Category Archives: Writing

Tips on Writing

Striving toward my better self!!!

Life's Little Experiences, Social, Updates on New Releases, Writing

Honestly, I have been away for a while because I have been sulking in self-pity, trying to find out why after discovering my purpose in life, I seem to still feel as if I am spinning my wheels. I realize that many of us feel that way, and once again my story is not an “Oh Woe is me” story. However, since I have been away, many great things have happened for me. Granted, my writing career and my life is not where I would absolutely love it to be, but faith and patience are qualities about myself that I value.  Since I last blogged, I have completed the third book in my series, and I actually have begun a new trilogy called “The Righting Wars”. Book I of the trilogy is in it’s early editing stages, so I will let you guys in on more of what that trilogy is about as it get’s closer to it’s release date. However, as far as my first series ( which is self-published) goes, it has been doing fairly well. My kindle versions of all three books made Amazon best seller (Yaaah!)

Additionally, each of the books in the series have received a five star rating from Reader’s favorite and book IV will be released soon.

  

I also love hearing back from people who have purchased the book, saying how much they loved it. I know it’s a great series. However, I am still waiting on that special editor or agent who loves my genre of fantasy to join forces with me to get me and my series to the New York Times best seller list. In the mean time, it’s all on me and I am still pushing for it.

As far as my schedule goes, I have remained very busy. I am still a strong advocate for St. Jude Children’s Hospital and have attended two events in the past month to support them and share our testimony with the world. I am constantly in a state of growth and always working on self-improvement. I have not given up on the dream of becoming a best-selling author and a world renowned speaker. I am still striving towards those goals. However, it is fans like you, who support me, who read my books, and who share my books with the world that keep me going. I want to say thank you, and because of you I am always attempting to improve both personally, professionally and spiritually. I will continue to work on me because no one is ever perfect and learning is a life-long goal. Thank you for all of your support. I hope that you continue to share and read my books, and I promise to always strive towards my better self.

Be Blessed,


There is Magic in the Air!

The Prayer of A Dreamer!!!!

Life's Little Experiences, Social, Writing

I have been sitting here contemplating, asking both myself and God- Is it wrong for me to dream?  After coming down with a terrible cold which is actually something that feels much more like the flu ,(based on my medical knowledge I know it’s not) I have had all day to do nothing but build up the Kleenex and… yes… day dream.

Is it wrong for me to day dream that maybe one day, just maybe, Christopher Columbus, Peter Jackson, or even George Lucas would by chance come across my book one day. Is it wrong to dream that one of them would actually read it, and say “Wow! I have to do this movie!”  Sounds kind of far fetched doesn’t it.  Yea… that is what I used to tell myself too, but that is what my books are all about. Believing in the impossible!

You see without dreams, we lose faith, and with out faith, we have no reason to hope. I have learned, that everything in life that I have accomplished began with a dream and a prayer. So while I can dream all day about those famous people one day reading my book and loving it, it might not be one of them who discovers it, but someone will!  Every dream I have ever had has turned into a goal and every goal I have set for myself in one way or another has been reached.

To all my fellow authors out there….Dream Big! Pray Hard! Keep the Faith! and never lose hope! Most of all always remember The True Meaning of Magic!

M. J. Logan

The Irritating Issue of Writer’s Block!

Writing

Since entering the world of writing, I have not only found an activity that is cathartic for me, I have learned a few tricks of the trade to avoid the stumbling blocks that may present along the way. In this day and age of technology, I must admit that I still hand write my manuscript initially, as the goal is to just get my story down. I then go back and tweak the parts where there may be issues. However, I will share with you that this does not stop the highly irritating issue of writer’s block- that many authors experience.

To avoid writer’s block, before I begin writing my manuscript, I construct an outline of the entire book. Yes! This may actually work for you as well! This does not involve a great deal of detail and requires very little time. Just give a brief synopsis of each chapter. You can be as creative, inclusive, or exclusive as you wish to be. The synopsis can include a description of the scene, what is actually taking place (the action), or dialogue as well. If you have your story in your head this works well, if not, then this can also work, because as the story develops in your mind, then you can add little by little to your outline. Once the outline is complete, then there you have it! All you have to do now is go into your outline, and fill in your story! I generally use a table in Microsoft word to accomplish this, but you are welcome to be as creative as you would like. Here is a brief sample of how I construct my outline.

Chapter 1
The scene begins at the castle. The children get into mischief as they continue the search for the magical stone
Chapter 2
The children have located the stone, but the evil wizard is now is pursuit of them in the magical forest
Chapter 3
The Children make it safely back to the school where they share with everyone that the stone has been located
Chapter 4
The Celebration of the resurfacing of the stone is interrupted by the evil wizard and his minions, and a battle ensues
Chapter 5
The evil wizard is defeated. Once again the children are victorious, and it is now time to search for the next magical stone.

I will admit that my outlines are much more elaborate than the above sample, as I do include Chapter titles and dialogue. Each synopsis tends to be at least 3 paragraphs (sometimes much more). However, as the story develops, the chapters tend to grow. I also end up inserting chapters in between. The first book of my series took only one day to get my outline completed, but for my second and third book, the outline took about a week. The payoff for this is that each chapter synopsis makes it much easier to get chapters written with speed with confidence once the outline is complete. Writers block has not been much of a problem for me due to the use of an outline, and when we get those epiphanies or Aha moments, we can easily go to our outline and add any notes, characters, or great ideas that may come into our creative minds. Additionally, most of us will inevitably change parts of the story that existed in the original outline. This is easily edited. Just go to the outline and insert your changes. However, I recommend that you save the changes under a new date and document title as you can always use elements from your past outlines that you did not use, in a future book or series.

Utilizing this technique has allowed me to complete an entire rough draft of a manuscript in as little as three months, and to be honest I am ashamed to admit, but has been in addition to some procrastination on my part. Furthermore, there have been times when a great idea for a future series has popped into my head, and yes, I have outlined it, and it is waiting to be written! However! It is my hope that this bit of advice will help those of you who often find yourselves faced with that irritating issue of writer’s block!

Enjoy!

M.J. Logan