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#146095 - 04/10/08 09:32 AM
Featured Author Kelly L Stone
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Da Queen
Registered: 07/02/03
Posts: 12025
Loc: Alabama
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Ladies, it is my pleasure to let you know that one of our own, Kelly L. Stone, will be the Featured Author of the Month beginning April 15. Since Dotsie and I both are out of town (or will be) for a few days, we decided to have Kelly begin April 15 and run through May 15. Kelly ( www.kellylstone.com ) started a successful writing career while holding down a full time job. Her articles and essays have appeared in Family Circle, Writers Digest, Cat Fancy, and half a dozen Chicken Soup for the Soul and Cup of Comfort anthologies. Her novel, Grave Secret (Mundania Press, Sept 2007) was called "powerful" and "well-written" by Romantic Times Book Reviews. Kelly is a frequent presenter at writer's conferences around the country; she will be presenting her workshop titled "No Matter How Busy You Are, You Can Find Time to Write" at the Romantic Times Convention in Pittsbugh on April 17, 2008. So if any of you are in the Pittsburgh area, you might want to attend and meet Kelly. I wish I could be there! Kelly holds a master's degree in counseling from Florida State University; she is a licensed professional counselor and a national board certified counselor. She lives with her family in northwest Florida, where she works as the director of a children's counseling center after watching the sun rise over the bay while she writes. I'm so jealous! I watch the sun coming up over the cotton fields.... Anyway, Kelly latest book, Time to Write was released January 2008 from Adams Media. In this book, Kelly interviewed more than 100 professional writers (including yours truly) and they reveal how to fit writing into your busy life. If you’ve ever thought or said… - Someday I’ll write the great American novel...when I have time.
- If I were independently wealthy, then I wouldn’t have to work, and then I could write my book.
- I’d love to write for national magazines, but don’t you need an ‘in’ to get started?
....then you want to see inside this book! Kelly will be answering all of your writing questions and beyond...we're really excited to have her! So watch the forums next week and join me in welcoming Kelly. It promises to be fun, informative, and educational.
Edited by Dotsie (04/15/08 02:25 PM)
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#146097 - 04/14/08 06:57 PM
Re: Featured Author Kelly Stone
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Member
Registered: 04/08/03
Posts: 267
Loc: Florida
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Hello everyone! I am sooo excited to be a part of this forum as the Featured Author! What an honor! I've been a member of Boomer Women Speak for several years, so I'm thrilled to be able to participate in this way. I am really looking forward to everyone's questions about writing. I love talking about writing. If you've read TIME TO WRITE, I hope you'll let me know what you think of it. I cover a lot of ground in this book, everything from Writing Schedules of Bestselling Authors to how to create an individualized Writing Action Plan to how to make headway toward your writing dreams in as little as 10 minutes a day! Plus, in the back of the book is a character checklist developed by bestselling novelist Sabrina Jeffries that she graciously allowed me to reprint in my book as a bonus for my readers. You can read a review as well as a short interview I did about TIME TO WRITE at this website: http://www.marybethwhalen.com/, and I hope you'll sign up for my TIME TO WRITE newsletter, a fun and informative tip-filled newsletter delivered to your email inbox once a month. Sign up on my website at www.KellyLStone.comThanks for having me, and I look forward to an exciting month! Best wishes, Kelly
_________________________
Kelly L. Stone www.KellyLStone.comAuthor of: TIME TO WRITE: More Than 100 Professional Writers Reveal How to Fit Writing Into Your Busy Life-- No Excuses, No Distractions, No More Blank Pages!
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#146099 - 04/15/08 02:07 PM
Re: Featured Author Kelly Stone
[Re: jawjaw]
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Member
Registered: 04/08/03
Posts: 267
Loc: Florida
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Great question! I think one big obstacle is that writing a book seems (and is) a daunting task! That's why you need writing goals. In TIME TO WRITE, I teach readers how to create an individualized Writing Action Plan. In that plan, you break down your goals into reasonable, achievable objectives with do-able time limits that carry you, page by page, toward your completed novel. For instance, you might write 500 words 3 days a week, or write 3 pages every Saturday and Sunday, and so forth. The key to success is consistently writing toward the long-term goal of finishing your book, and you need intermediate goals to get you there. Another obstacle is the idea that time will magically appear at some later date and THEN you'll write your book. And guess what? The time never appears, so that manuscript just collects dust in your bottom drawer. To combat this problem, use a Writing Schedule. There are 7 of them to choose from in TIME TO WRITE that the professionals use. All of the successful writers I interviewed for my book-- all 104 of them-- use a writing schedule. Using a writing schedule helps you form the writing habit, and it makes writing time a permanent space holder in your day-- just like going to your job is, just like taking your kids to school is, just like making dinner every night is-- you do these things automatically because they're a habit. So you want to make writing a habit, and to do that you have to work a writing schedule. Great question! Kelly
_________________________
Kelly L. Stone www.KellyLStone.comAuthor of: TIME TO WRITE: More Than 100 Professional Writers Reveal How to Fit Writing Into Your Busy Life-- No Excuses, No Distractions, No More Blank Pages!
