Informed by story consultant Lisa Cron's science-based insights into how story structure is built into the architecture of the brain, this guide shows writers how to plumb the nitty-gritty details of their raw idea to organically generate a story scene by scene. Once writers reach the end of Cron's program, they will have both a blueprint that works and plenty of compelling writing suitable for their finished novel--allowing them to write forward with confidence.

     even when our days are darker than ever we hold on to hope knowing that time will heal our wounds. -time heals all things

    Showing that you can put in work to change your life while having fun, the practices are full of whimsy and delight. Jacqueline decided to spend every day of 2017 devoted to her own happiness. She wrote every single day about the things she does to honor her joy, and used these writings to create this 365 day step-by-step guide, so she could teach you how to shift to BE and live in a “high for life” frequency of happiness too—no matter where you are at in your life right now. She started writing these for herself, but has a little sneaky intent to touch your heart every day and initiate new learning, understanding, knowledge, and wisdom for you to get closer to your true, authentic happy self. Through light, bubbly, cheerful passages, each day teaches you to find happiness, use those sour lemons, and shift yourself into a “high for life” frequency where you can reach happiness anywhere at any time.

    In the War of Art Pressfield identifies the enemy to living an authentic life – resistance. In Turning Pro, Pressfield teaches you how to defeat it.

     Many authors are frustrated because there are so many options for self-publishing, and they don't know which one to choose or what will be best for their book. Others spend thousands of dollars to publish and end up broken-hearted with the result. But it doesn't have to be this way. I've spent the last seven years self-publishing bestselling fiction and non-fiction books and in 2011, I left my day job to become a full-time author entrepreneur. I've made lots of mistakes along the way, but through the process of self-publishing 17 books, I've learned the most effective way to publish and market your books. In this book, I'll share everything with you. The book includes: - What you need to know before you self-publish - Why self-publishing an ebook is a good idea - How to format an ebook - Exclusivity and going direct - How to self-publish an ebook - Why self-publish a print book - Print-on-demand will change your life - What you need to know before you print - How to self-publish a print book - What to do if you want help with the publishing process - After self-publishing - How much does it cost to self-publish? - How do you get paid when you self-publish? - Book marketing principles - How to market fiction - How to market non-fiction Plus, links to more useful resources. If you're ready to successfully self-publish, then download a sample or buy now. You can also get your free Author 2.0 Blueprint and mini-course at TheCreativePenn.com/blueprint (just copy and paste into your browser)

    Gilbert offers insights into the mysterious nature of inspiration. She asks us to embrace our curiosity and let go of needless suffering. She shows us how to tackle what we most love, and how to face down what we most fear. She discusses the attitudes, approaches, and habits we need in order to live our most creative lives. Balancing between soulful spirituality and cheerful pragmatism, Gilbert encourages us to uncover the “strange jewels” that are hidden within each of us. Whether we are looking to write a book, make art, find new ways to address challenges in our work, embark on a dream long deferred, or simply infuse our everyday lives with more mindfulness and passion, Big Magic cracks open a world of wonder and joy.

    Why? If a novel or short story has a bad beginning, then no one will keep reading. It's just that simple. Hooked provides readers with a detailed understanding of what a beginning must include (setup, backstory, the inciting incident, etc.); instruction on how to successfully develop the story problem; tips on how to correct common beginning mistakes; exclusive insider advice from agents, acquiring book editors, and literary journal editors; and much more.

    But Rosemary has a secret, and he’s lying comatose in a hospital only a few miles away. Should she let him live, or let him go? Into the midst of Rosemary’s dilemma comes bohemian artist, Ben. His abstract pictures and fixation with painting God disturb Rosemary, and yet she finds herself unable to keep away. As summer passes and an unlikely friendship develops, it becomes clear that Rosemary is not the only one with something to hide. Nor is she the only one battling the ghosts of the past. Rosemary and Ben must decide whether to trust each other, choosing between the madness of admitting the truth and the insanity of maintaining their lies. With their lives unravelling around them, can they help each other to confront the past, or are there some secrets too terrible to be told?

