Connections and Writer's Digest Online

To close out the week's theme of Connections. I decided to write for a prompt that has a bigger following than the others. I've always wanted to participate in a Writer's Digest prompt. Fear held me back. Lots of people will see my writing if I participate. I know it's the entire point of writing. You want people to see your writing and enjoy it, but people will see my writing!

Connections and Random Acts of Creativity

Samantha over at The Marble Jar had a great idea last week for a Random Acts of Creativity Round Up where she is encouraging risk, bravery and creativity. I agree wholeheartedly about embracing risk. I love challenges and risk, so this seemed like a perfect chance to make connections while taking a huge leap.

Tall Tale Tuesday: February 25th

The prompts are a creative stepping stone. Anyone who wants to participate is more than welcome to alter the prompts in a way that helps them be more creative. My flash fiction as well as the prompts can be a bit dark, but this is an exercise in tapping into your imagination. If the prompt comes from a place of darkness but helps you jump into the light, take that leap. Don't let the wording of the prompt hold you back from pursuing the story you want to write. I'll try to create versatile prompts, too.

Connections and Write on Edge

This week's theme will be Connections. After the recent realization that I don't have as many blogging friends as I'd like, I will be striving to become more connected with other bloggers. I'd like to find more writing blogs to read and admire!

Award

Alicia over at Chosen.Called.Chasing nominated me for an award recently. I think I might have said I WON an award. Sorry about that. I was excited!

Off-Beat Inspiration through Collaboration

I saved my favorite site for last. As you'll see when you head over to the site, the design of it inspired my own blog design choices. Wait. Don't go yet!

Off-Beat Inspiration Through Learning

I love online classes and learning new things. I'm not sure how artistic I actually am, or if I just want to be artistic with mediocre talent. Doesn't matter though. It's about opening up to creativity through the process of being artistic if that makes sense. It feels ethereal and vague. Like I'm touching the essence and spirit of my creative being. It feels silly to say, but that's a little like how it feels!

Tall Tale Tuesday: February 18

I'll have a better graphic next week!

Every Tuesday, I'll be listing a few writing prompts for those who want to stretch themselves with some story writing. I'll have a linky widget at the bottom of the page -- if I ever figure out how to add one. If you'd like to share with others, feel free to link your blog there. Visit some of the other links to leave your comments and encouragement, too!

Off-Beat Inspiration

This week's theme is off-beat inspiration. Word and writing prompts are common inspiration, but there are other, unexpected ways to open yourself up to imagination and creativity. This week I'll share three websites that spark my writing.

Your Love Story

Fellow blogger and friend, Brandi over at Finding a Path for Me, is running a Valentine's Day giveaway.

What's Your Love Story?

Even if you don't have a love story to share, you can enter the giveaway by friending Brandi on social media. Follow her all over the place; Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Plus she's lots of fun. Who wouldn't want to follow her?!

It ends February 16th, so get over there and participate. There are two gift cards to be awarded!

Behind the Scenes: Blogging Lessons Learned

Lessons Learned

It may be very soon in my writing/blogging journey to talk about the lessons I've learned, but I always seem to jump in with both feet - the wrong way. So, that would be me jumping in sideways? With arms and legs wide like a skydiver? You get the idea. I do it wrong. That means my lessons come early. I may jump in like a flying squirrel on crack, but I'm quick to understand when I'm running into problems. I'm self-aware, and 'doing it wrong' is a pretty common occurrence.

Behind the Scenes: Blogging Affiliates

**Blogging Affiliates**

Behind the scenes, I've tried to monetize my blog. It's what you do with a blog, right? Bloggers write because they love it. They share meaningful posts full of information for their readers because they want to become an authority on their topic. At the end of the day, bloggers would like to make a little bit of money for providing valuable information.

Power of the Thriller by Robert Sells

My first ever book promotion blog... thing. Robert Sells is here today talking about thrillers. I'm thrilled to welcome him! I know. That was pretty bad, but it's a compulsion. I can't help myself.

The Power of the Thriller

“I’ll be back.”

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s line from the iconic thriller, The Terminator. The movie was directed by another icon, James Cameron. The Terminator had all the essential ingredients: good acting, action packed, clever concept, but… it didn’t make sense. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the movie. It remains one of my favorites. However, when I left the theater after seeing it for the first time, I wondered about one minor inconsistency.

Behind the Scenes: Blogging Niche

**Blogging Niche**

This week's theme will take you behind the scenes of blogging. There's nothing truly earth shattering. I want to start a conversation about the whole blogging process. I'd like to talk to all of you about the whole mystery of it. Oh. It's not a mystery to you? Well, it's a mystery to me!

Friday Imagination Prompt

Here's my story based on the prompts from Wednesday.

Five Writing Prompts to Give Your Imagination a Kick in the Pants

Sticking with the theme of imagination this week, I want to talk about ideas and my idea file. That's where I keep all my ideas, obviously! There's almost always a random, stray topic in that file, but I don't always want to write what's there. It doesn't inspire me.

When I'm uninspired by my idea file, I have to find the inspiration someplace else. Writer's often call this type of thing writer's block. Basically, they're uninspired. The uninspired writer stares at the blank page, and the blank page stares back. Finally, it begins to mock them. They become frustrated. It's a cycle. You're bleh about writing, nothing resonates, the blank page mocks you, which makes you bleh about writing. (Yes. Bleh is a real word. I don't care what the red squiggle says!) I don't have the perfect solution for all writers. I only have the solution that works for me.

Word Prompts!

The Monkey House

This is an off-topic and off-day post. If anyone remembers, I struggled with a cover for my short story Marking Time. I've never been completely happy with the one I settled on when I started uploading the story to JukePop Serials.

Let Your Imagination out of its Chains

Since themes worked so well for me over the course of the 31-day blogging challenge last month, I'm sticking with it until the wheels fall off.