Christy Shuler

 Hallelujah! Fall is finally,  finally here and after months of miserable summer heat, my writer heart is singing praises for this beautiful October weather. I don't know about you, but my creativity always goes into hibernation in the summer and reawakens in the fall. Perhaps it's my minds way of preparing for what I like to think of as the writer's version of a marathon. Yes, that's right. I'm talking about  NaNoWriMo . If you've never heard of National Novel Writing Month, I'll give you the gist. Every November, participants undertake a complete rough draft of a brand new novel. In order to "win," your manuscript must reach 50,000 words. And while the prize consists mostly of bragging rights and a general feeling of achievement, Scrivener does offer a 50% discount to verified winners.  While this year will be only my second to participate, I resolved after last years win to commit every year going forward. For me, NaNoWriMo is a perfect excuse t...

Happy blog hop day everyone and thank you so much for stopping by mine. By the time you're reading this, we will be well into the month of July and I will have officially begun my Camp NaNoWriMo project. I'm writing this post at the end of June while preparing my plan of attack over the next 31 days in which I plan to write my first ever spec script for television. If you're not familiar with Camp NaNoWriMo, you can check out this blog post where I go into more detail. In essence, it's a month where writers worldwide dedicate themselves to a particular project of their choosing. But personally, I like to think of it as a giant pause button. NaNoWriMo and Camp NaNoWriMo have become my sole excuse to put down my novel with its seemingly endless revisions and pause for a month to focus on something new. Somehow doing so under the established framework of NaNoWriMo is easier for me than simply picking a random month of my own choosing, which I know I would never do if...

Happy blog hop day, everyone! I hope that your writing has been both fun and inspired. While I missed last month's hop, I have been in the thick of what will (hopefully) be my final round of revisions before querying my current novel. Hooray! In case you missed my video recapping my first beta reader experience , my novel has undergone a couple of major changes these past few months due to the feedback I received. It was an incredible learning opportunity for me. I truly believe that, thanks to my beta readers, I was able to resolve issues that would almost certainly have come back to bite me during the querying process. Whether I was saved from agent rejections remains to be seen, however, through this process I learned things about my writing and this story specifically, that I would not have otherwise. And for this reason, I highly recommend reaching out to beta readers before considering querying agents. That being said, I wanted to gather my thoughts into a post that co...

Music has greatly enhanced my writing over the years. Whether a moving instrumental score or moody lyrics to a breathtaking melody, music can stir emotions that inspire not only my prose, but often, entire storylines and help me get unstuck. Since I've been curating my favorite writing music for awhile now, I thought it might be fun to share some for this month's Author Toolbox Blog Hop topic. I know what a lot of people are saying. There's no way I can write in anything but a vacuum of complete silence.  And I hear you. It's rare that I'm able to actually draft alongside music. But while everyone is different in terms of their ideal writing environment, I find that music is something that can be fit into one's writing routine in creative ways. Ways to integrate music into your routine (outside of your writing space): Listen in the car.  Driving has been a fantastic way for me to connect with music and identify the emotions I want to convey in my writing...

From time to time, it's inevitable that in between those days of ever-flowing creative genius, writers are bound to hit roadblocks. Whether big or small, tiny bits of dialogue, or entire scenes and chapters, sometimes it can feel like an impossible task to carry on. We're just stuck. And while we will eventually work through it, I've discovered through my bouts of feeling stagnant, that there are often ways to accelerate our creative process. For this month's Author Toolbox Blog Hop topic, I'm compiling a list of 20 creative writing exercises to get unstuck. 1. Try another scene and come back later. A number of things could be affecting your ability to write a certain scene, including your emotional state, health, sleep, etc. Sometimes the answer is to simply take a break and return when you're in the right frame of mind. 2. Take out a sheet of paper and write by hand. Writing by hand is known to engage the entire brain, which is why journaling is so of...

In honor of February, I wanted to dedicate this month to relationships. More specifically, how to write relationships in fiction.  And while we may not all be writing romance, relationships are a vital element to any work of fiction. How our characters interact and what bonds them is key to writing a story that draws readers in and keeps them invested in what happens to these characters. In this post I've compiled a list of 15 different archetypes that you can use to jump start the relationships in your story. And while of course not all relationships are romantic, I made sure to include platonic and familial relationships that can add another layer of complexity and strengthen your plot. I like to think of archetypes as building blocks that function as a foundation that you can work upon to design elaborate and unique story ideas. Using examples of established concepts that have worked in other stories has been incredibly helpful to me in learning what works in storytell...

The new year is officially here and like many, I have committed myself to several new goals I want to accomplish in my life and writing career. And while I think goal-setting is admirable, setting achievable goals with a specific, direct path to success is even better. The link between time-management and writing might not be an obvious one, however I find that so often it is the obstacles in my daily personal life that prevent me from advancing in my writing. There have been many lessons I've learned in the past few years that have helped me take control over my schedule and carve out time not only for writing, but related activities that have propelled my writing to the next level. I've compiled a list of time-saving ideas that can reduce time spent on the mundane activities of everyday life. Hopefully some of these will inspire some changes to help you master your schedule this year and spend more time on what you love. Photo by Samantha Gades on Unsplash Simp...

This year I decided to participate in my first-ever NaNoWriMo, which means, in the month of November I will be attempting to write the entire first draft of a brand new novel. Since I consider myself a strong Plotter with a few Pantser tendencies sprinkled in, I decided to take the month of October to prep and plan for this endeavor. If you missed it, check out my Preptober Planning Essentials blog where I shared all of my strategies on plotting for NaNoWriMo. But throughout all of my novel prep, I would be remiss if I didn't share some of the more practical strategies that I am devising to be sure that I win NaNoWriMo. The following are my survival kit throughout the month of November: Writeordie.com - I have always been fascinated by the concept of this writing app. If you've never heard of it, it is essentially a tool for writers to keep you typing without pause. There are settings you can choose to decide how many words you want to write within a set amount of time....

I recently attended my very first writer's conference and let me tell you, it was a decision years in the making. For so long I had entertained the idea. I'd heard such great stories from other writers about how much there is to learn and all of the great connections one can make. Still, whenever it came time to purchase a ticket, I always held myself back. If you are anything like me, an introvert with socially anxious tendencies, then the idea of a writer's conference probably sends a chill down your spine. Socializing with a large group of strangers, participating in discussions, and generally putting yourself,  not to mention your work , out there can be intimidating. However, over the years I've found that preparation is an excellent coping strategy for such nerves and will ultimately ensure a much more positive and productive experience. It was through my preparation that I ended up having the BEST time. Talking to agents, participating in sessions, and making s...

Happy June, Writers! This month has been huge for me in the way of craft. In the midst of my revision, I decided to take some dedicated time to focus on a few of my weaker areas in terms of craft. These were areas I had identified during my read-through or areas in which I simply lacked confidence. I decided for this month's blog hop to share my list of resources that have been helping me these past couple of months with the hope that they will prove useful to some other writers out there. #1 Setting The Rural Setting Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglish ( click for Amazon page ) The Urban Setting Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglish ( click for Amazon page ) What's so great about them: Written in incredible detail, these two books showcase a vast majority of possible setting locations throughout your novel. It pinpoints the exact sights, smells, sounds, tastes, textures, sources of potential conflict, and more. Le...