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Tag Archives: Julie Velez

What I Learned About Writing This Week…from Paint Samples

Characters are like the paint samples of the world. Some of them are vivid. Some are pale. A select few are restful and pleasant to the reader’s eye the moment they step onto the page. Yet others look icky, no matter what light we cast them in. But they all need molding and clarifying, and that’s where the hard work starts…

On Storytelling Terminology: Covershoot

Tweet Last week I half-apologized for a temporary and unexpected hiatus due to my busy schedule, and then it went and got busier. The weekend featured the first major event by my publishing-company-slash-engine-for-world-change, the Consortium. You can read a summary of the event that I wrote for the official page, but you’ll get a clearer […]

What I Learned About Writing This Week…from Whining, Wherefores, and Whatnots

Two days ago, I sat with Becca in Aaron’s living room and bewailed to them the fact that I hadn’t yet decided on a topic for this week’s WILAWriTWe. Two days later, dear inklings, I must admit to you: I still got nothin’. But I showed up to write, anyway…

On Publishing: Making It Pretty

Tweet I started the week with the story of the evolution of Unstressed Syllables — which was significantly driven by the birth of Consortium Books — and ended that post with the promise that I’d tell you how Consortium Books does what it does. I’m dividing that into two parts: “Making It Pretty” and “Getting […]

What I Learned About Writing This Week…from Getting Published

Two days ago, Becca and I made a trip to the salt plains of Oklahoma to scout out likely locations for my cover art photoshoot.
It was an adventure, and we found some likely spots, but I won’t regale you with that tale. Right now, the adventure is beside the point. The point, my dear inklings, is that now my worries have set in…

On Editing: Expectation

Tweet Five months ago, with Gods Tomorrow poised on the brink of publication, I brought my awesome photographers (Julie and Carlos of Julie V. Photography) to town to shoot some art for the cover. I made arrangements with our model, scouted locations, and put together a whole covershoot in the space of about a week. […]

On Scene Lists: Complications

Tweet As my sister so kindly pointed out, I’ve fallen a bit behind on the blog posts lately. And that’s after cutting my weekly commitment by half. I still mostly blame schoolwork, but that’s really just my temporary excuse. Give me a week, and I’ll be able to blame NaNoWriMo for a full month. After […]

On the Conflict Resolution Cycle: Gods Tomorrow

Tweet A week and a half ago — Friday, October 1 — I was at work when I got a call from Trish. She could barely talk, she was so excited. She finally found the words, though. “Aaron…a package just arrived. I think it’s your book.” I wanted to shout, “Well what are you waiting […]

What I Learned about Writing this Week…from Sybil and Dexter

Part of my joy in writing has always been finding out what makes people tick and integrating that knowledge into my characters. I also wanted to use my talents to help others, so psychology seemed a great fit. Much to my dismay, I discovered fairly early on that to pursue this vocation to its fullest, I would need at least a master’s degree, if not a doctorate…

On Text Editing: My Colors

Tweet I grew up surrounded by books. Despite my mom’s best efforts to find room for critical necessities like furniture and open doorways, my dad has managed to pack an amazing number of books into every livingspace he’s ever called home. For eighteen years, those included mine. And for many of those years, I considered […]