Finding Old Writing

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I was cleaning out my car this past weekend, and when I finally managed to get around to the trunk, I found all sorts of goodies from my high school days. I found a bunch of my sheet music from band, including a few flute solos that I don’t remember ever playing. But I’m pretty sure I was trying to take advantage of having the copy machine password, so I made copies of music I wanted to learn. (Too bad I haven’t picked up my flute since I graduated high school.)

I also found a few journals with some old writing in them. One was a short story that I wrote two pages and then stopped writing, but it was really intriguing. Part of me thinks I had to have started that in college sometime, because it was pretty well written.

But it seemed to be about a girl with drug addict parents who lost custody when she was six or so. She was bounced from foster home to foster home until she aged out. Now homeless and desperate, she gets an offer to fulfill a huge $100,000 drug order, with the promise that she would get half the money if she was successful.

That’s where I stopped writing. Sigh. I’m hoping next week (this weekend is going to be insane with my 2 year college reunion) I can work on that a little bit. It’s an interesting premise in my opinion, and I’m curious to see where I can go with it. Heck maybe I’ll work on it today?  Continue reading →

Eight Week Challenge with The Caffeinated Writer

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Greetings and happy (early) Memorial Day!

I have eight weeks left to go at my job until my last day, and then we are on the road to Texas just one week later.

Before I leave Virginia, I really want to make some productive changes in my life. Take all the things I’ve committed to this year and actually accomplish some things!

This year, my new year’s resolutions involved losing weight, reading more, and writing more.

At different parts of the year, I’ve attempted to focus my attention on one of these goals, but (like always) a week later I’d lose interest.

Which brings me to my eight week challenge.

the caffeinated writer

Continue reading →

Fiction Friday #2

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FICTION FRIDAY

Like everything I do in life, I get really excited about something, do it for a week, and then completely forget about it.

It’s my fatal flaw, really.

I guess it’s not as bad as sitcoms where they show the child in the family having done like 10,000 different things for just a week at a time and not committing to anything. I commit! It just takes me longer to accomplish things because I commit to lots of stuff and then jump around them endlessly.

So, I present a very measly Fiction Friday:

Continue reading →

Pros and Cons of Different Book Types (Guest Post)

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There are usually 4 formats to buy a book in: hardcover, paperback, eBook, and audiobook. Which one is the best? See these pros and cons before deciding for yourself!

Hardcovers

Pro: It’s always available on release day. This point comes down to patience. I am an impatient person when it comes to book releases, so I want the next book in a series yesterday. So, if a book is released that I’ve been anticipating for a while, I’ll buy the hardcover on the release day. Continue reading →

Fiction Friday #1: What I Read This Week

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A new blog segment! Yay!

Fiction Friday is different for everyone. But for The Caffeinated Writer, Fiction Friday will be a round-up of the books I read this week, plus a short summary of my feelings about that book.

Most of these books are classics or very popular contemporary YA novels, so I probably won’t write formal reviews for most of them.

SO, without further ado: Continue reading →

Long Time, No Post

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Outback

Good morning, friends. And thank you.

You stuck with me even during a tumultuous 2-week hiatus in which I made excuses for myself, got so much dental work done, and started really considering what my future holds for me.

So to update, I wrote a total of 147 words during Camp NaNoWriMo. That same feeling washed over me on day 1 as it did last year, where I had built up too much excitement it seems for the novel I’d been planning to write. And then when the first day came along, it all washed away. I was stoked to write I Should’ve Eloped. But I think in postponing the wedding, all the anger I held towards planning the damn thing washed away too. Continue reading →

Three Kinds of Writing Books Every Writer Should Read, Part 3 (Guest Post)

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Part 3: The Life of Writing

The life of writing isn’t like a job where you clock in and clock out. Sure, if you’re a journalist, but not if you’re writing fiction. If a day goes by and you don’t write a single word, there’s no one to dock your pay.

So now, the final book you need in your regular reading diet as a writer: something about actually living the writing life. Because, guess what? Just focusing on the writing itself isn’t enough. Unless your goal is to finish your novel and stick it in a drawer. Or if you don’t actually care about finishing. Or if you just want to dabble, if writing is just a hobby. But if you want to get your writing out into the world and reach readers, you’ll need to do more. And you’ll need a guide. In The Art of War for Writers, James Scott Bell serves up 77 bite-sized chapters on how to succeed in the life of writing, organized into three parts:

bookss.jpeg Continue reading →

Adult Coloring Books Are All The Rage

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I read a Buzzfeed headline today about how physical copies of books are selling better than they previously have!

Yay!

But then I actually read the article and discovered that this rise in sales is linked primarily to 1 thing (among others but still): adult coloring books.

Continue reading →

Three Kinds of Writing Books Every Writer Should Read, Part 2 (Guest Post)

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Part 2: The Art of Writing

It’s sad but true: you can craft grammatically perfect prose, turn a nice phrase, and even come up with an insightful metaphor or two—and still write forgettable fiction. How many books feature the same stock characters and predictable plots? Or worse: unbelievable characters and clunky, hole-ridden plots? So, if you’re going to write, if you’re going to pour your time, your energy, your life into a world that doesn’t even actually exist—if you’re willing to do all that—why not make your writing the best it can possibly be?

In my last post, I featured a wonderful little book on the craft of writing, The Elements of Eloquence. It drills down deep into phrases, sentences, and rhetoric. Today, we look at the second kind of book that should be a part of every writer’s reading diet: a book on the art of writing, because writing is more than craft.

That’s right: as writers, we need to do more than just study the craft, we need to catch a vision of what great writing can be. In The Art of Fiction, John Gardner gives us exactly that. Continue reading →