Blog Tour: Review at SueBE's One Writer's Journey 🎊

Thrilled to have a review of my book, From Promising to Published, on SueBE’s One Writer’s Journey this morning! 🤩📝

An excerpt: “Write every day. Find a critique group. Blah blah blah. It seems like 90% of the advice that I find for writers is the same old same old. If that’s what you’re after, then step away from this book. It isn’t the one for you….

This isn’t a book about how to write a novel or how to pen a picture book. But it is a top notch guide on publication. Whether you are a fairly new writer or a seasoned pro, you’re going to find the gentle nudge and the words of encouragement that you need…

Whether you need information on monetizing your writing, querying, audience or more, check out Melanie’s book. This is not your typical how-to which makes it an excellent choice for writers of all kinds.”

Read the rest at SueBE’s One Writer’s Journey.

Many thanks to talented Sue Bradford Edwards for this wonderful review! I highly recommend Sue’s meaningful nonfiction books as well as her insightful classes, including her next three WOW! courses: Pitching, Querying, and Submitting Your Work; Research: Prepping to Write Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults; and Writing Nonfiction for Children and Young Adults.

For more information about Sue’s books and her classes: please click here for books and click here for classes.

Let the Fun Commence! Blog Tour Interview and Win a Copy! 💌📚

Super excited to launch my WOW! blog tour today for From Promising to Published! 💗

To get us started, I had the great joy of being interviewed by talented Nicole Pyles at Women on Writing. We dished about many writing topics, including submitting writing more than 1,300 times (aka: perseverance and keeping work in rotation), why I love teaching creative writing and what I’ve learned from my students, and the road to claiming the title of “writer.” Read on!

Check it out here: The Muffin interview clickety-click.

Also, after reading the interview, be sure to enter for your chance to win a free copy of my book (entries taken through December 18th) by filling out the Rafflecopter form located after the interview. Good luck! 🎊🍀

There’s also a copy up for grabs at The Mommies Reviews between now and December 10th . 📚

Giveaway: The Mommies Reviews clickety-click!

The 50-Word Stories of 2022 Anthology! 📚

Super amped to have work in the The 50-Word Stories of 2022: : Microfiction for Lovers of Quick Reads alongside talented, innovative writers from across the world. Many thanks to Jessica Bell and Elaina Battista-Parsons for compiling such a marvelous collection of stories!

Perfect inspiration for writers, readers, and teachers alike!

Preorder now at Amazon. Clicky!

My Craft Article Published Today 🎉

Super excited that my article, “Hop on Your Horse and Gallop Back in Time: 4 Strengths of Historical and Time-Travel Stories,” was published today at Women on Writing.

Image courtesy of unsplash.com and Kayla Koss

Care to learn more and explore this fun subject as you create your own stories? Ta-da! My latest online class, Leaping Worlds, begins on Friday, September 30th and is is open for sign-ups now.

Read on for my article:
”Hop on Your Horse and Gallop Back In Time: 4 Strengths of Historical and Time-Travel Stories”

By: Melanie Faith

Creating characters whose lives take place in another time can be one of the most enlivening and meaningful writing experiences an author can have. Let’s take a look at four assets writing these stories can bring into the lives of writers and readers alike.

Historical fiction offers maximum flexibility in developing the protagonist. There is no one cookie-cutter image for who the protagonist of your story might be. There are historical fiction main characters of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities. Protagonists can live in literally any place and time (or multiple places and times, should you choose a time-travel tale) that you can imagine and recreate. You even have the flexibility to braid the stories of multiple protagonists within this genre.

Historical fiction protagonists in all types of narratives must have a purpose for being in the story, and that purpose is to inspire change through their actions; to be changed by events, people, or the place(s) where they live; or (ideally) both. All you need to get started is a setting, a time, and a protagonist with a big obstacle to push up against that’ll impact them and the wider world for days, years, or perhaps even decades to come! 

This genre also offers great flexibility of era. Have you always had a passion for the Roaring ‘20s or an interest in ancient Rome? What about a predilection for the early days of TV? Or even (gulp!) the early days of the internet? All include history well worth exploring. Whether a story is set two thousand years ago or twenty-five years ago, the past is at the core and the story is literally limited only by any era or eras that suit your fancy. A great deal of the fun in preparing to write, drafting, and editing within this genre is researching music, clothes, expressions and idioms, and more from the epoch you’ve chosen.

