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| Welcome to the Creativity Sparks Newsletter! We help genre fiction writers through live and home study courses, workshops, a 12-month group program, and private consultations.
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| 1 September 2017
Oakland, CA
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How are you? Hope you're well, writing, and finding the joy in the every day little things.
My life is messy, my apartment is messy, my emotions are messy, yet my intention to write and work on my current WIP is clear.
Last Saturday we had to put our dear cat Leo to sleep due to sudden and drastic complications with bladder stones.
Our apartment is...different without him. Lacks the Leo purr, fur, his love and joyful presence.
Ezra and I are so sad, and...
Life goes on.
When I'm not in shock and grief, I remember the way he greeted us at the door, the way he'd want to be pet and pet and pet, and how he curled up on my lap when I edited sitting on the couch. And the way he showed up for our video calls and presentations, saying Hi to all of you.
He's been a part of our creative home life for 11 years. My dear Leo, we miss you.
And in between all the moments of missing Leo, I go to the cafe and edit my current WIP, the first book in my science fiction mystery.
You know why?
Writing and polishing my novels gives me joy and is my way (one of my ways!) of spreading love into the world. Just like Leo's purr, except with words and in a story.
Happy Labor Day Weekend to those of you in the U.S! Please stay dry or cool, depending where you are. We're getting record heat here in Oakland. Whew!
♥
PS. Here's some useful articles I've found around the web this week:
-- Even though it's for screenwriters, I believe the advice holds true for novelists as well: "Screenwriting 101: The Simple Thing Disney Gets Right, but Most Writers Get Wrong" (Hint: it's about, ahem, a clear character desire.)
https://thescriptlab.com/features/screenwriting-101/7462-screenwriting-101-simple-thing-disney-gets-right-writers-get-wrong/
-- I appreciated this analysis of Wonder Woman and how she has an arc even though it's considered a flat one in "Why Doubt Is the Key to Flat Character Arcs."
https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/doubt-key-flat-character-arcs/
-- Many good articles on our Writer's Fun Zone blog this past week. I want to highlight Sarah Chauncey's on "The Role of Mindfulness in Creativity." I love the focus on how the subconscious when she says that true creativity comes from the subconscious mind.
http://www.writersfunzone.com/blog/2017/08/28/role-mindfulness-creativity-sarah-chauncey/
♥
PPS. My heart is heavy too with the strife of the world. My balm these days: music. It gets me moving and feeling. Favs include Irish jigs, Sia, Florence and the Machine, and Fall Out Boys.
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| | | | We're gearing up to run our 4th Annual Plan Your Novel course October 1-31.
In anticipation, I'm excited to announce that our upcoming free Plan Your Novel Party & Giveaway is open for sign ups here.
Hope you'll join us.
And please, share about the party with your friends who want to work on their novels too!
This PLAN YOUR NOVEL Party & Giveaway is useful for you if you have never written a novel, have always wanted to, and still feel lost on how to go from brilliant idea to The End, or if you always hit that sagging middle and lose focus or lose interest.
Sign up here:
WHAT YOU GET
- An All-Access Pass to "7 Keys to Story Planning" course
- The companion ebook "7 Essential Keys to Planning Your Novel"
- A Party Checklist to help you create a fun day with your friends, plus some surprise party favors!
- Surprise tools coming in Party Packs!
- An invitation to the live virtual event on Facebook where you'll to get ask questions to the experienced instructors of the "Plan Your Novel" course
- A ticket for the Grand Prize Giveaway! Grand Prize is a ticket into the "Plan Your Novel" Oct. 2017 live course ($99 value). Other prizes will be offered too!
GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAYS INCLUDE:
We'll be awarding these prizes on Sept. 23rd, so be sure to sign up before then.
- Win a license to the popular and versatile writing software, Scrivener. ($45 value)
- Win a pass to the "From Premise to Plot: Easy Story Structure for Plotters and Pantsers" course with Lynn Johnston. ($97 value)
- Win an All-Access Pass to this live course October 1-31, 2017, taught by Beth and Ezra Barany. ($99 value)
- Win a one-on-one hour-long Scrivener consultation with Vanessa Kier. ($75 value)
- Win a "Diagnostic Edit" from Sue Brown-Moore. ($125 value)
- Win an all-access pass to the "The Partridge Method: How to Write Your Christmas Novella in 12 Days," a home study course taught by Britt Malka. ($49 value)
Oh! I'm trying something new and promoting this free online event via LinkedIn. If you'd like to help spread the word there, please go here and type YES in the comments. The more people do that, the more people will see it. Thanks! (Or copy and paste this link: http://bethb.net/brainstorm.)
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| | | | Sneak Peek!
Click here to get all the details:
We're doing something a little different this year.
One, we're offering the course at $99, so that this course is accessible to as many people as possible and still be sustainable for us.
Two, we're offering 5 calls, since there's 5 Tuesdays in October. Bonus!
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| | ABOUT
Beth Barany is creativity coach for writers, a teacher, workshop facilitator, and speaker, helping writers address overwhelm and confusion so that they can write, market, and publish their fiction. And make it fun!
Owner of the Barany School of Fiction, an online training hub, Beth takes great interest in how humans learn, create, and grow, and includes all her students’ life experiences, including the ancestors, into the moment. Check out the comprehensive Plan Your Novel course here.
She also writes magical tales of romance and adventure to empower women and girls to jump into life with both feet and be the heroes in their own lives. Check out her Henrietta series here (YA Fantasy) and her Touchstone series here (Fantasy/Paranormal Romance).
Support her mission to empower women and girls with her fiction on Patreon here.
Read her latest book for writers, Twitter for Authors, here.
beth@bethbarany.com
Barany School of Fiction
Writer's Fun Zone blog
Photo Credit: by c. 2014 Vivienne McMaster
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| | | In connection with the operation of this newsletter and business, Creativity Sparks features in the Newsletter affiliate links, including links to Amazon.com (“Affiliate Links”). Barany Consulting earns a commission from the Affiliate Links which commission is based on the number of sales that are made as a result of users of the Newsletter clicking over to the Affiliate Link and purchasing from the Affiliate Link a product and/or service. |
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