Musa Author Interview: Stephanie Campbell

Uncategorized
Today I am very pleased to introduce Stephanie Campbell, author of Dragon Night. I am currently reading Dragon Night, published by Urania, Musa's speculative fiction imprint, on the Kindle I got for Christmas. I'm more than halfway through the book and I've enjoyed every step along the way. It's a great honour to have her here today. 1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your book, Dragon Night? I'm twenty-one years old and have been writing since I was twelve. People in the publishing world often tell me that I'm "still a baby." I have heard that phrase used on me quite often. I'm a go-getter, at least when it comes to the things that I want and love, so I don't let my age or anything…
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Editing a Short Story in Five Steps

Short Fiction, Uncategorized, Writing
Over the last week of December and the first week of January, we worked on fairly long short stories. Now it's time to talk about editing. Editing a short story is a much less painful process than editing a novel. It's a shorter process, and if you go through each of these steps you can make it a lot easier for yourself. I recommend taking a day or two away from your short story before you start editing it. You don't want to stay away a long time. Particularly if your end goal is to make money, it's a good idea to have several of these on the market at one time. When I edit a short story, I usually follow these steps: 1. Proofread on the computer. Sure, you…
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Finishing Your Novel a Few Hundred Words at a Time

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December is a busy month for most people. People who work in retail are almost always working long hours of overtime. People have holiday dinners with family, in laws, groups of friends, their companies. They're buying Christmas gifts for their relatives. And of course, the regular workload doesn't just disappear either. Personally, I've taken over more duties for Musa Publishing and I spend most of my time after school working on Penumbra, whether it be for marketing the eMagazine or for the blog. It's a lot to handle. But we can't let our busy lives stop us from finishing our novels. So what we need to do is carve out small chunks of time from our busy schedules to write. Try to get ahead in our other work so that…
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Changes Here at Dianna’s Writing Den

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Autumn is a season of change, when the leaves begin to change colours and then fall off the trees, and the frost comes and kills the plants. It is the transition from summer to winter, and for millions of children and young adults throughout the world, it is back to school season. Each new school year brings with it challenges, some of them old, some of them new. New teachers, new classmates. Old teachers, old classmates. New expectations. Harder classes. For many university students, a new town or sometimes an entirely new country. September has been a month of adjustments for me. I'm working as a writer for the first time, getting paid to blog about the things I love most: books and writing. I'm in harder classes this year…
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Author Interview: Denyse Bridger

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Today I am proud to introduce multi-house author Denyse Bridger. This interview was done on the 19th of February. Denyse is the author of several works, including Beyond the Gateways. 1. Can you tell us a bit about your most recent book? It’s not easy to pick one specific title – I had four books released last weekend, so it was one of those amazing things that comes at you out of the blue and overwhelms you! The variety of stories in the recent releases is typical of how I work – one is a collection of epic and dark fantasy stories – stuff that is like Lord of the Rings, and a couple of tales that are dark vampire fantasy. I also have a Historical novella with a touch…
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MuseItUp! Author Interview: Carlie Angelus

Author Interviews, Reading Related, Uncategorized
I'm proud to introduce MuseItUp Author Carlie Angelus today. Her paranormal romance, Newly Wed and Newly Dead, comes out in April 2011. 1. Can you tell us a bit about your upcoming project with MuseItUp Publishing? Yes, it is a paranormal romance featuring a young woman named Shelby who died on her wedding day and came back as a guardian angel twenty years later. 2. When and how did you decide to become a writer? I've been writing since childhood and this is just the latest of my vivid imagination creations! 3. What was the first story you ever wrote about? Hard to say. I've always been an avid reader/writer. Probably had something to do with being haunted. I've always been obsessed with ghost stories and the paranormal. 4. Where…
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Living Life to the Fullest

Uncategorized, Writing
As writers it is easy for us to stay inside our houses and ignore the world around us, but it is also the most crucial mistake that we can make. Our writing grows as we grow and we grow through experience more than we grow through age. Every writer should live their life to the fullest, not just so that they can tell their grandchildren stories, but because it adds depth to the stories we share with the world as well. I do dream of making a living off of my writing by the time I am twenty-five, but that doesn't mean I will not experience life fully. While I hope to make a living off of my writing by the time I'm twenty-five, I don't necessarily want to be…
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Renewing Your Commitment to Reading

Reading Related, Uncategorized
Over the last two weeks I've talked about renewing your commitment to writing and what counts as writing time. But-as a wise commentor pointed out last week-reading is just as important to your future as a writer as writing is. The fact is, one in four people doesn't read any books at all. As a writer, you can't afford to be one of those people, regardless of how busy you are. Just like you need to make time to write, you need to make time to read. For me reading is a lot more flexible-I can't write much by hand and even if I had a laptop it would only travel so far-so it's a lot easier to commit to than writing is. That said, a lot of times I…
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