Stephanie is an award-winning copywriter, aspiring novelist, and barely passable ukulele player. Here, she offers writing prompts, tips, and moderate-to-deep philosophical discussions. You can also find her on and Pinterest.

Dragons, Awards, and Loyal Bloggers

A week or so ago, Jubilare, my penpal and one of my favorite bloggers (also one of the smartest people I know), sent an award to this blog. (Thank you, Anne!)

The award was delivered by dragon.

The dragon also brought a set of instructions.

In my experience, when a 42-ton mass of rock-hard muscle and steely scales – which is capable of incinerating a small building with an accidental sneeze – asks you to do something, you do it. (Not helping him floss, though – never help a dragon with dental work.)

award - dragon's loyalty

The Instructions

  1. Display award on your blog.
  2. Announce your win with a post and thank the Blogger who awarded you.
  3. Present 15 deserving bloggers with award
  4. Link your awardees in the post and let them know of their being awarded.
  5. Write seven interesting things about you.

 

 

Whom Shall I Award?

It’s kind of unfair of Anne to do this, because I would’ve given it to her. But of course there are dozens of other bloggers who have turned out week after week for Inspiration Monday, giving me hours of entertainment.

Sadly, I cannot thank all of the InMonsters by name – there have been too many over the years. So (by instruction of the dragon) I’ll confine myself to the fifteen who’ve been active in the last few months. Some of these have been with me for years, some have just shown up in the last few weeks, and I’m grateful for them all.

  1. Tara – One of the most prolific InMonsters as of late. Sometimes she makes you happy, sometimes sad, but she always makes you think.
  2. Mark – Just as prolific as Tara, creates detailed worlds and regales us with short weekly installments of longer, epic stories.
  3. Bryan – His ongoing Asteroid Rake series hooked me from the beginning and is still going strong 16 chapters later. He forgives me for sometimes spelling his name with an ‘i.’
  4. Christa – She runs the gamut from addictive high school stories to sympathetic murderers.
  5. Chris – A veteran InMonster. We don’t read him every week, but whenever we do, we are reminded – this guy is going places.
  6. ToWanderLost – One of the newest InMonsters, whose prose is reminiscent of Markus Zusak.
  7. Avra – Usually either amusing, intriguing, or both.
  8. Lucy – A regular who often brings something in the sci-fi or fantasy realm, usually with a touch of whimsy.
  9. Kim – Another veteran, who sometimes blesses us with glorious steampunk or other delicacies. He also has the most writerly name of the lot of us – K.P. Moody.
  10. TheShortPages – Where even the prose has the taste of poetry.
  11. A-Ku – The artist formerly known as Spider42, a recently-returned veteran InMonster who skillfully changes voices to match the story of the day – which is usually epic.
  12. Mike – A veteran who often manages to chill or to tickle us.
  13. Kate – Another recently-returned veteran InMonster. She is young, talented, and Polish, which basically makes her family. English is her second language, but you can’t tell from her writing.
  14. TheImaginator – You know, the skydiving InMonster. His stuff is always fun, and sometimes deliciously noir.
  15. Adan – She will probably either break your heart or give you chills.

7 Interesting Facts About InMonster Zero

  1. I was born on National Talk Like a Pirate Day.
  2. I can sing. I’m not bad.
  3. I am licensed by the state of Texas to carry a concealed firearm.
  4. I have never broken a bone or been stung by a bee, but I did have gum graft surgery once.
  5. I have chronic nosebleeds, which I combat with a daily bioflavenoid supplement.
  6. As children, my friends and I used to act out Shakespeare plays with Star Wars action figures. Mostly A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
  7. Sometimes I wish I smoked, because it seems like such a writerly thing to do while you are sitting at your typewriter trying to think of words. Of course I’ve never wanted it enough to spend money on something that will give me mouth and/or lung cancer. So mainly I’m just waiting for them to invent a bubble pipe that actually works.

Cheers, monsters! Hope to read all your fun facts soon.

Inspiration Monday: Dream Invasion

This week in InMon Gardens: Mosquito bite on my ear. My ear!

