Book Giveaway

2/2/2014

 
The 2nd of February 2014 brings with it more opportunities for me to fall deeper in love with my infatuation with books. Here below is the link to a 250+ book giveaway competition that is being held online. Visit it for your chance to enter. Happy Reading Everyone!

http://livetoread-krystal.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/250-book-giveaway-introduction.html 
 
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So here we have yet another online writing site which I have recently started using. I quite like the simplistic design of this site but the main reason I chose it was due to the fact that I am often traveling and in between home, work and other places so I need a universal site where I can write my latest stories and ideas. 

Luckily this site has come to my rescue.

Now many of you will tell me to just use cloud, Gmail or some other online interface. Well the thing is...I don't want it. At least not now. 

This site is really simple to use and others can collaborate with you on projects. So all in all I think this is my most favorite site so far. Considering figment is quite hard to navigate for me and scribophile only allows you to post stories of you critique other's work and if you haven;t got time to critique well...let's just say that site is no longer in use for me.

Anyway. I'll let you all get back to your daily lives now. I just thought you might like to know about this site I'll link below to the page. Se you soon bloggers.

Here's the link to the Fast Pencil Site
Here's the link to my profile where you can read the synopsis for my latest short story/novellette

 
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Recently, while on the prowl for a cover making software, I stumbled across a site called Figment.

At first it seemed quite average but then I watched their demo video and knew that I had to sign up to them!

Figment is basically the same as Scribophile accept you don't need money to buy a premium membership and you don't need to gain points to post a critique of someone's work.

Real authors use the site as well as beginner and intermediate level writers and you can post, not only a chapter or two at a time, but your whole novel, or multiple novels if you so wish. Thus being so much better than Scribophile in that you can do more than only post 2 pieces of writing/ 2 chapters of a novel before having to either delete one and add in the next chapter or buy premium membership.

The layouts are very simplistic and the colour scheme is not as in your face as Scribophile with it's blue, white and red. It's plain cream and red but so quirky and I love it.

Signing up only takes a few seconds and it's totally free, no commitment or promotions on site.

The forums are pretty simple to use and it is full of advice, prompts and ideas for writing. And the best part is that people can follow you and tell you what they think of your work. Not only that but real life authors post their work on the site so you can read and review their work and they can do the same for you. How many people do you think would pay for an author to give them just 5 minutes to look at their novel and ask them what they think?

So in conclusion, check out this link here and sign up for Figment. It's one of the best things I've done so far this year. No commitment, no ridiculously high priced premium membership, and free advice from fellow writers and authors. How can you go wrong?
 
Okay, so a very short post for me today (after my pretty lengthy one on Dystopia earlier). I've always classified Novels as being over 50,000 words (thanks to NaNoWriMo) but have always had trouble classifying other pieces of creative writing which are not short enough to be short stories and not long enough to be novels.

Well, recently I saw a post which helped me In this respect. I'm so glad I can classify my creative endeavours properly now and so will share this pivotal information with all of you here, right now! Here it is...  

NOVEL / CREATIVE WRITING CLASSIFICATION GUIDELINES

Flash Fiction - Usually 500 words of less.
Short Story - Anywhere from 5,000 words to 17,000 words.
Novelette - Somewhere between 7,500 words to 25,000 words.
Novella - Usually 10,000 words to 50,000 words.
Novel - Anything over 50,000 words. Namely, to infinity and beyond!
 
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Dear Reader,

After roaming around the Scribophile forums and signing up to a few different groups, I finally came up with the idea to start my own group. Me and a few other Scribophile users, whom I met during Camp NaNo this April, sat down and brainstormed about what the group should be called, what it should feature, who should join etc.

After about 2 days of deliberating, we finally came up with a name, a purpose and a few ideas for forum threads. We agreed to call the group "NaNoScriBo" and if you hadn't guessed by the name of the group, its purpose is to facilitate the need for a room specifically for Wrimos and Scribophile users.

