Tags

A Look Back on My Growth as a Blogger (#MyFirstPostRevisited Blog Hop)

/ saraletourneau / 30 Comments

Recently I was nominated by the wonderfully bookish and insightful Nandini @ Pages That Rustle for the #MyFirstPostRevisited Blog Hop. (Thanks for nominating me, Nandini!) And having celebrated my eighth blogoversary last month, now seemed like a good time to look back on how I’ve grown as a blogger since the day I launched this site.

First things first, though. The #MyFirstPostRevisited Blog Hop was created by Sarah Brentyn @ Lemon Shark. And since every blog tag has rules, let’s go over them now: Continue reading →

The Starlight Blogger Award

/ saraletourneau / 23 Comments

This Award is created to highlight and promote Inspiring Bloggers.

Yup. I’m still catching up with blog tags and awards that I was linked on over the past few months. Today’s comes courtesy of Zezee @ Zezee with Books, and is one I hadn’t heard of before this nomination. The Starlight Blogger Award was created by Caroline @ Yesterday After to celebrate bloggers who inspire us with their creativity. So, thank you very much, Zezee, for your nomination. It means a lot to me. 🙂

Here are the rules for the Starlight Blogger Award: Continue reading →

The Author’s Oracle Writing Tag

/ saraletourneau / 20 Comments

Author Oracle Tag banner

I spotted this tag at Faith Rivens’ blog not too long ago and absolutely knew I wanted to do it, too. It’s inspired by the Major Arcana, the first 22 cards in a tarot or oracle card deck.

Now, I’m aware that not everyone believes in the accuracy in tarot or other divination tools. But being a believer isn’t necessary here. The following questions take each card’s themes and applies them to your WIP or your writing process. So, this is a more “inclusive” tag than you might think. 😉

Any story-specific questions in this tag will focus on my WIP, The Keeper’s Curse. To learn more about this novel, you can either read the current draft of its blurb  or visit the Chronicling The Craft series. Continue reading →

The Book Courtship Tag

/ saraletourneau / 27 Comments

Book Courtship banner 2

I haven’t done a strictly bookish tag in a while. So when I saw this adorable Book Courtship Tag at Ayunda’s Tea and Paperbacks a couple weeks ago, I knew I wanted to squeeze this in before Valentine’s Day. 🙂

The Book Courtship Tag “follows” the different stages of courtship and challenges bloggers to pick one book that fits each stage. These picks don’t have to be romances. In fact, they can be anything you choose from your bookshelves. So, let’s see what I picked…

Continue reading →

The “Be Thankful” Challenge

/ saraletourneau / 19 Comments

be-thankful

Thanksgiving may have been last week, but the holiday season is a good time to be thankful for what we have and who we cherish. So, when fellow fantasy writer Elizabeth Rawls nominated me for the “Be Thankful” Challenge,  I knew I couldn’t let this one wait. (Thank you, E.!)

The rules for The “Be Thankful” Challenge are:

  • Share the “Be Thankful” image in your blog post.
  • Write about 5 people in your life you are thankful for.
  • Write about 5 things in 2015 that you are thankful for.
  • Spread the love and challenge 5 other blogs to take part.

So, let me share with you some of the people and things I’m most grateful for…

Continue reading →

The “Behind The Scenes” Writing Tag

/ saraletourneau / 31 Comments

Behind The Scenes banner

I’m so excited about this! Writing memes and tags don’t seem to be as common as reading memes / tags, so it’s always a treat to discover one. Several bloggers I follow have already done this tag, too: Aberdeen at A Glimpse of Starlight (thank you for nominating me!),  Sarah at Light & Shadows, Victoria at A Gathering of Dreams, Rae Oestreich at The Wallflower, Nicole L’autore, Briana da Silva, and Kristen A. Kieffer. So I’m thrilled to finally hop onboard!

The purpose of the Behind The Scenes Writing Tag is simple: You answer questions about your writing process, giving readers a “behind the scenes” look at how you approach your craft. So, today, I invite to come with me behind the curtain, so to speak, and see how I work.

Continue reading →

The 7/7/7 Challenge, Part Two

/ saraletourneau / 34 Comments

I’ve been tagged on the 7/7/7 Challenge again – twice! Rachael Ritchey and Michelle @ The Writing Hufflepuff both nominated me for a new go-round. And even though I took on the challenge last fall, now is a good time to do it again because of the revisions I’ve been working on.

The rules of the 7/7/7 Challenge are super-simple:

  1. Go to page 7 of your WIP.
  2. Scroll down to Line 7.
  3. Share the next 7 sentences in a blog post.
  4. After the excerpt, tag 7 other writers to continue the challenge.

Continue reading →

The Freestyle Writing Challenge

/ saraletourneau / 29 Comments

Fellow writer Sarah J. Higbee nominated me for this Freestyle Writing Challenge back in June. As you can see, it’s taken me a while to get around to it, but I always intended on following up. 😉 Thanks Sarah, and sorry for the delay!

Here are the rules of the Freestyle Writing Challenge:

  1. Open a blank document.
  2. Set a stop watch or mobile phone timer to 5 or 10 minutes.
  3. Your topic is at the foot of this post. DO NOT SCROLL DOWN TO SEE IT UNTIL YOU ARE READY WITH YOUR TIMER!
  4. Once you start writing, do not stop until the alarm sounds!
  5. Do not cheat by going back and correcting spelling and grammar using spell check. (The challenge is only meant for you to reflect on your own control of sensible thought-flow and for you to reflect on your ability to write with correct spelling and grammar.)
  6. You may or may not pay attention to punctuation or capitals.
  7. At the end of your post, write down “No. of words = ____” to give an idea of how much you can write within the timeframe.
  8. Copy and paste the entire passage on your blog post with a new topic for your nominees, and copy / paste these rules along with your nomination (at least 5 bloggers).

And Sarah’s writing prompt was… Continue reading →