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Food & Book Pairing: Coffee & Doughnut

September 27, 2021 Leave a Comment

Welcome to Food & Book Pairings! Two of my greatest loves (food and books) unite to bring to YOU (and me) a series of posts that explore food and book pairings.

It should be noted that taste is absolutely personal so these pairings are strongly based on my own tastes, but I’d love to know if you agree with these pairings!

I decided to start off with one of my most favorite combinations, and that Food Craving is a doughnut and coffee. Personally, I really adore an Oram’s Boston Cream doughnut with a black coffee, but your preferences will work for this as well!

Food & Book Pairing: Coffee & Doughnut

The Hating Game because it’s a sweet and potent romance with some really strong personalities.

From my review: Lucy and Joshua hate each other, and they show it every day during work hours with passive-aggressive rituals. Lucy is everything sweet and nice while Joshua is meticulous, joyless, and stoic. And then, they’re further thrown into conflict when Lucy’s dream job becomes available…but maybe, she read Joshua wrong.

Passive Income Aggressive Retirement because it’s a caffeinated push for ongoing delicious reward.

From my review: Rachel Richards (@moneyhoneyrachel) decided to write a spunky take on becoming financially independent, and she shares how she did it before she was thirty. Relying heavily on her own experience while tagging in individuals with interviews about their own journey in different areas helps to flesh out the pros and cons of different types of passive income from coin-slot machines to real estate rentals. Finances don’t have to be boring, and Rachel is out to show you that.

Untamed because it’s all about indulging in your wildness, authenticity, and your MORE.

From my review: With every page, Untamed asks the question: what would it be like to trust yourself? Glennon Doyle unfurls her life lessons across the pages of this book with honesty and feeling, both encouraging and challenging readers to explore the discomfort, triggers, and addictions in their own lives. Her book back cover copy says it so well, “Glennon decided to quit abandoning herself and to instead abandon the world’s expectations of her. She quit being good so she could be free. She quit pleasing and started living.”

If you’ve read these books, I’d love to know if you agree with my assessment or what food you’d suggest as a better pairing! And yes, I absolutely recommend treating yourself to this delicious snack while you’re reading any of these books.

Do you love or hate the idea of food and book pairings? I love it, but I’m highly biased!

My Top 6 Writing Tools for A Great Writing Day

September 20, 2021 Leave a Comment

My top 6 writing tools for a great writing day truly help set the intention for getting writing, editing, and thinking done. Honestly, it’s amazing how quickly I can become distracted or find another reason to not write, but I’ve found a few ways to help myself settle in and get cranking.

My Top 6 Writing Tools for A Great Writing Day

1. A Great Playlist

Music kicks me into gear more than most things, and when I have a good playlist going, I’m content to settle in for writing, editing, or marketing. Honestly, a great playlist makes or breaks my writing day.

2. Pens I Love

Happiness comes in ink, and I know that sounds like I’ve got 20 tattoos (I don’t, not yet anyway). BUT I really do love a lovely pen. Specifically, I adore Pilot Precise V5 Extra Fine pens (affiliate link). They’re my go-to pen for my daily scribbles, and they are my preferred book-signing pen!

3. Writing Fingerless Gloves

For the winter months, my hands sometimes become so cold that it hurts to type, and it’s been hard to figure out how to manage that. I often brew a cup of tea, and someone else suggested keeping a lit candle nearby. But another option that has helped are writing fingerless gloves, and I have these Night Circus ones!

4. Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse

Laptops are great, but nothing can replace the benefits of a larger monitor that’s at eye height as well as a keyboard and wireless mouse. My posture has improved immensely by having a monitor of the correct height.

This is my super cute purple mouse: https://amzn.to/3u1eEdZ

5. Gamer Headset

While I don’t video game, I’ve come to have a great appreciation for these gamer headsets because I love that they’re over-ear, AND they light up. I can play my music loudly, and I’m not bothered by the neighbor’s lawnmower or someone else’s activities.

6. Instacart

I love Instacart because it’s given me back some time, and it also makes grocery shopping simpler. Impulse purchases don’t happen anymore. I order my groceries and then they show up on my front porch or I drive over to pick them up.

If you’d like to start using Instacart, use my code to get $10 for your order: https://inst.cr/t/YzNSNWpxUzZR

Bonus: Chapstick & Water

Inevitably, within minutes of starting my writing projects, I either become thirsty or my lips feel so dry. I keep a big glass of water on my desk as well as a tube of chapstick, AND THEY LIVE THERE (well, I refill the water). Fun fact: my preferred glass is an old jar from a salsa container.

My current chapstick is from Thrive Market, and they’re a great company that works to make organic, gluten-free, and other specialized products available to homes of all incomes.

If you decide Thrive Market is for you, you can use this code to sign up and get 25% off your first order (and yes, I do get a kickback of $25): http://thrv.me/HYuScw

Have you found that certain writing tools help your day become an even better writing day? I’d love to know what those tools are! Tell me in the comments!

Beta Readers: How Do I Find Beta Readers if I’m a New or Not-Published Author?

September 13, 2021 Leave a Comment

Finding beta readers for your first novel does not have to be hard because you can often choose from people right in your own community, but let’s start with some definitions first.

From the blog Self Publishing on a Budget, they give their working definitions of Alpha and Beta readers:

Alpha Readers: Those who read your really, really rough manuscript and give you feedback. They have to be built of sturdy stuff if they are to read something so rough.
Beta Readers: Those who read your touched up manuscript to give you feedback (after you have fixed the mistakes the Alpha Readers pointed out).
https://www.shawnpbrobinson.com/honest-alpha-and-beta-readers/

Honest Alpha and Beta Readers

To be honest, the term “alpha reader” was new to me, but when I read it, I knew that I have at least one alpha reader. So let’s get into it a bit more!

