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Writing

WRITING A NOVEL? PART 5

Chuck
January 8, 2018
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WRITING A NOVEL? PART 5

BLOOD, TOIL, TEARS, SWEAT . . . EDITING Editing, blech! You’ve finished your novel? If so, you know only too well the blood, toil, and tears needed to reach the finish line. That’s the time to put our feet up, pour a glass, sit back, and smile. That’s when the plot bunny on the shoulder whispers the dreaded word . . . “edit.” Editing . . . Blech! Editing is the sweaty part of fictioneering, be it short story or novel. I’m the first to admit to the perils of rushing to print, relying on MS word to correct my…

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Uncategorized

Sharing imaginary friends since 1985

Chuck
January 1, 2018
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Sharing imaginary friends since 1985

My name is Chuck Waldron, and I’m a writer. I love to write. Previously, a professional mountain climber, if you view work as climbing mountains, I now spend most of my time trying to make sense of what to do when the plot bunny bites with story ideas. Luckily, when the plot bunny bites, I have many imaginary friends, and yours truly is not afraid to use them. They allow me to tell their stories, on many occasions, even demanding it. Who can ignore their shouting? Not me. My imaginary friends whisper stories that turn into thrillers mixed with mystery…

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Giving in to the characters in my head

Chuck
December 20, 2017
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Sometimes when writing a sequel, or the first installment of a planned series, I like to take a break and write about the other characters that are floating around in my head. Please enjoy my various short stories that feature characters just as important as those in my core novels. https://www.chuckwaldronauthor.com/stories/

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Writing

WRITING A NOVEL? PART 4

Chuck
December 11, 2017
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WRITING A NOVEL? PART 4

Ready, Fire, Aim: Getting it wrong When I asked someone in a writing group what her story was about, she said she didn’t know. Said, “I simply start writing. Eventually, I find out the direction the story is taking.” Huh? I think that’s wrong. What about you? Do you know what your story’s about? Have you ever started a road trip, route planned, map ready, car fueled, only to find a detour along the way? What if we never make it to the destination? I’ve had some happy memories visiting unplanned places. But to the best of my knowledge, I’ve…

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Writing

WRITING A NOVEL? Part 3

Chuck
December 4, 2017
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WRITING A NOVEL? Part 3

If you read part one, aren’t intimidated by the sheer volume of competition, and still writing, congratulations. Telling stories is what writers do. Set aside dreams of fame and fortune. Those are byproducts for the lucky few. They’re lucky because they kept writing, improving, writing, improving, writing . . . Well, you get my drift. Part two was the starting point. “I never metaphor I didn’t like,” said Mardy Grothe. I agree. So, here’s mine for today. Writing is like swimming naked in a crowded pool. It takes madness or courage to strip naked like that. Yet, writers do that…

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Writing

WRITING A NOVEL? PART 2

Chuck
November 29, 2017
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WRITING A NOVEL? PART 2

Part Two in the series. In part one, I wrote about the million books that will be published in 2018, seven-hundred and fifty thousand of them self-published. The bad news? Competition, going up against the sheer volume of new novels. The good news? We can get a slim toe-hold in the marketplace. There are three things we can do: have a good story, have a worthy cover, and make sure the interior supports your work. This part of the series is about step one in getting the story right. We’re told to follow the rules. After all, writers spend years…

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Writing

WRITING A NOVEL? DO THE MATH

Chuck
November 20, 2017
2 Comments
WRITING A NOVEL? DO THE MATH

Part one in a series One million books will be published next year in the U.S. Seven hundred and fifty thousand will be self-published. The average length of a novel is estimated to be 60,000 and 70,000. I decided to thread the needle and use 65K, coming up with 48,750,000,000 words self-published each year. That’s 48 in billions. My 89,342 words face a daunting challenge. Who wants to be a writer? Justine Goldberg, writing in Publishing Perspectives, claims 200 million Americans say they want to publish a book. Wow. Talk about competition. I sometimes feel like Forrest Gump when he…

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Opinion, Reality

EXECUTIVE ORDER #17,342 ~ 0001 HOURS, JANUARY 1

Chuck
July 8, 2017
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  Stuart, Florida “Zup, Billy? “Did you see it, man? All those cool army trucks?” “No. Where?” “The fairgrounds. I’m on my bike. There must be a hundred. They’re still coming.” “No way.” “Yeah, way. You gotta get down here and see for yourself.”   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~   Cedar Rapids, Iowa   Sitting in his office, Dan was daydreaming—woolgathering his grandmother would have said. The smartphone on his desk began to vibrate. He kept the sound off, a courtesy to his cubical mates. Yawning, he picked up the phone and looked at the screen. There was a…

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Opinion, Personal, Writing

Ready, Fire and then Aim? Huh?

Chuck
May 3, 2017
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Is it even possible to break through the algorithm barrier and make your book discoverable? I’m still on a learning curve, but I wanted to share something you don’t want to do, fire without aiming. Ready? Writer’s write, it’s what we love doing. Editing is sweaty, the part most writers would like to skip. Fire? That’s rushing a book into print without a marketing plan. Aim? What happens if we are ready and fire before we aim? What’s wrong with that order? Book marketing strategy begins by asking your inner writer a simple question.  Why do you write?  What feeds…

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Personal

A MAN AND A WRITER GO INTO A BAR

Chuck
May 1, 2017
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    A man walked into a bar. “Writing a novel is easy, right?”  he asked. “I have this story I want to write. Tell me where to start?” Okay, maybe it wasn’t a bar, but a table at a book fair. I gave him the advice I heard from someone once.  “The beginning is easy. What comes next is hard,” I said. “Huh,” he said. “First, you need to get a license. Do you have one?” “I had no idea,” he said. “Where do I get one.” “The Department of Creative Writing,” I told him. “Each state capital has…

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