Blog Jog Day for Readers and Writers!

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We're celebrating!

Chelle Cordero's Consistently Rated Top 100 Kindle Blog

Living, Breathing, Writing: A Lesson A Day

Sampler Download Full Book

Check out the Sampler and then buy a month's worth of fabulous writing tips and exercises, in-depth how-to's, lighthearted encouragement, and more...

All New Edition of Chelle Cordero's
Living, Breathing, Writing: A Lesson A Day!
Volume 1

“Having Chelle Cordero's blog on my Kindle is like having an author here
in residence with me. She gives inspiration, motivation, and best of
all, practical advice and solutions. I love the ‘writing exercises’ she
offers at the end of each blog, as well as the ‘writing prompts’.” ~J.B.
Naylor

And now, Kindle owner or not, writers are able to get in on the fun and
active lessons from the Kindle Blog—Living, Breathing, Writing, by
Chelle Cordero.

Welcome to a complete month of lessons about the craft of writing and
being a writer. In the BONUS Section of this book you’ll find more than
50 brain-starting exercises to help you get those words on paper.

These short lessons and activities have been previously published as
part of the acclaimed Amazon Kindle blog Living, Writing, Breathing
available by subscription for Kindle owners, and consistently in the Top
100, for just 99₵ a month.

Volume 1 in ebook formats and Coming in Print August 10!

Chelle Cordero Article (reprint)

The Problem with TODAY

Like many authors, I like to write the kind of stories I like to read and I like contemporary (like really present day) tales. Of course we live in a rapidly changing world and the time between writing and out-there for purchase can sometimes cause a few wrinkles.

When I wrote my most recent novel, Hyphema, I really decided to tackle a current subject. The (Matt Garratti) hero’s wife is a Pakistani born Muslim immigrant to this country. Sudah is working towards her citizenship and wants to be American, but the family’s move to North Carolina is met with some snide remarks and suspicion from their new neighbors about her background.

In one scene, Sudah is confronted by the wife of one of Matt’s co-workers; Donna grew up sheltered with limited contact to anyone “different”, all she knows about Muslims are the headlines and her family’s ire about an older cousin’s fiancé killed on 9-11. Donna shouts the statement, “And they say that Bin Laden lives like a hero in Pakistan.”

Hyphema was first made available for sale in e-book form on April 18 and scheduled for print in May. As we all know from the news, it was announced on Sunday evening May 1 that Osama Bin Laden was found and killed by American forces – in Pakistan. Although the actual news is much more monumental than the release of a novel, yikes! As an author my mind was spinning.

When I wrote my novel Hostage Heart I made a lot of references to the 2005 devastation in Louisiana after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In 2008 Louisiana was again bracing for another violent hurricane, Gustav. While the level of damage was far less, it still made a dent in my manuscript which I was already editing. I made mention of hurricanes “over the past few years” and alluded to the heroine graduating from a makeshift schoolhouse before the “last round of hurricanes hit”.

Writing stories that are “ripped from the headlines” can prove perplexing. All I can say though is, much like the action in my novels, life is fast paced and forever changing. They say that life imitates art and I am trying to keep up with it.

Multipublished Author Chelle Cordero

Download this Free Sampler of all Chelle's Novels!

About Chelle Cordero:

I was always a kid with a wild and vivid imagination and loved to spin a few yarns. Growing up in the city (NYC) and working my way through college, I had the opportunity of working some rather unusual and interesting jobs that only fed into the imaginary scenarios growing in my mind. By the time my husband and I settled in the burbs to have kids, I decided to write full-time and did so for a number of magazines and newspapers… but I still dreamt of growing up and becoming a novelist.

In 2008 my first novel Bartlett’s Rule was published by Vanilla Heart Publishing. My hubby says that when I received the acceptance note from Kimberlee Williams (managing editor), it was the first (and only) time he ever saw me speechless. I now have nine novels (7 romantic suspense and 2 mystery) and one writing instruction book. I also author an Amazon Kindle Blog called Living-Breathing-Writing and I am still writing for newspapers and magazines.

I think I like writing.

