Tag: Writing
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NaNoWriMo Celebration Blog Tea Party
I can’t believe it’s over! The challenge to challenge all writing challenges. This year almost 170,000 writers undertook the NaNoWriMo challenge to write a novel of 50,000 words in just one month. This entailed churning out a minimum of 1667 words every single day with no exceptions. But why? What communal madness infected all those…
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10 Recession Beating Personal Grooming Tips for Writers(!)
1: Save on manicures and nail trimming by typing extremely fast for long periods. If you participate in the yearly NaNoWriMo challenge you will automatically lose all your fingernails. 2: Dispense with face creams, anti-wrinkle products and Botox. This will automatically give your face a deeply etched, lived in look that will suggest wisdom and…
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The Evangelical Writer: Why you need to believe in yourself
Evangelism. It can be scary. It can put you off a nice walk in the park. It can make you squirm uncomfortably at the front door. Or it can be fascinating and illuminating to see how the power of belief can make someone turn their life around, dedicate themselves absolutely to what they believe in.…
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Back-Pats and Explosive Stats
Just back from a mother and baby conference weekend where the baby speakers had us enthralled and the mummies went ga ga over the plush surroundings. It was a meeting of the hardworking volunteers of the fabulous Cuidiu (caring support) organisation for parents, particularly of babies and small children. If anyone deserves an award it…
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Five ways to procrastinate procrastination
I’m going to write a post on procrastination but first I need to make a cup of tea, check on a few emails, update my twitter feed, clean the bathroom and take my pet giraffe out for a walk. Oh and the keyboard could do with a bit of a polish. Right. Sorted. So here…
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Haven for the Head-Wrecked
I’ve become particularly aware in the last while that many of the people I am in contact with in my everyday life both physically or virtually (through twitter or email) are struggling in some way and putting a brave face on it. They are feeling confused, vulnerable, lonely, disheartened, unsure or scared and they are…
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Why I’m Missing 1970’s Wallpaper – Inspiration for Far Out Writing Dudes
I grew up in the 1970’s: the era of swirly carpets, psychedelic curtains, bed coverings and wallpaper. The wallpaper was flock, groovy, funky, floral, paisley, repeating geometric, colourful, clashing, kitsch. But you have to admit it, compared with the pared down smooth walls in neutral cream paint of the minimalist mode we have now, there…
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Of Semi-Colons and Sandwiches
As a writer, once you get your bum on the seat, it is all too tempting to concentrate on the story, the creativity, the word count, the dreamlike moment when you go up to claim your award……Anything, anything but grammar. ‘Don’t they have a thing on Word for that?’ I am aghast, you charlatan! Not…
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Writer DNA: Blood, sweat, nails and hair
The better my writing goes, the more of myself I leave behind. That is true for the story, where the stronger the impact of the piece, the more likely it is that I have imbued it with some authentic emotion, some recognisable evidence of common humanity, my version of it. It is also true of…
Alison Wells Author 