    Sam MacAuley and his wife Annalize are total opposites. When Sam wants to leave city life in Halifax to get a plot of land on Cape Breton Island, where he grew up, his wife wants nothing to do with his plans and opts to move herself and their three boys back to her home country of South Africa. As Sam settles into a new life on his own, his friend Lachlan encourages him to get back into the dating scene. Although he meets plenty of women, he longs to find the one with whom he wants to share the rest of his life. Will Sam ever meet “the one”?Get to know Sam and discover the origins of the Songbird Cottage. This is the prequel to the rest of the Pleasant Bay series.

    But when Ilan, Terrac, and the Fists in their command enter Skeltai territory through a magic portal, they find themselves in more danger than they bargained for. Their only hope of returning home alive may lie in sacrificing the thing Ilan values most -- her enchanted bow. * * * * *Book 5: Journey of Thieves -- Upon leaving Dimmingwood, Ilan thinks she has finally escaped the influence of her old enemy, the Praetor. But the secrets of her past catch up to her when she and her friends are trailed across the provinces by a mysterious assassin with a haunting connection to her childhood. * * * * *Book 6: Rule of Thieves -- Returning home, Ilan finds nothing is as she left it. After a year of peace, Skeltai raiders are once again threatening the province, even as the Dimmingwood thieves find themselves betrayed by the praetor. From within the castle in Selbius Ilan must guard against an unknown enemy plotting her assassination, while uncovering a mage's secret that could help her protect the province. When old friends turn against her, will a new alliance prove powerful enough to defend against the dark magic of the enemy? Or will the coming battle be Ilan's last? --- Books 1, 2, and 3 sold separately --

    Fayth is about to finally get a taste of the independence she never knew she wanted.She'll live in New York with her celebrity boyfriend, study photography, and start to build a life away from what's left of her close-knit family.But is she ready for everything that involves?And when the ghosts of her past begin to haunt her, can she fight them, or will they finally win?

    It aims to elevate the lives of people by fostering inner confidence and strengthening their faith. In a turbulent and chaotic world, people are in dire need of words of motivation and inspiration. Vitamin H provides the much needed therapy which will successfully cure the diseases such as negativity, pessimism, cynicism and envy. It will awaken the dreamer within you and help you achieve the seemingly impossible.

    Each day, it gets progressively more distracting. Just think for a moment. How many times have you checked your phone, your email, your Facebook, and other social networks... within the last hour? The upside of all these distractions has also created a lot of opportunities: More job opportunities, more creative outlets, and more social connectedness. To develop and maintain focus today, you must learn how to find balance in your life. You need the tools that will help you discipline yourself to step away periodically from the buzz and beeps of cell phones, the internet, and social media. You must assess and reassess what you want out of life, and focus on the different actions you can take to achieve those goals that you REALLY strive to achieve. Focus Forward - How to Focus Your Mind to Rid Yourself of Distractions, Maximize Your Time, and Achieve More contains long-term and short-term activities that will help manifest, cultivate, and maintain focus and flow in your daily life. Simple exercises like organization and outlining goals go a long way in helping you get through the day, but in order to achieve an overall sense of focus, you must also assess your passions, your inhibitions, and your fears. Becoming a conscious and concentrated individual means more than having a set plan -- it means having the fluidity to accept change, manage setbacks, and keep moving forward. Get Focus Forward - How to Focus Your Mind to Rid Yourself of Distractions, Maximize Your Time, and Achieve More today and get the tools you need to get yourself focused.

