books
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Even though we learn to talk well before we learn to write, writing dialogue can prove to be quite a challenge for many writers. If you’ve spent most of your life writing academically or professionally and are just now diving into creative writing and storytelling, dialogue can often feel impossible to master. But don’t worry,…
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In the first video of my series, “Unpacking Common Writing Advice,” I dive into the phrase “Write What You Know.” This often-repeated advice is frequently misunderstood—either taken too literally or leaving writers, especially those in speculative fiction, scratching their heads. What does it actually mean, and how can you apply it to your writing without…
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Transcript: Hey everyone! It has been a minute. In December, I decided to take a break from YouTube, my blog, and all the other social media things in order to get myself in a strong place for the start of 2025. There are a lot of awesome things I have planned for this year, including…
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Transcript: At the risk of sounding like Chef Gusteau in Ratatouille, I believe everyone can and should write a novel. A lot of people would probably tell me I’m crazy for saying that, but I still stand by it. Now, I’m not saying you need to show it to anyone or try to publish it.…
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If you’ve been following my channel—or if you’re new here—you’ve probably gathered that I’m a huge fan of reading. There are so many reasons for this: 1) it’s fun, 2) it’s educational, and 3) there’s so much we gain from reading that we don’t even realize while we’re doing it. Each book offers unique insights,…
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There are many fights to be fought, but we can’t fight them all—even those we’re passionate about. As Bilbo Baggins said, it would make us “feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” With rising mental health issues and the limited impact of spreading ourselves too thin, we must choose our…
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On Saturday, I officially started training as a book coach by enrolling in the Author Accelerator’s book coaching program. This is a self-paced coarse with a nine-month deadline, and I am planning on completing it in six months, by the end of April 2025. My goal is to have it done before the lighter summer…
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In March of this year, I self-published my debut novel, the Soul Child. Now, among several other writing projects, I am working on book two of the series I’m currently calling “The Ascendants Series”. The goal for this book is to be around 125,000 words because that was the approxamate length of the first one,…
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As often as I’m able with a toddler and husband who works long hours, I attend a Wednesday night workshop for writers. It’s a group of six or more people to whom you read 15 minutes of your writing, followed by 5 minutes of critiques from everyone in the room. And let me tell you,…
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At the end of September, most libraries and English teachers will be celebrating Banned Book Week, a time of the year to raise awareness of the harmful nature of banning books. As an English teacher in Texas, which banned over 4,000 books last year, this is a cause I feel really strongly about. Everything’s bigger…
C. Sloan Lewis | Your Virtual Writing Coach 