My good friends, and fellow Wrimos, Grace (aka Dawn Archer) and Kenny (aka Journey_Cat), were so helpful in providing ideas and especially in creating the NaNoScriBo Logo {Isn't it amazing? Click on it to visit the NaNoScriBo Group Page: D}

We set up the room and so far it's been going great. We have almost 20 members, 13 group threads and 330 + posts in those NaNoScriBo group threads.

So I'd say that things are definitely picking up for me in Scribophile! Although I haven't been very active in critiquing recently (as I do have a life to maintain outside of my dream world of big words and novelists) I am making my way back into the Scribophile ranks and slowly recovering my standing. All in all, I'd say this week has been the best one I've had in a long time! :)

 
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Dear Reader,

After last week's post about joining up to the site called Scribophile, I wanted to make a post here explaining how my first week went.

It has been six days since I joined Scribophile and I am very happy with the experience, confidence and help that this site has afforded me with regards to my noveling and writing adventure.

I was welcomed with many messages posted to my homepage saying "Hello" and "Welcome to Scrib!" The community there welcomed me and there were quite a few other scribo's who helped me and kindly explained and showed me how things work.

After posting my first critique, I started receiving messages from the people who's stories I had reviewed. They told me how they appreciated my critique and how I had helped them. And that helped me! 
I love receiving kind messages from fellow writers telling me what they thought of my own work and telling me "Thanks" for critiquing their own work.

I found a few groups and forums that I feel welcome on and have already made quite a few friends. I have had lovely, helpful reviews on the first chapter of my current NaNo novel and to return the favour have commented on the sender's work.

Critiquing is hard work and can take quite some time and patience. Especially if the writing is not very good or if it the grammar or punctuation is quite a way off. Then if becomes painstakingly slow and challenging. 

But the feeling of joy and satisfaction when you hit that "Submit Critique" button is like nothing that I've ever felt before. I feel so honoured when other look at my work and I feel just as honoured to look at their work. After all, a writer's work is a small window into their life and soul. Sharing something as precious as your written work is hard and so I admire those who do and am glad that Scrib has given me the courage to do so too.

There are still many people joining Scribophile today and I find it very encouraging to just send them a message saying "Hi" and "welcome". After all, I liked the recognition that those messages gave me so why should I not send that warm fuzzy feeling to others?

Scribophile has changed my life and I am ever grateful for the wonderful people there who have made me feel so welcome in their community.


 
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Dear reader,

I have already told you that I am planning on editing my Camp NaNo novel in due time (namely after I ACTUALLY complete it) But it had crossed my mind that I can be a bit biased when it comes to criticizing my own work. 

That was until I was introduced to a site called Scribophile.

Basically the aim of this site is to post a piece of writing and comment or
review another authors piece of writing. When you write a "Critique" (as
they call them) you earn 'karma points' and you need 5.0 karma points to
post a piece of your own writing. So basically the longer and more in-depth
you critique the work of another writer, the faster you can post your work
up to be critiqued. 

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I only joined Scribophile two or three days ago and have already made some
great friends, read some great pieces of writing (and poetry), had really
creative feedback for the first chapter of my novel and been asked to join a
forum group.

Everyone there is friendly and the love of literature and writing has brought us all together. I am now in love with this site and it has now become my Facebook. I check it constantly and am always looking for something eye-catching to critique.


I've fallen in love with this site and I know that ANY writer out there looking to get some creative feedback on their writing will love this site as much as I do.

I was very nervous about posting my work on the internet (writing it in secret and posting an excerpt on the NaNo sites was different) and didn't know whether or not to do it. I'm a very shy person as it is but posting my work up on Scribo has given me a new freedom and has boosted my love of writing.

I love seeing people react to my work and love seeing people react to the comments I make on their work. It's all-round love, encouragement and warm fuzzy feelings. 

To all writers and poets out there reading this blog ...

Try Scribophile ... You won't regret it!!


    Who, How,
    Where?

    'Who, How, Where?' is the section of my website I use to discus all the different aspects of noveling.

    Who to read for good editing info? How to edit your first draft?
    Where to go to find good encouragement and other unknown novelists?

    About the Author

    Young though I am, I can proudly say that I am an Author. I have written two novels so far and at the moment am writing my first sequel. The Ashford
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