so it becomes real. I belong to …
Book Review- The Real
The truth is, I’m not good at writing reviews. Not at all. It’s difficult to explain why you love something without including spoilers, nerve-wracking to find the good points in something meh, and I don’t even want to go into …
On Stigma
I guess I should make it clear from the get-go that this is going to focus on mental issues, though you could probably use the message for any other kind of stigma too. I don’t know yet, I’ve just begun …
Stuff for Writers
When you tell people you’re writing a novel, they’ll probably react in one of three ways. 1) You’re insane. 2) Ooh, that’s cool! 3) You know, I’ve always wanted to write a novel (this, by the way, is said with …
Soldier Through It
The thing is, it’s tough sometimes. Last year was a wild one, and not always in the good sense. Everybody I know struggled. We struggled. And I don’t just mean with little stuff, though there was some of that. People …
Behind the Scenes
Hi there, folks! I’m not doing the Story Cube thing today, because I have some admin to share with you. Nothing serious! But some stuff has been going on behind the scenes, and I want to fill you in. Somewhere …
The Threes
My kid will turn three in under a week, can you believe it? I struggle to. Kayla is a happy, sweet little person. She loves to cuddle and kiss and say ‘I love you, Mama’, which obviously melts my heart. …
To Be Proud
When I first started writing, I had no idea what I was doing. I still don’t, but I’m growing. If there’s one thing in life I hate, it’s stagnating. I’ve mentioned this before. Where writing is concerned, I really think …
Story Cube Challenge – Week 10
Hi there! I’m happy to report that I’ve broken the 10,000 word mark for this week. Coming up for air to type this post feels strange, as if I’m going to be struck by lightning for doing anything other than …
Story Cube Challenge – Week 9
Hello there. You may have noticed that things look a little different here. This is due to a bout of website-altering creativity that took me by surprise during the week. I was never completely satisfied with the way things looked …
Story Cube Challenge – Week 8
Hello there. So, this is week 8 of the #storycubechallenge. Once again, I left my story to the last possible moment. I don’t know why I do this to myself, but in my defence, it was a crazy week with …
Story Cube Challenge – Week 7
Hello there, friends! So, this is week 7 of the #storycubechallenge already. This week, I actually wrote something. Yeehaw for schedules. The cubes for this story certainly made more sense to me than those ones did last week. 😛 If …
Story Cube Challenge – Week 6
Hi there. So, this week I didn’t manage to get a story from week 5’s cubes. I tried, but I couldn’t connect the dots there. I think it was the alien. 🙂 I’ll try again next time. Here’s the hero …
NaNo – Here we go again
Yes, indeedy. It’s almost that time again. Last year, my Nanowrimo experience wasn’t so great (I seem to have misplaced the post where I updated you on that). To be fair, I had just gone through a bunch of stuff, …
Story Cube Challenge – Week 5
You’re not going to believe this. This week, I actually wrote the story cube story on Monday. No, not so late last night that I couldn’t focus on the keyboard anymore, on MONDAY. What’s happening? I feel like I don’t …
On Religion
I’ve always tried to keep my space on the internet positive. Even when I was at some pretty low points, it was always my goal to complain in such a way that it didn’t leave everyone feeling negative or heavy …
Story Cube Challenge – Week 4
Hello there. It’s that time of the week again! I seriously hope someone out there is doing this challenge with me, because I don’t have anyone to complain to. 😛 It’s challenging, that’s for sure. But it’s also kind of …
Story Cube Challenge – Week 3
Why do weeks move so quickly when you’re supposed to be writing for a story challenge you created yourself? I find myself doing anything BUT working on the cubes, until the night before. I really need to time manage better …
Story Cube Challenge – Week 2
Well, that was more interesting than I anticipated… Here we are in week two of the story cube challenge. I’ll just say that this thing lived up to it’s name. Making a story out of pictures was challenging, but heck, …
Story Cube Challenge – Week 1
This year for my birthday, I wanted something different. When Jan spotted Rory’s Story Cubes on Amazon, I was immediately sold. You think I’m mad, don’t you? What would a 31-year-old mom want with story cubes? Well, inspiration. I find, …
Writing and Music
I find it kind of weird that the question I’m asked most often about writing is what I listen to when I write. Sure, this question leads to a variety of other questions, but a lot of the time, conversations …
Writing Process
One of the things I get asked most often is what my writing process is like. How do I work? How do I outline? How do I order my thoughts? Friend, it goes about like this : I’m on my …
Approach With Caution…
You’re wondering where I am. I can hear you think it like a shout off a mountaintop. 🙂 This image below about sums it up. In my world, ‘lunch’ can be replaced by coffee. Because, you know, coffee has replaced …
Sorry
Yes, I’ve been MIA this week. Lemme tell you something. Writer Yolandie is obsessive to a fault. I’ve been doing little else than write or work on stuff related to my novel (except for this fan fic that pulled me …
Write What You Know…
I’ve been following a lot of writing coaches, editors and authors via social media and blogs lately, and I’ve learned a TON about writing. The things to avoid, to embrace and habits to form to become a better writer have …
It’s Chaotic
First of all, I’d like to thank everyone for their condolences and beautiful words concerning my grandmother. If you missed it, my gran passed away last week. It wasn’t a surprise, because she was sick for a long time before …
Why I Hate Love Triangles in Fiction
It seems that storytellers have always had a fascination with adding romantic connections between various characters in their stories. Often, these occur at the same time, making love triangles or other related shapes. In soap operas, these can look like …
Current Chaos – The Editing Game
So, it’s finally happened. I got the notes back from my editor a while ago and since then, only writing has been on my mind. Let me first fill you in. I went through a bit of a bad patch …
This Mothering Thing
I often wonder when the exact point is when a person becomes a mother. And I don’t mean the ‘having the kid’ part. I mean the internal shift to ‘mothering’. Is there a moment when you suddenly just know instinctively …