10 Tips to Success

While there isn't a surefire formula aspiring writers can follow to ensure success, there are some things you can do to help you reach your goals. Below are ten tips I picked up over the years. Try one or try them all, I promise you can't go wrong.

Let't start with number ten and work our way backwards, shall we?

Click for Photo Credit

10. Read. Read. Have I said read?

• Everything: the genre you love, best sellers, books outside your norm, magazines, newspapers.
• Then read some more.
• By reading you see how other authors put together complex plots, build worlds, and develop characters. You can also see how they use various techniques to hold readers' interest.

9.   Note what you like about your favorite novels and what you dislike about the books you put down. Now remember these things when you're working on your novel.

8.   Know the trends, and then avoid them and come up with a kick-butt idea of your own.

7.   Learn the rules… then dare to break them.

6.   Try everything at least once until you find the perfect fit for you.

• Different genres, short stories, novels, screenplays.
• Try outlining your stories before you start to write them.
• Then try diving right in and being a pantser.

5.   Avoid negativity.

• Instead of saying I can't say I'll find a way.
• Don't let others tell you that something's impossible, because you can do anything you set your mind to.
• Don't let anyone tell you an idea is stupid, write it down and show them they're wrong.

4.   Eat plenty of chocolate. Don't like chocolate, jelly bellies work too.

3.   Put yourself out there. Don't worry about rejection.

• Use rejection as motivation.
• Even Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, and Dr. Suess didn't sell their books to the first person they approached.

Click for photo credit

2.   Write with passion! Let's face it, anything worth doing should always be done with heart.

1.   Enjoy what you're doing. That is the biggest key to being successful in everything you do.


Remember, everyone's path to success is different so forge your own!

Cover Reveal Queen of Chaos by Kat Ross

Congrats to Kat Ross on her upcoming book, Queen of Chaos!
I love the cover  :)

Queen of Chaos
Kat Ross
(The Fourth Element #3)
Publication date: January 18th 2017
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Persepolae has fallen.
Karnopolis has burned.
As the dark forces of the Undead sweep across what remains of the empire, Nazafareen must obey the summons of a demon queen to save Darius’s father, Victor. Burdened with a power she doesn’t understand and can barely control, Nazafareen embarks on a perilous journey through the shadowlands to the House-Behind-the-Veil. But what awaits her there is worse than she ever imagined…
A thousand leagues away, Tijah leads a group of children on a desperate mission to rescue the prisoners at Gorgon-e Gaz, the stronghold where the oldest daēvas are kept. To get there, they must cross the Great Salt Plain, a parched ruin occupied by the armies of the night. A chance encounter adds a ghost from the past to their number. But will they arrive in time to avert a massacre?
And in the House-Behind-the-Veil, Balthazar and the Prophet Zarathustra discover that they have more in common than meets the eye. But is it enough to redeem the necromancer’s bloodstained soul and thwart his mistress’s plans?
As a final showdown looms with Queen Neblis, the truth of the daēvas’ origins is revealed and three worlds collide in this thrilling conclusion to the Fourth Element series.

Add to Goodreads

Previous books in the series:

Author Bio:
Kat Ross worked as a journalist at the United Nations for ten years before happily falling back into what she likes best: making stuff up. She lives in Westchester with her kid and a few sleepy cats. Kat is also the author of the dystopian thriller Some Fine Day (Skyscape, 2014), about a world where the sea levels have risen sixty meters. She loves magic, monsters and doomsday scenarios. Preferably with mutants.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter

The best part of being a writer #IWSG

Hi everyone!

It's time to share our thoughts, insecurities, and encouraging words. Thanks to Alex Cavanaugh and our co-hosts for keeping IWSG going. Not a member? Want to know more about the group? Just follow the link. 

I'm happy to say that, at the moment, I'm not feeling insecure. I've been rotating my writing time. When it's my turn to submit something to my critique group, I work on my middle grade fantasy, using their feedback as a springboard to add more detail and polish things up. On off weeks, I've been polishing up a YA supernatural story I wrote some time ago and playing around with a short story I've always wanted to write. To be added to the mix is an adult story I've started and stopped a few times over the last couple of years. 


Now, for this month's questions:

What is your favorite aspect of being a writer?

I can't pick just one. My top reasons: creating new worlds, sharing them with readers, and meeting readers and other writers. 

Just for giggles...

Anyone else excited about the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them? I'm geeked. 

How's your writing coming? How did you answer this month's questions? Are you planning to see the new HP film?