Author Inspiration and This Week’s Writing Links

Ciao, amici! Another busy and beautiful week at the Troilo residence come and gone.

Our Easter celebration was low-key for us this year. At first, I felt bad about skipping some of our traditions. But then, the day came. The meal, though simpler than my usual holiday fare, was delicious. The love flowed as freely as the wine. We all missed my daughter, who couldn’t make the trip from college, but everything else was as it should be. And then it was over, and we all went back to work.

I’m still knee-deep in the sci-fi world. My first release is around the corner. I’m both excited and nervous. There were plenty of times I thought:

I like to read sci-fi and love to watch it, but maybe I’m not the best person to write it. After all, I wasn’t exactly a fan of my science classes in school. The stories I could tell about labs…

Well, first of all, my husband and I started dating because we were lab partners in chemistry, so I can’t totally hate science. And those classes were heavy in math—I loathe math—so it’s understandable that I didn’t exactly enjoy those subjects. The scientific concepts are pretty cool, though, and I do like the shows on the Science channel. More to the point, I’m writing about aliens, and space has always fascinated me. And I got to incorporate other stuff I really love, like archaeological research.

Most importantly, I like my stories. So I didn’t give up. Which brings me to this quote by a name synonymous with space fiction: George Lucas.

If you want to be successful in a particular field,
perseverance is one of the key qualities.

It’s way too early to know if my work will be commercially successful, but there’s more to “success” than book sales. If I can write something I love and a reader enjoys it as much as I did, then that’s a win. And if that happens, I’ll be thrilled that I didn’t quit.

What about you? What project made you doubt yourself, and more importantly, did you persevere? Let’s talk about that book and how it changed you.

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And now, this week’s writing links:

Posts by me, about my work, or at sites I contribute to:

Me

• Review of THE BODY IN THE WETLANDS by Judi Lynn

Story Empire

• Changing Formatted Content in Scrivener | P.H. Solomon
• Real Life Experiences in Fiction | Joan Hall
• Friday Book Cover: Difference Across One Genre | Me

Posts by others in the industry:

• Two Reasons Your Protagonist Isn’t Driving Your Plot | Fiction University
• Bildungsroman | Word Dreams
• 8 Tips to Take Your Story from Good to Great | The Creative Penn
• 3 Traits Your Hero and Villain Should Share | Helping Writers Become Authors
• Punk Genres | Nicholas C. Rossis
• 8 Query Letter Don’ts | K.M. Allan
• Stumbling Art of Naming Places | Legends of Windemere
• 7 Tips to Naming Fictional Places | Legends of Windemere
• A Writer’s Guide to Martial Arts | Ari Meghlen
• 6 Tips to Make Similar Scenes Feel Different | Fiction University
• It’s Okay to Say No to Twitter | Jane Friedman
• How to Use Your Outline | Helping Writers Become Authors
• Writing the “About the Author” Page | Nicholas C. Rossis
• 3 Questions to Craft a Perfect Ending | The Write Practice
• 8 Ways to Inject Humor into Your Writing | Writers Helping Writers
• How to Beat Writer’s Block | Well-Storied
• Developing Characters | The Fussy Librarian
• Tone vs. Voice | Grammarly
• Automated Emails and Reader Magnets | Self Publishing Advice from ALLi
• Boring Scenes Begin with Hello | Standout Books

To make you smile:

• Monday Funnies | Storyreading Ape
• Monday Memes | Marcia Meara Writes
• Monday Chuckles | Bluebird of Bitterness
• A Punctuation Family Reunion | M.B. Robbins Diary
• Cabin Fever | John W. Howell

And when you’re done with these links, don’t forget to check out the sidebar, where you’ll find more links to some of my favorite sites.

Have a great week! Arrivederci!