CataUniversity

10,000 hours and counting

By Alice ⋅ March 5, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

I recently came across this interesting blog post by Justine Lee Musk that discusses what it really takes (according to some) to become a successful author. I love this quote by Malcom Gladwell: “When we look at any kind of cognitively complex field — for example, playing chess, writing fiction or being a neurosurgeon — [...]

Generic Characters are Boring

By Alice ⋅ March 3, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

I’ve been reading several “how to” books recently and one thing that I’ve noted in two of them in particular is that characters should be extraordinary. They should be more handsome than the average man, more beautiful than the average woman. Smarter, wealthier, etc.
Plain, dull characters should be extremely plain and dull.
Kim Llewellyn recently said [...]

March Workshop:”Sex Between The Pages: Understanding and Crafting Sexual Tension”

By Alice ⋅ February 25, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

March 1-26, 2010
“Sex Between The Pages: Understanding and Crafting Sexual Tension”
by Mary Buckham
www.WriterUniv.com
How do you write great sexual tension? That’s the question Mary Buckham posed to Linda Howard, Stella [...]

Planning to Write

By Alice ⋅ February 22, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

“Planning to write is not writing. Outlining, researching, talking to people about what you’re doing, none of that is writing. Writing is writing.”
E.L. Doctorow
This post was submitted by Alice.

Plot VS Characters

By Alice ⋅ February 15, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

“I always start with characters rather than with a plot, which many critics would say is very obvious from the lack of plot in my films although I think they do have plots – but the plot is not of primary importance to me, the characters are.”
Film Director Jim Jarmusch
This post was submitted by Alice.

Tax Deductions for Writers by Pamela S. Thibodeaux

By Alice ⋅ February 10, 2010 ⋅ One comment

Writing is more than creating the ‘great American novel’; writing is a Business and a business requires record keeping and tax preparation. Many have already begun gathering information and getting things in order. Most will wait until the last minute then be in a panic. Don’t be one of them, be PREPARED!
IRS rules state that [...]

More on Plot

By Alice ⋅ February 8, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

“It\’s like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.”
This post was submitted by Alice.

Good Blog Habits #6 – Reminder people to sign up for your RSS feed.

By Alice ⋅ February 7, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

Reminder people to sign up for your RSS feed.
More and more people are using RSS feeds these days. You can even get an RSS feed via email. Getting your users subscribed to your blog will help you get return traffic.
Each time you post something new, they’ll be notified. This makes it easy for them to [...]

Good Blog Habits #5 – Have Goals

By Alice ⋅ February 6, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

Have goals.
What is it you want out of your blog?
Don’t feel blindly in the dark. Set goals. Write down the steps it’ll take to achieve the goals. And start completing those steps.
This goal will help you maintain your focus. It will help you persist when the going gets touch. It will help you be [...]

Good Blog Habits #4 – Be Yourself

By Alice ⋅ February 5, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

Be yourself.
Take a look at your favorite blogs. What do they do successfully? What makes them unique? How do you get to know the individual writer(s)?
What makes you unique? How can you be yourself on your blog, let readers get to know you, and meet your goals as a blogger? Let your personality [...]

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