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#146100 - 04/15/08 08:05 PM
Re: Featured Author Kelly Stone
[Re: Kelly L. Adams Stone]
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Member
Registered: 11/11/04
Posts: 3503
Loc: Colorado
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Hello Kelly, it's great to see you here. You and I have conversed over the years. You especially are an expert on time to write given that you are a counselor, as well. Yesterday a woman at work told me she wanted to write a book about parenting brain damaged children. However, she says she never ever reads. Not anything, except, "Feel the Fear and do it Anyway." (that says a lot.) Do you think that those who want to write might want to read what they want to write?
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#146101 - 04/16/08 08:37 AM
Re: Featured Author Kelly Stone
[Re: Princess Lenora]
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Member
Registered: 04/08/03
Posts: 267
Loc: Florida
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Thanks for your question P. L.! I am happy to see you here, too.
Yes, I think reading is important for an aspiring writer. In fact, being an avid reader in childhood is one of the common characteristics of successful writers that I discovered in my research for TIME TO WRITE. The 104 professional writers I interviewed for my book were all avid readers.
Reading books that are similar to ones you want to write helps you learn the craft of writing because you see how the writer presented the story (or information if it's non-fiction), and you can speculate as you read as to why she put one thing in and left another out. You get to see her choice of words and feel how those words impact you as a reader to get a hint for why the writer used them.
But you've also got to go one step further if you really want to use reading as a way to help you become a better writer-- you've got to study the book. So after you finish reading it, write a one-page synopsis of it. Do profiles on each of the characters and then compare them to see how they compliment/contrast with each other. Identify how the writer used those traits to move the story's plot forward. Write a chapter by chapter outline to get an understanding of how the writer may have developed her story. You can also do this with nonfiction books.
So yes, reading is an important aspect of becoming a writer. There's a writing conference I go to every year, and it's also attended by a particular bestselling author. Whenever I see her, she's off by herself in a corner...reading.
Best regards, Kelly
Edited by Kelly L. Adams Stone (04/16/08 08:42 AM)
_________________________
Kelly L. Stone www.KellyLStone.comAuthor of: TIME TO WRITE: More Than 100 Professional Writers Reveal How to Fit Writing Into Your Busy Life-- No Excuses, No Distractions, No More Blank Pages!
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#146103 - 04/17/08 12:03 AM
Re: Featured Author Kelly Stone
[Re: jawjaw]
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Member
Registered: 11/11/04
Posts: 3503
Loc: Colorado
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Hi Kelly, thanks for the response. I have done this you suggest: "you've got to study the book. So after you finish reading it, write a one-page synopsis of it" which is why I like to do book reviews. But I never thought about turning the book inside out as a compare/contrast exercise. That is a great way to learn about writing! And doing an outline on another book is great practice for doing an outline on the book you are writing. Great answers I never thought about! Thanks
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#146104 - 04/17/08 05:50 AM
Re: Featured Author Kelly Stone
[Re: jawjaw]
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Member
Registered: 04/08/03
Posts: 267
Loc: Florida
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Thanks P.L. Glad it was helpful. Jawjaw, I've gotten that question too. I usually recommend that they read a couple of good books on the craft of writing and then study the books similar to ones they want to write as I suggested above. The question is kind of funny though. There is so much mystery surrounding writers and the act of writing. That's partly why I wrote TIME TO WRITE, to help dispel some of those myths. There's a chapter in TTW on how the professional writers overcome writer's block, and it was comforting to me to know that even professional writers still get stuck. I humbly admit that I used to believe, before I started writing myself, that good writers could just sit down and gleefully whip out their books in one draft. Ha! If only! Anyway, I thought a little poll of what you do when you get stuck in your writing would be fun... Best, Kelly
_________________________
Kelly L. Stone www.KellyLStone.comAuthor of: TIME TO WRITE: More Than 100 Professional Writers Reveal How to Fit Writing Into Your Busy Life-- No Excuses, No Distractions, No More Blank Pages!
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