Time Flies!: January 2016

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Welcome to the latest edition of Time Flies! It’s my version of a monthly update, where I recap the past month’s accomplishments and articles, share news and random things from my offline life, and hint at what may be coming in the month ahead.

Ah, January. In some ways, I can’t stand this month. It means winter – which also means cold, snow, ice, and other seasonal yuck. Can you blame me for counting down the days to spring? (49!!) But in other ways, January was a sigh of relief. After one of the most hectic Decembers I can remember, relaxing and returning to a slower, somewhat normal routine has never been more welcome.

Olaf impaled

I couldn’t resist an Olaf gif here. XD

Before I go much further – a quick word to anyone waiting for the next edition of the Character Evolution Files. It’s coming, I promise. Between three big blogging commitments last month (Chronicling The Craft, a guest post for WriteOnSisters, and my next DIY MFA article), I didn’t have time to start drafting File No. 6 until this past week. And when writing lengthy articles (which often have minds of their own) and juggling deadlines, sometimes you have to reshuffle your priorities.

So, yes. Character Evolution File No. 6 should post in mid-to-late February. Stay tuned for that as well as a call for character interview questions (Tuesday, February 2nd) and the blog’s first guest post (Tuesday, February 9th)! Oh, and the guest post I’m working on for WriteOnSisters? Ohhhhhh I can’t tell you how THRILLED I am about it. 😀

For now, let’s recap January’s happenings.

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Beautiful People, Vol. 11: 2016 Writerly Goals and Resolutions

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Beautiful People is a monthly blog meme hosted by Cait @ Paper Fury and Sky @ Further Up and Further In. Every month they pose 10 questions for writers to answer about their writing and give readers the opportunity to learn more about the writer’s characters.

This month’s Beautiful People isn’t so much about our stories or characters. Instead, it’s about the writers themselves! We’ve been asked to share our writing-related goals and resolutions for 2016. I sort of did this already for my Happy New Year post. However, the following questionnaire will reveal more details for those plans, as well as other insights such as beta readers and critique partners, which character I’d like to get to know better, and which craft book I want to read this year. So, let’s get to it! 🙂

(Visit the Beautiful People category page to catch up on past BP posts.) Continue reading

Two New Articles at DIY MFA

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Hope you all have had a good start to 2016! I’m back from my blogging “hiatus” today, and with two new articles at DIY MFA to boot.

On Friday, I took part in DIY MFA’s annual #5onFri post on New Year’s Resolutions. Each participating columnist picked an aspect of our writing careers that we want to improve on or achieve during 2016. What did I choose as mine? You’ll have to read the article to find out! 😉

Click here to read “#5onFri: 5 Resolutions from the DIY MFA Team.”

I’ve also got a new Theme: A Story’s Soul article that went live today. This one is a case study on communication as a literary theme. It may sound like a weird choice of topic, but once you read the examples you’ll see how a story can offer insights on the importance of communications in our character’s lives as well as our own.

Click here to read “A Case Study on Communication as a Literary Theme.”

Got any questions or suggestions for Theme: A Story’s Soul? Feel free to comment below or tweet me at @SaraL_Writer with the hashtag #AStorysSoul.