Practical Advice For Aspiring Authors And Writers
One Mum’s Journey to Becoming Published
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FeaturedWhat Makes a Great Christmas Story?
It’s cold outside, the Christmas tree’s up and we’re looking forward to spending quality time with our loved ones in the not too distant future. Of course, we all like to imagine ourselves cozied up by an open fire, blanket pulled over us, a glass of mulled wine in hand, flipping the well-worn pages of a festive read or watching our favorite Christmas movie. It’s all part of our emotional and psychological preparation for the big day. But what exactly makes a great, even classic Christmas story?
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Featured10 Christmas Gifts For Writers
Looking for inspiration for a Christmas gift? Then look no further. I’ve done the research so that you don’t have to! Whether you’re the writer or its a friend or family member, we’ve got it all covered.
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FeaturedBeta Readers – Useful or Useless?
Author Pearl Tate asked me to beta read her latest novel in the Quasar Lineage Series. Great! I thought. What do I need to do? So, I set out to investigate the best way to give useful and meaningful feedback to an author. Wikipedia defines a Beta reader as an unpaid test reader of an unreleased work of literature or other writing, who gives feedback from the point of view of an average reader to the author. A Beta reader is not professional and can, therefore provide advice and comments in the opinions of an average reader. This feedback is used by the writer to fix remaining issues with a plot, pacing, and consistency.
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FeaturedAre You NaNoWriMo Ready?
NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month begins on 1 November 2019. It’s run by NaNoWriMo Org, a not for profit organization, made up of staff, volunteers, sponsors and fundraisers that support writing fluency, education and a social network for writers.
The 30-day writing event was launched in 1999. The challenge with this: write 50,000 words of a novel during the 30 days of November.
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Chaperones -Grace’s Story by M C Taylor – $2.91 Offer on Amazon.com – Available for Limited Time Only
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FeaturedIs Gender-Neutral Language the New Buzz-Word for Writers and Authors ?
Everyone’s talking about gender-neutral language these days. We hear about it on the radio, see it splashed across newspapers and watch live debates about it on the television where overpaid presenters preach from their soapbox that the world has become too politically correct. But how easy is it to write a story or novel using gender-neutral language? And is it possible to avoid bias towards any particular sex or social gender? Gender-neutral writing means no names that would identify a character as male or female, no conventional titles or pronouns like he, she, his, hers and no job roles that specify a gender. Well, I’m about to find out if its possible because my local writing circle have set a challenge to write a piece without using any gender-specific words.
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FeaturedWant to Know The Secret of a Great Novel?
I’d already completed a basic creative writing course at my local college but realized there was still more to writing a novel. After liaising with Mary Adkins, author of ‘When You Read This’ for a previous blog post, ‘What the Authors are Reading’, I spotted her on-line course and investigated some more. It instantly appealed to me since Mary, a successful author, promises to share her insights into the novel-writing process. Mary’s also an advocate that you don’t have to stick to the conventional rules of creative writing to write a great story.
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FeaturedTracie Podger, Friend of the mum2author blog releases the Italian version of The Facilitator
It started as a game.
Two adults, both lonely; one an expert, the other learning on the quick.
He thought he was giving her what she desired. She hated herself for loving it.
Lauren Perry thought her life was fine. She knew what she wanted and where she was going. That was until her husband left her. -
FeaturedCalling All Writers – It’s Time to Face the Resistance
Let’s face it, all writers at some point face resistance. When we do face resistance, we think about other things, do other things and put the writing off. It doesn’t matter if you’re Stephen King, an indie author, a journalist or a blogger. Its human nature and we can use every excuse under the sun not to sit down and write. We don’t have enough time. There are other priorities. We need to do the shopping. We need to do the washing-up. We’re tired. We need to get the laundry on.
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FeaturedBecoming A Writer: Rediscovering My Identity After Motherhood
Carefree, commitment-shy and fun lovin’. That was the ‘old me’. I ‘did’ university, partied hard in Ibiza and traveled the world, extending stays in Australia and Hong Kong. Everything fuelled my wanderlust ideas about becoming a travel writer and more than once, a romantic notion to write novels. I flitted from job to job and boyfriend to boyfriend. My social diary buzzed. I didn’t want to grow up or grow old.
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FeaturedWhat the Authors are Reading
Featuring: Mary Adkins, Tracie Podger, The Fairytale Mum, M C Taylor, Pearl Tate
Good Authors tend to be well read. And this doesn’t stop once they secure a book deal or become published.
Why?
For the simple reason that reading a good book brings us so much more than just entertainment.
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Featured5 ESSENTIAL TIPS FOR ASPIRING AUTHORS EVERYWHERE
Even if blessed with raw natural talent, most of us need to spend time learning the craft of writing. It can feel overwhelming at first but there are lots of small steps that aspiring authors can take:
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FeaturedIf You Want To Be A Writer…..Then Write!
I was recently reminded whilst listening to the audible version of ‘Make a Living as a Professional Self-Published Author,’ by Richard G Lowe, Jr of something fundamental to carving out a career as a writer. He emphasises in his book that if you want to be a writer, you need to allocate the majority of your working time towards; you’ve guessed it, writing! It seems plainly obvious doesn’t it? But it’s amazing how many distractions and issues there are in today’s frantic world that can hinder the professional writer/would be writer.
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Introducing M C Taylor mum2author
Welcome to the M C Taylor – From Mum to Author Blog. I’ve always had a passion for writing and remember spending hours as a little girl trying to out beat my class-mates by writing the longest and best stories in my school exercise books. At the age of about 10, I would sit in my bedroom two-finger typing a ‘newsletter’, which would be distributed to my neighbours. As a teenager and young adult, I continued to write and had poems and a travel article published. Life took over though and despite trying out various careers, I still managed to dip in and out of writing, here and there.
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M C TAYLOR 