My website: http://ChelleCordero.com

My blog: http://ChelleCordero.blogspot.com

Be sure to visit our New VHP Author's Blog and Site where we'll be giving away prizes through the month of September for our Grand Opening. We'll have Author chats, a time to visit with a VHP Author and win giveaways, our title catalogs (Kindle, Print, AllRomance, and Smashwords Multiformat, Author Accolades, drawings for neat swag, and more...

http://VHPAuthors.wordpress.com



And over on our Vanilla Heart Books And Authors Website, you will find book videos, announcements, specials, more freebies, extensive author pages, and our FREE downloadable and printable Book Club Extras, with discussion starters, title information, and color bookmarks, plus catalogs with buy links, seasonal discounts and specials, and surprises...

http://www.VanillaHeartBooksAndAuthors.com

KISS - Keep it Simply Simple by Chelle Cordero

Good for you if you have a grasp of vocabulary that would put most SAT students to shame – but most of that isn’t needed when you are writing dialogue and action. If you rely on long, multi-syllabic words just to make your dialogue sound impressive, you are probably defeating yourself.

Unless you have a character who characteristically tries to sound like a dictionary when they speak, then don’t fill their speech with long and unnecessary words. Read the dialogue aloud, does it sound natural or does it sound false and stilted. Be honest with yourself, is that the way your character really speaks?

Would most AVERAGE high school students say "I need to eradicate my response on the examination" or would it be more believable for the student to say "I need to erase my answer on the test"? Think which statement sounds more realistic. Chances are your dialogue should sound just like people you talk with everyday.

You should concern yourself with a different pattern of speech only when you are placing your setting in a different time period, country, or if the speech pattern is specific to a unique character trait such as someone who doesn’t speak the language well, has a speech impediment or is trying to show off by using fancy words.

Keep your narrative simple as well. You shouldn’t have to rely on the narrative to describe a character’s emotions – their speech and actions should suffice. Be very stingy in using adjectives and adverbs – hurriedly, anxiously, nervously, angrily, happily – are all words that are better assumed by a character’s actions. Instead of: "More tea?" She poured the hot water nervously. Use: "More tea?" Her hand shook as she poured the hot water. If you say that a character is shouting, it is redundant to say ‘shouting loudly’; the same thing applies to whispering quietly, creeping slowly, and other such combinations. If you feel that using an adjective is absolutely necessary, be careful with your placement; use ‘she said nervously’ and not ‘Nervously she said’. Don’t duplicate words in the same sentence such as ‘Nervously she said nervously…’ Always read your words aloud if you are not sure and listen to what you’re saying – it should sound normal and flow smoothly.

Adding unnecessary words to your writing can also make your words seem less potent. Sentences like ‘She started to laugh’ have less impact than ‘She laughed’, likewise ‘He had come to the saloon’ versus ‘He came to the saloon’. Reduce repetitive words – you probably don’t have to keep repeating that your character is doing something like breathing (if it fits and sounds right, then use it) but there is no need to keep finding a different word to say the same thing such as inhaling, gasping, panting, etc.

Most people use contractions in their everyday speech. It is usually okay for your character to say "I don’t want" instead of "I do not want". At the same time be careful that you are using correct contractions and don’t rely just on the sound. A very common mistake is to say "could OF" instead of the correct "could’ve" (for could HAVE). Try not to use slang "contractions" unless that is characteristic of the way your character really talks (like ya know, gonna, gimme, ain’t). Using a thesaurus and dictionary while you are writing may be helpful, but the end result shouldn’t sound like it.


NOTE from the Editor:

Welcome to a complete month of lessons about the craft of writing and being a writer. In the BONUS Section of this book you’ll find more than 50 brain-starting exercises to help you get those words on paper. These short lessons and activities have been previously published as part of the acclaimed Amazon Kindle blog Living, Writing, Breathing available by subscription for Kindle owners, and now are available to every writer.

