Who would like to beta read Savvy Stories? 

  

And the second book in the series, The Terrible Twos?

  

  

I am getting ready to release the 4th book in the Savvy Stories series, FOURthcoming, and I thought it might be a good idea to have some fresh eyes go over the first two books before I release the boxed set. 

  

I’ve come a long way in my writing and having a few of you point out anything you see might be helpful.

  

Things change, after all.

  

If you are interested, use the “Contact Me” button and let me know – or comment below!

  

A free copy of one or both books will be provided to you as well as your choice of another of my books.

Writing or otherwise, let’s get to know each other better.

 

Pat yourself on the back in the comments section below.

 

Interesting question and some thoughts on where ideas come from, via friend of the blog Don Massenzio.

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Author Stephen King once said that the question he is asked most is where his ideas come from. This quote is the answer he usually gives:

When he’s been in a more snarky mood he has said that he has a magic box in his basement where ideas appear and when he wants to write a book, he just goes and grabs one.

That being said, not all of us have the fertile mind of Stephen King so where can we get our ideas. Many of my ideas have come from these sources.

To read the rest of Don’s post, click HERE.

I’m interested in getting your thoughts about stuff I see and hear, quotes I read, stuff that passes as knowledge – and starting an authorey conversation.

this gives you permission to be lengthy

 

What are YOUR thoughts on this idea?

Each week we’re taking a few of YOUR writerly questions and setting about answering them for you. 

Ask Dan ANYTHING

Skill level doesn’t matter. Newbie writer, veteran writer, you have questions. I’ll opine; maybe some others will chime in with their thoughts, and hopefully YOU will get several good solutions to choose from.

Or something like that.

• Wanna know what dialogue tags are, and why you don’t want them in your story?

• Wanna know how to create a “page turner” story?

• Wanna know why you need to build an author platform?

And it doesn’t have to be directly writing related. Sometimes you need to get in the writing mood by NOT doing writer stuff. Maybe you wanna know about doing author events, but maybe you wanna know about public speaking, or… I don’t know; the London train system. (I had some trouble there, if you’ll recall.)

Or why so much of Europe requires you to pay to pee…

I don’t want to suggest ideas TO you, I wanna know what’s on YOUR mind.

What are YOU struggling with?

So ask.

Ask me anything.

We have lots of smart people here; if I don’t know the answer, I’ll find someone who does. Or I’ll make something up.

Go ahead, you know you want to.

ASK ME ANYTHING!

Post your questions in the comment section below. I’ll answer the first five, maybe the first ten – so don’t goof off. Post your question NOW!

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Dan Alatorre is the author of several bestsellers and the hilarious romantic comedy “Poggibonsi: an Italian misadventure.” 

Click HERE to get your copy of Poggi FREE on Kindle Unlimited!

Also available in paperback.

I’m reading stories for the scary anthology, and let me tell you, some of them are GREAT.

 

So I was wondering what should the cover artwork look like?

Send me some ideas.

If you have images, copy the link and post it.

I was strolling through a free image website and saw a few things that grabbed my eye, but I’m open – and these aren’t necessarily the right line of thinking anyway.

 

Whether you plan to contribute or not, give me your ideas.

This kinda says scary to me.

This has a nice, eerie feel to it – but I don’t think any of the stories involve a castle. Jenny’s ghost ship thing might, though. Canada is kinda castley, isn’t it? At Epcot it is…

That’s eye-catching.

Too Halloween-ish? And maybe too not-book-cover-ish?

I’m not even sure why this is in here. Maybe I downloaded it for something else.

This might have potential. It’s interesting, and gives that I’m scared vibe.

I like the graveyard thing and the stature holding two victims; that’s pretty original – but I think no bare boobs. It’s not right for this collection. I wouldn’t even have posted it but it’s a cool thought, to have a statue doing that. I wonder why she’s topless, though. Like, I have to hurry and murder these people and there’s no time to pull my top up!

 

Anyway, send me

• some written ideas of what might make a good cover, or

• links to pictures, or

• links to some other books that we can emulate

– I’m open.

 

 

 

I should probably stop doing updates for two different things. It gets confusing.

 

Well,

the Word Weaver finalists have been decided.

And until the big announcement, no one knows who won but me. I think. My daughter may have spied when I did the last round of tiers. But otherwise I think it’s a close circle of tight lipped confidants.

 

Anyway, we are on schedule to announce the winners of the July 2017 Word Weaver Writing Contest on August 15, as scheduled.

Not really sure why that needed announcing but I felt like it did.

 

But I will say, wow, what a tough group of entries this was. Very hard to determine a winner, there were so many terrific stories. I’m not sure I got a bad one. You guys are bringing your A Game. And it’s fun to read these things.

 

Next, the ANTHOLOGY.

We decided on “scary”as out theme but don’t feel super limited by that. Send me something and let’s have a look. The goal is to get everyone exposure, so if you have a macabre story or paranormal or fright night or blood and gore, send it in for consideration.

  

The deadline is September 1.

  

Don’t worry about the LENGTH of your story. I’m looking at pieces 6000 words long and pieces 99 words long, okay?

Some of the ideas that have been accepted are:

• Jenny tells a tale about a ghost ship.

• Lucy’s PorterGirl has a eerie encounter.

• Mine is about a guy who had a kind of daydream where he relives a horrible event that happened to someone else.

• Allison has written a bunch of really short pieces that I’m planing on putting in between the other stories.

• Plus I think she is writing a regular length short story.

• I’ve received about a dozen or so other stories that I’m reading this week, about all kinds of things. Don’t feel limited.

If you’ve never been published before, this is a big opportunity for you. There’s still room. And look at those people you’ll be published with!

What’s scary? It’s practically wide open.

 

So click on the Contact Me button and send me something.