Tag: Writer
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A Study of Ash & Smoke – 7th Annual WD Self-Pub e-Book Awards
Sometime around September last year, I got an email about the Writer’s Digest Self-Published e-Book Awards (I’m subscribed to WD’s newsletters). I made the mistake of opening this email in front of my husband, who was immediately of the opinion that I should enter. I didn’t want to. My feelings of inadequacy make these kinds…
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It’s Happening Again (A Life Update)
I guess you all know by now that when I disappear from cyberspace, it’s because I’m up to my eyeballs in either A) a new manuscript, B) revisions, or C) obsessed with reading. For the past few weeks, it’s been C. I’ve reread the Harry Potter series, and spent every moment not reading working on…
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Five Easy Ways to Combat Writer’s Block
Ah, writer’s block. The bane of many a writer’s existence. It’s that feeling of shock and having no direction when the inspiration suddenly runs out. It happens to all of us at one point or another, so we all know it’s real. Personally, I just don’t believe in it. Yes, having no inspiration is a…
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We Want Spoilers! A Trial of Sparks & Kindling Edition
So, recently, quite a few folks have been asking me for anything I can tell them about my upcoming novel, A Trial of Sparks & Kindling. Anything at all. And this is where it gets super tricky, because there are literally spoilers from the first chapter. Now, since I don’t want to put a bullet…
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On Perspective
Just the other day, my fellow blogger and author, SM Mitchell, asked me for my thoughts on impostor syndrome for a blog post. This is the quote she included from yours truly: “No critic can tell you how much is wrong with what I’ve written better than I can. It’s so hard for me to…
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Hello 2020
New year, new decade, new opportunities. How lucky am I to be able to write that statement? I won’t lie, 2019 was tough. Full of head-in-hands moments. Times when loved ones were critically sick and in the hospital–loved ones at the peak of their health. Kids. The worry associated with a sickbed is never easy.…
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Behind the Scenes – Editing
I figure I might as well clue you all in on how it goes behind the scenes. You know, the stuff you don’t see on my posed and filtered Instagram feed. Everybody who knows me knows I’m currently editing A Trial of Sparks & Kindling. I haven’t been shy about that fact so far. But…
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How AHA moments changed A Study of Ash & Smoke
We all have little aha moments while writing. Those moments come to us either through brainstorming, talking to others about our work, feedback from betas or editors–heck, even the most random of places–but those aha moments spark the changes in the story that pull everything together. You could probably guess I had plenty of aha…
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What’s Happening with A Trial of Sparks & Kindling?
As you all know, my summer was a whirlwind of writing. I wrote the first draft of A Trial of Sparks & Kindling (and then some) in 7 weeks. It was intense. I’m still not fully human after that sprint. Now that I have one book out, I have a teeny tiny itty bitty fanbase,…
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Wake Me Up When September Ends
Well, I’m back. I’m happy to inform you the two blog-free weeks haven’t been spent in vain, as the first draft of A Trial of Sparks & Kindling is officially done. Did that read first draft? What I really mean is first complete draft. You see, it’s the fifth version of the document on my…
Yolandie Horak 