Just $5.99
Living, Breathing, Writing: A Lesson A Day
Chelle Cordero

Chelle Cordero is a multi-published author with Vanilla Heart Publishing and a full-time freelance writer with local and national newspapers and magazines. She resides in New York’s Hudson Valley with her husband, family and three spoiled pussycats. In addition to her books and articles, Chelle pens a weekly writing course available by subscription at Amazon Kindle Blogs http://bit.ly/Wmg8W and volunteers with her local ambulance corps as an EMT. Her website is http://chellecordero.com/

Twitter Me by Chelle Cordero

“Twitter is a social networking and micro blogging service that enables its users to send and read messages known as tweets. Tweets are text-based posts of up to 140 characters displayed on the author's profile page and delivered to the author's subscribers who are known as followers.” (from Wikipedia) …or is it just another time consuming drain on my creative time?

I’ve heard a lot of folks stating they will never use Twitter, not just writers, but folks in other businesses as well. The biggest complaint seems to be “I don’t have the time to waste…”

While TV commercials have made fun of Twitter and like applications, such as the daughter complaining that dad doesn’t need to post every time he goes to the refrigerator, there are also commercials that take a humorous look at its widespread use. The truth is that many newspaper journalists are watching Twitter for late-breaking news; did you know that when Sully successfully
landed the airplane on the Hudson River, Twitter was there first? Twitter is an instant broadcast service for products and services – and it’s FREE.

It’s learning to use Twitter that frustrates most. It’s not that hard, so buckle your seat belts for a quick crash course:

Start out by going to Twitter.com and registering for a site – use your pen name (or close), business name, or some catchy service-identifiable name as your User Name. You have room for a very BRIEF bio; you can link your website to your profile so folks can find out more about you. There are several pleasant backgrounds to use for your Twitter page or you can upload one that is more personal. Okay, now you are on your way…

You have 140 characters to “tweet” messages – that includes spaces and punctuation. If you want to tweet about a blog or website, go to sites like http://bit.ly and shorten the URL (web address) and save your characters for a brief message. My URL for my VHP author’s page is approximately 65 characters; after using bit.ly http://bit.ly/aXYsPG is only 20 characters– saving 45 characters; that’s about eight words more to deliver my message. Make your message brief and direct, it’s almost like writing headlines.

Start building your community by following others – use the “Find people” function, use someone’s real name, an email address or a word that might be in their profile. Follow the ones who look interesting to you by clicking on the buttons to the right of their names (hold the cursor over the buttons to see which one says FOLLOW). You can also use the little box (right hand side) that says “search” by putting in keyword or trending phrase (current event or discussion) and follow those folks as well. Most people will follow you back within a day or so. Make sure that your privacy settings are set to accept for ease. You can always UNfollow if you see the person is sending something offensive.

Tweet regularly (once or twice a day is ideal) and mix up the topics. Yes, DO promote your books, products or services, but promo should really be no more than one-third of your total tweets. Re-tweet other tweeters’ worthy messages (hold the cursor over the lower right of the tweet box), reply to tweets (once again, hold the cursor over the lower right of the tweet box – click reply and you will see your message box with @UserName, just type your message), pass along occasional TASTEFUL humor, tweet interesting blogs (see above) and add to popular discussions (like “what did you think of the Yankees last night?”)

It won’t take long before you are tweeting comfortably and broadcasting your message to numerous people with just a few key strokes.

Still not convinced? Fellow VHP author Collin Kelley talks about Twitter and other social media in an interview here http://bit.ly/8X5qPw

Ready to tweet? Add me http://twitter.com/ChelleCordero and I’ll follow you back.

Chelle Cordero is blessed to be a full-time writer and a self-proclaimed hopeless romantic. She has eight novels published with Vanilla Heart Publishing, short stories in three anthologies and numerous articles in various North American newspapers and magazines. Chelle also teaches an online writing course available through Kindle subscription.

Real Fiction Characters by Charmaine Gordon

Her name is Diane. She’s beautiful and she’s fat. She’s also the nurse and receptionist at my family doctor’s office. When I signed in this morning for a follow-up visit, after the usual happy exchange, Diane beckoned me to lean in close. “Please write a book about fat women. All the books have thin pretty women who attract stud-handsome men. And we,” her blue eyes filled with tears, “sorry, but why can’t we be loved for who we are?” She closed the little glass door. Intimacy shut down.

