Friday, February 27, 2015

Sign it!

Oh. My. Goodness.

Can you believe February is ending? I can't. Sheesh. It feels like it just started.

But... HAVE YOU BOUGHT MY BOOK YET???

Click through to one of these links to check it out:

Amazon 

The RAD Store


I hope you each buy your own copy, and I'd love to personalize each and every one of them... In fact, for the entire month of March, use code SIGNMINE to get two dollars off AND personalized signing on any unsigned book you purchase from the Rad Store! (note: this code will not function if ordering from Amazon)

Happy shopping!

[love]

{Rani Divine}


Instructions:

Starting March 1, go to https://squareup.com/market/rad-writing

Add any unsigned edition of Coetir or Telekinetic to your cart. Enter promo code SIGNMINE during checkout process. Your discount will be applied to the purchase. Specify your desired text before completing checkout, and you're set!

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

язык

As most of you know, if you've kept up with my writings on here or my posts on Facebook, I'm learning a second language. But I'm not being an average person and going for Spanish or French or one of those classical languages.

No, I'm learning Russian.

Why? Because I'm utterly attached to it.

It's a beautiful language, and if you disagree... Well, that makes no bearing whatsoever, but I may send more winks your way.

And that brings us to our topic:

Writers should know more than one language



Actually, a lot of writers disagree with me. In fact, I used to disagree with me. I believed it was unwise to learn another language while I was trying to focus on my own, and how to craft the perfect story in it.

But, I've changed my mind. Obviously. And here are some reasons why:

  • Learning another language gives you a whole new respect for your own
  • Learning another language helps you to see new ways of word use, which you can use in your writing
  • It helps with your pronunciation of your own language, which really does help in writing, because if you speak well, you're more likely to spell and write well
  • Learning other languages helps us to have a better respect and knowledge of other sounds, sounds we don't even have in our own language
  • Knowledge of sounds, of words, and of their use, is how we learn to write better dialogue

Want to write better, in whatever language you write?

Try learning another language. And if you already know one, then use your skills in every language you know, to write in your base language.

What languages do you all know? Anybody else out there learning Russian? If so, definitely send me a message! -- I want to hear from you! Well, really, I'd very much like to hear from all of you. <3

[love]

{Rani}

Monday, February 23, 2015

Writer/Reader

As you know, I'm fairly adamant that writers are also readers (but I will admit that we don't always have the time, and we count our own editing as reading).

That being the case, I thought you'd like to know what books I'm reading right now.

Yes, I read more than one at a time. In fact, I'm reading four.



Want to know what they are? 

  • A.D. 30 - Ted Dekker
  • The Legend of Sheba - Tosca Lee
  • Dressed to Kill - Rick Renner
  • The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun - J.R.R. Tolkien

Now, I'm sure you're wondering why I'm telling you this. And the answer is very simple:

I'm trusting you to hold me to reading these books, to finishing them, and to posting reviews on here for you all to read and enjoy.

You hold me to it, and I'll hold myself to it.

Deal? Deal.

Happy Monday everyone!

[love]

{RD}

Friday, February 20, 2015

Framily

To round out the week of discussions about friends, it seemed fair to bring up the most important type of friend:

Family.

Yeah, yeah, "but they're not technically friends, because they have to like you." That's what you're thinking, right? Well, you're wrong. Your family doesn't have to like you. Trust me. I've seen plenty of families who hate each other. Family is supposed to like each other -- and it's important for every member, that they do.

For writers, it's highly important to have close familial relationships, and here's why...


1. You'll know how to write a strong family, or at least a strong familial bond


It's been one of my points in every single blog this week, hasn't it? Experiencing it makes it far easier to write about, and families are no different.

Plus, strong familial bonds aren't often seen in novels these days. I'd consider it something refreshing.

2. You'll have a safety net, if anything does go wrong


Family is there for each other, when things go wrong. Yes, friends are there for each other too, but not in the same way. Family takes care of each other, they go that extra mile that friends aren't always willing to go, and they always love you, even when you're at your most unlovable. They become your safety net if things go badly, and they make sure you never truly hit rock bottom.

3. They're there -- even when your friends can't be


When your friends are all at work and you're trying to get a scene done but all you want to do is cry... Your family will be there. That's what they're there for. They're a support group, if you will. And true, maybe some of you don't currently have this type of relationship with your families, but I strongly encourage you to make one. And if you can't make one with your biological family, then make one with a tight group of friends. Whatever you have to do, to make sure you always have that close circle surrounding you.

It's what your characters want (for the most part), and I encourage you to follow their advise. After all, they're in your head.

[love]

{RD}

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Frenemy

Monday we talked about the importance of friends, so today it seemed logical to talk about something in a similar vein.

Frenemies.

Like friends, these are also important to have when you're a writer -- and also important to keep at a fair distance.

Why?

I'll tell you.


