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Find the Heart of your Story

May 14, 2012 By 1 Comment

I just found this free e-book Story Structure to Die For by PJ Reece

 

It’s short, fast and easy to read. But most importantly, it talks about the magic ingredient that I use in all my stories: an inner need.

 

Robert McKee calls this the unconscious desire, others have called it the inner goal. I like to call it the need because if the story goal is what the main character WANTS, this is what they NEED to become a whole person, heal their psychic wound, transform into the person they *could* be.

 

The goal, the want, is black and white: find the treasure, save the girl, stop the killer.

 

The need is the shades of grey between who they are at the beginning of the story and the person they strive to become. It’s about learning a lesson, discovering something inside yourself you never suspected was there, facing your greatest fear.

 

Learning self worth, accepting yourself for who you are, learning to trust, finding courage, accepting love…you got it, the stuff of our brightest dreams and darkest nightmares.

 

Getting what you need, especially when you don’t even know what that is, means stepping away from everything you know about yourself and leaping into the fire, only to emerge reborn.

 

Take a look at PJ Reece’s ebook and see if it helps you find the heart of your story. You can download it HERE.

 

Happy writing!

CJ

Filed Under: career novelist, freestuff, writing Tagged With: ,

Want to Know Mark Coker’s Secrets to Success?

April 6, 2012 By

Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords, has a new free guide that is a great intro to indy e-publishing whether you use Smashwords or another distribution service.

 

The Secrets to EBook Publishing Success shares twenty-eight secrets including how to choose your distribution options, marketing tips, building a platform, and more in 101 pages and can be downloaded in all formats HERE

 

Happy Writing!
CJ

Filed Under: e-publishing, freestuff, resources Tagged With: ,

Where are you going?

March 29, 2012 By

One thing for certain in this crazy era of publishing, if you don’t know where you’re going, you will never, ever get there.

Seems basic, I know, but so many people are overwhelmed just by the thought of writing a book, much less publishing it–not to mention everything that goes along with publishing, basically learning a business and becoming CEO of You, Inc.

Need some direction? Mark McGuinness of Lateral Action is relaunching his wonderful, 26 week, FREE e-mail course, Creative Pathfinder.

Sign up HERE and make sure you’re on the right path today!

WARNING: I’ve taken this course myself (my very first ever “business” course) and it not only opened my eyes to a whole new world but also propelled me to take a paid class from Mark that played a huge role in my success. So don’t sign up unless you’re serious about taking your career to the next level.

Filed Under: career novelist, freestuff, resources Tagged With: , ,

New Facebook Page Advice

March 2, 2012 By

If you have a Facebook page for fans, there’s a new format effective 3/31/12 that will incorporate the timeline design of Facebook personal pages.

 

At first I was lost trying to figure out how to re-design my FB page, http://facebook.com/cj.lyons

 

I find Facebook difficult to navigate at the best of times, and it was so frustrating trying to upload images to certain places and not knowing what size to make them, etc.

 

Then I discovered two free pdf guides from Facebook’s help pages that actually, well, helped!

 

You can find them HERE Just scroll down to the second question: “Where can I learn more about using the new pages” and you’ll find two pdf guides as well as a video.

 

I think this new design will actually be quite nice and hope to have my page re-configured in the next week or two. Until then, happy Facebooking!

CJ

Filed Under: freestuff, promotion

Do You Have a Niche?

February 24, 2012 By

credit: JD Hancock

I’ll bet you a basket of Peeps that you do! One where you’ll find your “peeps” (aka people or tribe or target audience).

 

Find this sweet spot that lies somewhere between 7 billion folks on the planet and your cat who nods attentively when you read pages of your novel aloud (oh, is that just me?) and you’ll have it made.

 

Why? Because instead of trying to please 7 billion readers, you only have to ask yourself: is XYZ what *my* people want? Is this latest social networking fad where they’ll be hanging out? Should I buy them pink fuzzy pencils for a reader appreciation gift or instead give them ribbons made of crimescene tape?

 

(hint: if you’re one of my peeps, it’s the crimescene tape–can not tell you how popular that was at the first TFest! Folks wore it on their nametags like it was a badge of honor)

 

But how to narrow down your tribe from a prospect pool of 7 billion? Abby Kerr has a free e-course that could help.

 

I stumbled upon Abby’s website by accident, but who could resist her tagline of: brand editor. calling you to rule your realm.

 

Yeah, she had me at hello, lol! Sign up for her Inklings newsletter HERE to receive your free e-course on how to Create a Truly Irresistible Niche

 

Happy peep herding!

CJ

Filed Under: freestuff, marketing, resources, target audience Tagged With: ,

New Rules, New Tools

February 10, 2012 By

Today’s Freestuff is a wonderful, 166page report from the 2011 Novelist, Inc conference, A Comprehensive Guide to the New World of Publishing.

 

The Guide contains:

  • A Glossary of terms, right there at the beginning, and written in language that doesn’t have you hunting up a dictionary in order to understand the definition.
  • How-to explanations with examples, taking you step-by-step through the e-book process, soup to nuts…or Vision to Sales (I like that second one better…).
  • Solid, easily understood advice from a stellar array of experts, presented in a friendly, non-threatening way.
  • Links everywhere. Not just a vague “see more online,” but “here’s the link to that page.”

 

You can download your pdf copy of A Comprehensive Guide to the New World of Publishing HERE

 

 

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