And now for our top stories:

Lucy (I missed her a couple weeks ago)

Bryan (missed him last week)

Tara

Mark

Christa

Inspiration Monday logo

The Rules

There are none. Read the prompts, get inspired, write something. No word count minimum or maximum. You don’t have to include the exact prompt in your piece, and you can interpret the prompt(s) any way you like.

OR

No really; I need rules!

Okay; write 200-500 words on the prompt of your choice. You may either use the prompt as the title of your piece or work it into the body of your piece. You must complete it before 6 pm CST on the Monday following this post.

The Prompts:

DREAM INVASION

CYBER PRINTS

FASTENED WITH LIGHT

FAIL SAFE

CHAINED MELODY

Want to share your Inspiration Monday piece? Post it on your blog and then give me the link in the comments below (I’ll also love you more if you link back to me); I’ll include a link to your piece in the next Inspiration Monday post. No blog? Email your piece to me at stephanie (at) bekindrewrite (dot) com. (I do reserve the right to NOT link to a piece as stated in my Link Discretion Policy.)

Plus, get the InMon badge for your site here.

Happy writing!

Voice Week – Things to Know

Voice Week starts Monday, and if you’re like me, you’re not quite ready yet! If I can just get those last two voices sounding right…

Anyway, some housekeeping before we start:

Inspiration Monday is postponed until next week. So you get two weeks to play with the prompts I posted last week! Woohoo!

Remember to check the Voice Writer list. The right-hand column over here. Make sure your name is on it if you are participating, and comment if I still need to add you. I think we’re up to 20 people – great crowd!

Don’t worry about what time you post your voices. Without fail, every year, there’s some poor soul apologizing for posting early or late. The thing is, unless you mention it, I WON’T KNOW. We are in all different time zones, and my two-dimensional brain can’t even remember whether Australia is behind or ahead of Texas, let alone by how many hours. So I’ll just assume you’re all posting on the right day for your time zone. NO WORRIES!!!

There aren’t really rules. So don’t be nervous if you’re not sure what you wrote is what the challenge called for. Everyone interprets it differently, and that’s part of the fun!

Subscribe to (or hang out at) Voice Week HQ. I’ll be reblogging links to ALL the voices on that site, so you can click through to ’em all and get the whole scope of Voice Week in one place. Be sure to comment on what you read – the conversation is part of the wonderfulness.

So let’s get this fun started!

Still need some guidance? Here are some blog posts about voice!

How to find your voice – in five voices

Five great examples of voice

How to write like someone you’re not

How to write in an other-worldly voice

Inspiration Monday: First Think in the Morning

I finished Before the Golden Age – that Asimov-compiled 1930s sci-fi anthology I told y’all about. Long, but great read. I feel much more educated about my genre now.

And I’m regretting that I didn’t by the Golden Age anthologies that were there at the same library book sale…why, why, why??? A guy actually picked one up and was like “Here, here’s another one in the series,” and I was like “No, it’s okay; one’s enough.”

What was wrong with me???

After tsking in my general direction, go enjoy some InMonster magic:

Aurora

DerErzahler

Sam

Aparna

Kate

Lucy

Inspiration Monday logo

The Rules

There are none. Read the prompts, get inspired, write something. No word count minimum or maximum. You don’t have to include the exact prompt in your piece, and you can interpret the prompt(s) any way you like.

OR

No really; I need rules!

Okay; write 200-500 words on the prompt of your choice. You may either use the prompt as the title of your piece or work it into the body of your piece. You must complete it before 6 pm CST on the Monday following this post.

The Prompts:

FIRST THINK IN THE MORNING

DEAD RINGER

EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE

NOVA CANE

SHELL BURN

Want to share your Inspiration Monday piece? Post it on your blog and then give me the link in the comments below (I’ll also love you more if you link back to me); I’ll include a link to your piece in the next Inspiration Monday post. No blog? Email your piece to me at stephanie (at) bekindrewrite (dot) com. (I do reserve the right to NOT link to a piece as stated in my Link Discretion Policy.)

Plus, get the InMon badge for your site here.

Happy writing!