1. You can base your villains on them


Well, you don't like them, right? So you can use them as material for writing the characters that you don't like. Just don't tell them that you're doing it, because most people really don't like to be seen as the villain. And whatever you do, don't let them share a name with your character. 

2. You can base your minions on them


Maybe it's that you don't like them, but you don't hate them. Or maybe they just have some annoying quality that you just can't get past. Well, why not make them a minion? They're usually annoying (that or they're hilarious). Try it out, you never know what you might come up with.

3. You can learn from your experiences with them, to know how your protagonist should act around them.


This one's the biggie. You, the writer, act as the protagonist in most stories. That means you need to know how you react around certain types of people. So spend a little time with them and see how it makes you feel. Maybe pretend to text your real friends but actually take notes on it, so you'll have better material for your work.


Just don't keep those frenemies too close to you, or you might wind up in trouble.

[love]

{RD}

Monday, February 16, 2015

Friendly, aren't we?

If there's one thing I believe none of us can really live without, it's friends. I realize of course that some of us prefer to be alone, that we savor the time we spend by ourselves, but friendship is something that I believe every one of us can still admit that we need in order to fulfill some hole in our lives.

But here I'm going to talk about why friends are good for writers, four reasons why we need to surround ourselves with friends, and three type of good friends we should strive to find.

1. Friends help us create characters


Logic, right? I'm sure you've said before that your friends are characters, meaning that they're unique and interesting. Well, I say take some of those traits and put them into your writing. It'll make your characters feel far more real, because they're more closely based on real life.

2. They help build us up when we're down, and they encourage us to keep going, to keep writing (even if they're not readers)


We're artists, we're creators, and let's face it, we get down a lot. We use our emotion in our creation, and it's draining. But friends are good to have around in those times, because they'll always encourage us to keep going and to follow our dreams even when all we want to do is curl up in bed and binge watch The Walking Dead.

3. They provide a break from the insanity of a novel's end


True, your friends are probably pretty insane themselves, but at least it's not the type of insanity that's mostly going on inside your head. Spending time with friends, especially when you're writing the end of a novel or have been focused on the same short story for too long, can be a very welcome breath of fresh air.

4. They share in the joy when we succeed, and they sit by our sides in when we feel failures.


Friends want us to succeed. Real friends aren't jealous of us when we do good in life, they're happy for us and they celebrate by our sides. In turn, we get to do the same for them. And it's those moments that bring us closer together the more time passes by.

And as promised, three types of friends every writer should have...

1. Writer friends


Comeraderie, anyone?

2. Reader friends


"Hey, read this and let me know if it sucks."

And they will.

3. Friends who neither write nor read


These are good to have because they'll usually let you talk details of your story's plot, and they won't be too upset if you give anything away.


I hope that each of you have a close set of friends to rally by your side, and I trust you know how much I'm rooting for you!

[love]

{RD}

Friday, February 13, 2015

Oh for the love...

I don't like Valentine's Day.

I'm not alone, I'm sure.


Don't get me wrong -- I love love, I love people, I even love creating imaginary people for my stories, but I do not love this day.

I don't believe we need one day out of the year to celebrate love. It's something we should celebrate every day, simply by loving.

It's because of that, I believe, that this day has become something other than what it was intended to be. From what I understand, it's supposed to be a day where we celebrate the idea of love and spend time with those we cherish. But it's become commercial, it's become sexual, and it's become anything but what it was intended.

Love isn't commercial.

It isn't sexual.

It isn't even understated.

Love is the greatest non-emotional emotion there is -- and it's probably the only one that exists.

We don't need a day to celebrate it (though I understand the thought behind that, and I don't entirely mind that). We need to actually love, to spread joy and care through the whole of this world, and to remember that love isn't just about that tingly feeling between a man and a woman.

It's the look in a mother's eye when she holds her newborn babe, it's the smile on a boy's face when he hugs his dog for the first time since he's come home from college, it's the desire of every parent to provide for their children, it's the disposition of the grandparents who give to every child on their block, it's something that goes beyond anything we get celebrate, because it's something that should be our very way of life.

And for you writers out there, this is the kind of love you should be trying to capture in your stories. Real love. True love. Uncommericalized, unadulterated love. Plain and simple. 

That's how I feel about it.

[love -- real, true love]

{RD}

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Rejection Letters

Rejection letters.

We all get them.

And we all hate them.

Not much we can do about that.

But while we're hating them, we can also learn from them.


I'm writing this because I was recently tasked with being the one to write the rejection letters, and it wasn't something I wanted to do. Like I said, none of us like rejection letters. But what I hadn't realized was that writing them is almost as hard as reading them -- and it helped me to learn something of vital importance to the future of every writer out there (and artists, and probably some of you others out there).

Rejection letters are important.