    If an editor or agent (or reader) loses interest after a page or two, you've lost him or her completely, even if the middle of your novel is brilliant and the ending phenomenal. Noah Lukeman, an agent in Manhattan, has taken this advice and created a book that examines just what this means, and I have to tell you, it's one of the best I've read. I've written (and seen published) pretty close to a dozen novels in as many years -- some are still to be published and will be out shortly; others are already out of print after four years. But I wish I had read Lukeman's book, The First Five Pages, when I began writing fiction. I'm glad I did now. It has helped, immediately. I'm already embarrassed about some of the goofs I made in my writing -- and I've been revising recent prose with his advice in mind. First off, Lukeman is a literary agent who once was an editor, and his editorial eye is sharp. If every novelist and short story writer in this country had Lukeman as an editor, we'd have a lot more readable prose out there. He writes: Many writers spend the majority of their time devising their plot. What they don't seem to understand is that if their execution -- if their prose -- isn't up to par, their plot may not even be considered.This bears repeating, because in all the books I've read on writing, this is an element that is most often forgotten in the rush to come up with snappy ideas and sharp plot progressions. You can always send a hero on a journey, after all, but if no reader wants to follow him, you've wasted your time. In a tone that can be a bit professorial at times, Lukeman brings what prose is -- and how it reads to others -- into sharp focus. He deals with dialogue, style, and, most importantly, sound. Sound. How does prose sound? It must have rhythm, its own kind of music, in order to draw the reader into the fictive dream. Lukeman's tips and pointers are genuinely helpful, and even important with regard to the sound of the prose itself. Lukeman also brings in on-target exercises for writers of prose and the wonderful advice for novelists to read poetry -- and often. Those first five pages are crucial, for all concerned. But forget the editor and agent and reader. They are important for you, the writer, because they determine the sharpness of your focus, the completeness of your vision, the confidence you, as a writer, need to plunge into a three- or four- or five-hundred-page story. The First Five Pages should be on every writer's shelf. This is the real thing.P#151;Douglas Clegg Douglas Clegg is the author of numerous novels and stories, including The Halloween Man and the collection The Nightmare Chronicles. In addition, Clegg is the author of the world's first publisher-sponsored Internet email novel, Naomi.

    Learning how to write a book that doesn't suck and can actually make you money -- and set you up for a full-time writing career is harder. But it's nowhere near impossible. And it's far more do-able than you can imagine. The trouble is, most books offering tips on how to write a book fail to address two key considersations: 1) Most self published non-fiction books suck 2) It's ALMOST impossible to make a living from ONE self-published non-fiction book Believe me, I tried. No one has more churned out more epic pieces of monumental Kindle crap than I have. But then, through making every mistake a writer can, I finally learned and honed a simple step-by-step approach to writing books that move readers, and allow me to have a full-time job as a writer. And it's that system I'd like to share with you in "How to Write a Book That Doesn't Suck and Will Actually Sell..." Here's a little glimpse of what I cover: In Chapter 1, I go over the "Super-Ninja Secrets to Making a Living With Your Books." I show you a simple, repeatable strategy you can use to build little silos of passive income awesomeness doing something you love. In Chapter 2, "Yeah, But What the Hell Am I Going to Write About?" I show you some quick and easy exercises to discover a book topic that's personal, meaningful and marketable. In Chapter 3, "3 Pillars to Finding a Kick-Ass Non-Fiction Book Idea" we give your book ideas the taste test, and figure out which book topic will the most effetive at building your brand, reaching your audience and making you a good chunk of change. In Chapter 4, "Research Tips for People Who Hate Research," I show you how to walk that fine line between too much research (procrastination) and not enough research (shallowness) and how to use what you find out to conquer cliches in your writing. In Chapter 5, "Ultimate Guide to a Kick-Ass and Super Marketable Book Title," we'll go over that most controversial of topics...the ever-important title of your book. In Chapter 6, "Building the Perfect Beast," I'll demonstrate a simple, easy way to outline your book -- without sucking the creativity out of it. In Chapter 7, "How to Write Books People Will Love," I lay out my personal framework for writing chapters that are easy to write -- and are loved by readers for their clarity and creativity. In Chapter 8, "6 Tips for Writing Your Damn Book," we go over some strategies to avoid writer's block and help you actually get the damn book finished. In Chapter 9, "5 Ways to Rewrite Your Book Into Super Awesomeness," I show how to actually have fun with rewriting. (Yes, it is possible.) So if you've always wanted to learn how to write a book, but you felt like the steps to writing a book were too complicated, or above your skill level, or just too difficult to complete... ...then please give "How to Write a Book That Doesn't Suck and Will Actually Sell" a chance. You just find that book -- and career -- you've always dreamed of.