How Do I Find Beta Readers if I’m a New or Not-Published Author?

Finding beta readers for your first, second, third, 50th novel is a personal journey for everyone. There’s the practicality of finding someone who is willing to take the time to read and give you feedback (often for free), and then there’s the emotionality of sharing your creative work with someone who has the power to crush that creativity. Therefore, I believe choosing your beta readers carefully is CRUCIAL.

Practical Points for Choosing a Beta Reader for your Novel

Availability

Someone may be a great reader, but if their life is thrown into upheaval all of a sudden, they’re not going to be able to read, review, and return the novel to you promptly. And that just sucks. My rule of thumb for a short novella is a time span of 2 weeks for the beta reader, and if the work is longer, I’ll ask that feedback is returned in maybe 3 weeks. After all, beta readers have their families, jobs, hobbies, and more as well!

Readers of Your Genre

While it can be great to receive feedback from a reader who does not typically enjoy your book’s genre, it can also be really crippling to your creativity to receive a lot of comments/suggestions that pay no heed to the general genre and only to that reader’s preferences. So choose beta readers who LOVE your genre (they’ll give you suggestions that will strengthen your story towards that genre).

Constructive Criticism

Choose readers who will give you thoughtful and kind criticism that enhances your story without making you feel like a terrible writer. I have definitely worked with editors/readers who have had a terrible bedside manner for reading through my creative works, and by the time I’m done with their suggestions, I wonder if I should even have tried to write a story (obviously that’s super unhelpful).

Now that you know what kind of beta readers you’re looking for it can become much easier to actually find them.

Practical Points for Finding a Beta Reader (or many)

Start with your Friend Groups & Community

Do you attend a workout class with the same people every week? Do you regularly participate in a book club or church small group? Do you have a friend who gushes over the same authors and books as you? What about your family? Coworkers?

Storytime: I’ve always been amazed how people from all aspects of my life are willing to throw some of their time and energy into helping me create a better story. My workout friends have jumped in, and my college friends (who I might not have talked to for years) often are willing to help as well. Nothing is more wonderful than seeing so many people willing to help with a creative endeavor.

Explore your social media connections

Do you have a lot of followers on Instagram (or even just a few)? Are you a part of any Facebook groups of writers or readers? How active are you on Facebook reader groups?

Make the Ask for Beta Reader Interest

It can be as simple as saying, “Hey, I’m working on a new story, and I’m looking for people who are willing to read and give me feedback — would that be something that you’d be interested in?”

Honestly, it’s less scary than you think to ask people. Some will respond with much excitement while others will want to know more details. Either way, it’s a great way to figure out who to ask!

I’ve also had individuals say that they’re interested, but they can’t commit due to other life events. For this person, I tend to ask if I can check back in for future projects (or even for this project but for the next wave of readers). Generally, the answer is yes. It’s great to have a large list of people you can ask so you can continue to improve your story!

Details I Like to Include When Asking

Expectations for timeline (I want to see it back to me in 2 weeks)
Edits/Suggestions that I’m hoping for
Specific problems/questions that I need feedback/perspective on
Generally, I ask beta readers not for grammar help but for help in determining what’s working or not working in a story

Emotional Tips for Choosing a Beta Reader

Creativity is personal, and sharing your creative work with other people can be very scary. Therefore, I think it’s important to pay attention to the emotional side of creativity.

Save the Tough Critics for Later in the Editing Process

I’ve worked with well-meaning individuals who have read my first or second draft of my writing, and their feedback was like a gut punch (it was GOOD feedback, but it was given to me in a way that hurt my writer ego)…causing me to put my work on pause for years. Yes, years.

While having a writer ego can be problematic when seeking feedback, I think it’s also wise to create a safe boundary for your creative writer ego so that you’re able to continue moving your work forward. KEEP those individuals who hit you with the gut-punching feedback, but please don’t allow them to be the first ones to read your story.

Protect Your Creativity by Choosing Kind Beta Readers

Take your creative work to your gutsy first readers who will point out story problems all the while telling you repeatedly that “this is a good story. you’ve got something here!” For me, this means an extra boost of confidence that gives me the energy to keep working on the story so I can eventually present it to those gut-punching-feedback individuals. And when those tough critics give me feedback that makes me feel like a terrible writer, I’ll be able to remind myself of all the other readers who enjoyed the story already.

Trust Your Gut & Author Instinct

At the end of the day, YOU are the author and writer of this story. While your beta readers and tough critics will offer you a lot of feedback and information on your story, it is yours. There are times to take their feedback and there are times to hold to the story you’re telling.

However, if enough people point out a problem with a character or a plot point, you should definitely eyeball it closely. Then stay true to your story as you write to fix that hole. No one knows your story as you do.

My beta readers have offered me some GREAT feedback over the years, and honestly, I just LOVE receiving their notes/thoughts/suggestions as they read through the thing I’ve spent hours on. It’s fun to see my story through their eyes. And, my beta readers have improved my character dialogue (by suggesting ZINGERS of comebacks) and so much more.

Tell me in the comments below how you’ve found your Beta Readers or what qualities you look for in your readers!

If you’re anything like Jadyn, the main character of Teal Paisley Tights, then you have BIG dreams but you still have bills to pay. Jump into this cute novel and find out how she does it.

Buy your copy here (and yes, this is an Amazon Affiliate link): https://amzn.to/2WDYlac