Usually, when you get a rejection letter, the reject-ers don't let you know why they're reject-ing. It's true, and it's annoying (Mavguard Magazine isn't like that, in case you were wondering: I actually sat down and wrote out ways to improve every piece that was rejected).

But it's those monotonous rejection letters that help us straighten our back and get better at the things we're doing.

The more rejection letters you get, the harder you try to create something worth publishing.

The more rejection letters we find in our inboxes, the more patterns we find in the things being rejected.

Those patterns, those harder attempts at creation, are what eventually come out to be beautiful art.

And they never would've come to be, if it wasn't for the letters.

Trick is, we can't let the rejections stop us from sitting down and putting in the time. If we don't try, if we don't do everything we can to keep our art thriving in our own minds, then the rejection letters have won and we've become nothing more than that: a reject.

Promise me you won't let that happen. Please.

[love]

{RD}

p.s. if you're curious, most companies actually do write down why they don't accept your work for publication -- some of them will even send you that information, if you request it after receiving a rejection. 

Monday, February 9, 2015

Valentines!

 

Hey everybody, guess what? 

BOTH of my books, Coetir - People of the Woods and Telekinetic are available ON SALE from 


Sale starts today and lasts until the fifteenth, 
in honor of Valentine's Day!

(this might be the first time I actually like the holiday...) 



If you want 14% off your order, simply put in the promo code VDAY14 at the checkout! 

Sale ends Sunday, February 15, at 11:59pm. 

And don't forget, Rad Writing still has signed copies available! 

Happy shopping, everyone! 

[love]

{RD}

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

We No Procrastinate

Well, that title is probably a lie.

In one way or another, I believe everyone procrastinates. Even if you don't think you do, you probably do a little bit.

The difference is in whether you productively procrastinate or unproductively procrastinate.

For example, the other day Ms. Deanna Leah was picking on me for procrastinating my way out of writing a scene in my latest novel endeavor. Thing is, I was procrastinating from writing by working on some editing that I needed to do for Mavguard Magazine.

I was still getting things done, but it wasn't the things I was supposed to be doing.

That's the key to good procrastination.

See, I don't generally let myself sit still and do nothing. I prefer to always be doing something, to always be productive in one way or another.

To that end, when I simply don't want to do anything at all, I sit down and plan.

Planning is productive too, you know.



So, just for funsies, here's six things I do to productively procrastinate, six things that I use to keep my brain in shape while the rest of me wants to do nothing more than sit and do nothing:

1. Make that plan


Yeah, this can also be a good way to avoid procrastination, if you can actually stick to your plan. But I tend to make looooooooong plans while I'm procrastinating, to plan out the rest of my day. Productive, and yet I'm not really doing anything at all and I tend to throw the plan out the window.

At least it had me thinking, and I wasn't entirely stagnant.

2. Do something fun that needs to be done


This does not include chores, work, or watching videos on YouTube.

Nobody needs to watch random videos. Work is what we're trying to avoid. Chores can always wait a few more hours.

I'm talking about fun busy work, like editing for the magazine. (yes, I know, I'm weird)

3. Alphabetize 


I think today we've already established that I'm a kook, so we'll just leave this one be.

4. Read


This counts as procrastination only when you have a book to read that you haven't promised you were going to read. Thankfully for me, I have about a dozen books I'm supposed to read. So it's not really procrastinating, is it?

5. Get ahead of the curve


I'm sure you're wondering how this is possible while procrastinating, and I'll tell you.

Scroll down Facebook. Keep scrolling. Anything that you think might be interesting or useful later on, open it in a separate tab.

There you have it, a grouping of various random articles that can be shared with your fanbase while you're procrastinating.

6. Lastly, get up off your hiney


Why are we even procrastinating in the first place?


I hope, at the very least, that this gave you a chuckle. (I know it did for me)

[love and giggles]

{Rani D}

Monday, February 2, 2015

Well well well...

Evidently, you just didn't care for my latest contest. Sad day. :'( Nobody wins, nobody gets the awesome prize I picked out.

Not to worry -- it only means I'll have to run another contest later on! And on top of that, we'll be running some specials on the RAD Store for both Coetir and Telekinetic in just a couple of weeks, so keep your eyes peeled!

Meanwhile...


If you're a writer, there's really only one piece of advice I truly have to give you today, and it's this:

Always (and I do mean always) make sure that someone is reading your work.

Yes, while you're writing it.

Why?

Because if you're writing for an audience, you're much more likely to finish the work. Your friend will tell you whether or not your story is working (if they're a good friend) and they'll help you to keep on track with writing it.

I do that even now, with every single one of my books.

There's always someone reading it while I'm working on it, no matter what.

It helps me keep myself on track -- even on days when I feel like my writing is the worst thing on the planet. Because even an amateur can usually tell where the problems are within a story.


I hope you'll take my advice, and send your work to a good friend. I suggest that you make it a close one, to make things easier on yourself in the long run. :-)

[love]

{RD}