As I waited and began writing a story noodling around in my head, I wrote, “the woman laid her built-for-action body on the beach towel.” I reread my words, pictured Diane’s lovely face—her words, “Why can’t we be loved for who we are. . .” I drew a line through built-for-action and wrote built-for-comfort.

The question is why not? How come every character has to be the stereotype. Heroine-at least pretty with a great shape, Hero-at least attractive, tall, built well and so on. What about the greater population who make up our world; people in wheelchairs, ones who need walkers or braces on legs or arms. Most of us have redeeming features, if not on our facades, then inside.

I will write a story about an overweight woman. She’ll be feisty, funny, smart, and sometimes sad. Maybe a guy will trip over her as she dozes on the beach, half buried by heavy wet sand by a band of little kids who wanted to cover the sleeping lady.

The dance of life continues with all steps forward-no slip sliding as in the past. I am excited,over-joyed,ecstatic. Get the picture? This author is one happy woman. To Be Continued, my first book with Vanilla Heart Publishing, has gotten good reviews. Women write that they cheer when the straying husband gets what's coming to him. My latest novel, Starting Over, romance/suspense will be released in print in just a few days. Both books are also available in ebook format, Kindle, and Nook.

This is where you can find me: http://AuthorCharmaineGordon.xanga.com
Vanilla Heart Publishing Author Page

Finding Time to Write by Victoria Howard.

The question I get asked most often when giving talks to readers' groups is 'how do you find time to write'?


In this day and age it's easy to feel overwhelmed by everyday life without the added pressure of writing a book or short story. So just how do you apply the BOSFOK (bum on seat, fingers on keyboard) principle?

The answer is by scheduling the time you have.

Don't try and fit your writing into your 'spare time.' There's no such thing, especially if you work full time in order to support your family. Study your schedule and designate time when you can concentrate on your writing, but don't be too ambitious. For example: If you are a morning person try getting up half an hour earlier and using that time to write. Some writers prefer to work of any evening while the rest of the family watch TV, others dedicate weekend afternoons as their time to write. Choose whatever works best for you, and stick to it.

1. Use a timer when doing research--it's very easy to become distracted, especially when searching the Internet. A timer will help make your time at the computer more productive.

2. Limit the amount of time you spend answering and sending emails (unless they are to your editor), and reading on line newspapers and blogs.

3. Think about what you're going to write BEFORE you sit down in front of the computer, perhaps while ironing, or mowing the lawn. When you do sit down at your desk, you'll have the next few pages worked out, plus you will have freed up time in which to write it.

4. Make use of downtime--those tedious journeys on the bus to work or sitting around waiting for appointments. Carry a notebook and write while you travel or wait. If you spend a lot of time in the car driving from place to place, invest in a voice activated voice recorder.

5. While you're watching your children play in the park, work out the next scene or think through a problem. When you sit down to write, the words will generally flow.

6. If your children have an essay to write use the time they are sat quietly to work on your novel.

7. Don't try and write while the TV or radio is playing in the background, it will only distract you.

8. Instead of taking an hour to eat lunch, use part of the time to write.

9. Invest in a netbook computer--most are no bigger than a sheet of A4 paper, are lightweight and relatively inexpensive.

10. Use an answering machine to screen calls during your 'writing time.'

11. But most of all, set yourself a writing goal. It could be something as simple as entering one writing contest in the course of a year. And remember; if you write 250 words a day--the equivalent of one page of A4, in a year you will have written 365 pages or approximately 90,000 words--enough for a full length novel. Whatever your goal, stick to it, as it will take the pressure off.

Time management is all about common sense. It's a matter of understanding your commitments and knowing how you work best, and using that information to achieve your goals.



Victoria Howard is the author of two romantic suspense novels, The House on the Shore, a finalist for the 2009 Joan Hessayon Award, presented by the Romantic Novelists, Association, and Three Weeks Last Spring, a 2009 Pushcart Nominee.