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Characters vs Plot: What Inspires Me First?
I’ve seen this question come up several times among writers: do you think of characters or plots first? I can’t speak for every writer, but for me, it’s both. Character First The story idea that inspired me to become a writer (and is still rattling around in my head waiting for me to get around…
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Goaltending: How Hockey Has Helped Me As A Writer
I struggle with blog topics nearly every week. And so, nearly every week, I scour Google for some new topic inspiration to get me started. And every week, I see the same suggestion to talk about hobbies outside of writing. But I have resisted writing on this topic since I started keeping a blog, mostly…
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My Writing Career Bucket List
I’ve got my head so full of developmental edits for Gas Giant Gambit this week, I thought I’d do something simple for today’s blog. So, just for funsies, here are my top ten writing career bucket list items! In no particular order: That’s all for now! Back to the dev edits! See you next week!
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Gas Giant Gambit Updates
The last few days have been extremely exciting and I have a number of updates to share! Developmental Edits First and foremost, I have received the first round of developmental edits! Despite being assured at the beginning of the process that there were no plot or structural changes needed, I was still anxious about this.…
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Writing Outside Your Genre 2: Electric Romance
Almost a year ago I wrote a blog about writing outside your genre. At the time, I was waiting to hear where I had placed in the first rounds of NYC Midnight’s 2024 Short Story Challenge and Screenwriting Challenge (I made it to the second round in both contests, but crashed out in the third).…
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Gas Giant Gambit: A Space-Western Heavy on the Western
This week, I had my very first guest appearance on a podcast! I spoke with Glen Weatherhead of the Creative Writing Wizard website and podcast (if you missed it, you can check it out on YouTube and Spotify [it may also be elsewhere, I’m not sure all the places Glen posted it]). We talked about…
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Reading Goals for 2025
Last year I discovered Goodread‘s Reading Challenge and set a goal of 15 books for myself–and reached it. 15 was, admittedly, an easily attainable goal. That said, I had my doubts I would finish, given the fact that many of the books I read are extremely long (The From a Certain Point of View Star…
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Goodbye ’24, Hello ’25
With the new year arriving in less than 12 hours from the time I sit here writing this, I feel it’s a nice time to take a look back at what 2024 has given me, and then look forward to what is yet to come. 2024 This past year was such an exciting time for…
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Rejection Goal: 90/100
With two weeks left in the year, I have officially hit 90 rejections for short stories and manuscripts. Unfortunately, given recent events (especially adopting a new dog that has needed some extra care and attention to help him adapt to his new home) as well as the length of time it often takes for a…
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Today’s Undead Forecast
I’ve been thinking about sharing another short story lately, and I have recently been encouraged to do so by a reader of this blog and my newsletter. So, I have decided to do it this week! I’m proud of the following story despite the fact it has been rejected nine times. I think part of…
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Gas Giant Gambit: Master Blog List
All news, sneak peeks, and behind-the-scene posts in one place!
E.S. Raye 