Photo courtesy of Pixabay at Pexels.com

Historical fiction is not a one-trick pony when it comes to styles and formats. Variety, thy name is this genre! Whether you want to pen a magnum opus novel or a flash fiction of a mere 45 words, there’s a style and a format to fit every writer and every project. Great historical fiction time-travel stories, for instance, can be told within a chapbook of stories connected by character or by place or by era, in a novella of a few thousand words (I had a fun time a few years ago writing a Regency novella, Her Humble Admirer, which in the tradition of many historical romance writers, I pen named), or equally well in linked historical-fiction poems (I wrote a collection of thematic poems set in 1918 a few years ago called This Passing Fever ). Historical fiction and time-travel stories also lend themselves well to creating a series. Want to write books about three cousins during the American Revolutionary War: one a Loyalist, one a Patriot, and one a pacifist? A series is born; go for it. Historical fiction allows for great versatility in how stories can be connected, divided, and crafted for maximum reader (and writer) interest.  

At its best, historical fiction sheds a light not only on another time but also on our modern lives. These stories can make us reflect on how far our lives have come and on how far we might go. They can remind us of our own struggles and hopes and setbacks, and they have the power to entertain us as well. That’s a lot of reading happiness in one literary package!  

Try this prompt: Pick a place, a time, and a protagonist. Your protagonist can be a real historical person or a completely fictional person. You don’t need to know everything—or even a lot—about your main character at this point: a name and an initial detail or two will do, even if you end up changing these details later. What does the protagonist, place, or era need the most that it doesn’t have yet? Who or what is blocking positive change? What most excites you to write about this era? Write for twenty minutes. Go!

New Month, New Projects Popping ⏲️

Hello, September!

I’ve been thinking a lot about time lately: how we organize it, how we anticipate or dread it, how we save it through the things we make and the things we share, how it is ever-malleable—both jet-speed propulsion and gelatin slow and everything in-between.

So, I made this thematic pen-and-ink drawing. Writing the interconnected and interrupted “ticks” was relaxing. There’s something very meditative about making something by hand, even something imperfect, as this doodle most certainly is. 😁

Also, my new class about writing historical fiction and time-travel stories, Leaping Worlds, is accepting registrations and will start Friday, September 30th. Can’t wait! Clicky above for more deets. I’d love to work with you and a friend. 📝

Thoreau Time!🌻

If it’s mid-August already, then that means my mind is happily scampering towards thoughts of crisp mornings, crunchy and colorful leaves, and my fall classes.

This fall, I’ll teach a new online class I’ve created, Leaping Worlds—Writing Historical Fiction and Time-Travel Stories. The course starts Sept. 30th and runs for five weeks. Now open for registration at Women on Writing!

Anticipating autumn also makes me start to think about Thoreau, Emerson, and the Transcendentalist writers that my high-school students always used to read from the Norton’s Anthology of American Literature every fall semester during my first years of teaching.

Thoreau in particular always offers up golden nuggets of observation and thought that shimmer in my mind. I notice something different each time I read excerpts of his work, which is one of the pleasures of reading literature more than once and over time.

I made some quote memes recently to share a few of his quotes that resonated during my latest literary perusal. Enjoy!

Announcing: Leaping Worlds! A New Writing Class

For a long time, I’ve wanted to teach a class about writing historical fiction as well as stories with time-travel elements. Le voila! Wish granted. In this new class through Women on Writing, I get to explore both topics with writers interested in either or both types of fiction. It’s going to be a blast.🚀 Break out your keyboards and your time machines!

Starts September 30th online; sign up today to reserve your spot.

More details at: Leaping Worlds—Writing Historical Fiction and Time-Travel Stories

Photo by sebastiaan stam on Unsplash

📝My Article Published Today: "Fabulous Flash: Diving Headfirst into the Pool of Uncertainty"

Super excited to announce that my article, “Fabulous Flash: Diving Headfirst into the Pool of Uncertainty,” was published today at Women on Writing. I end the article with a fun prompt to take for a spin. 🌹

Clickety-click on the article title above to read more, and check out the many inspiring writing workshops in an array of genres available from talented published writers via the WOW classroom page .

My online class flash fiction workshop is accepting students between now and the July 1st start date. To learn more, check out: In a Flash Workshop. Flash is one of my favorite genres, and I’d love to work with you and your writing friends.

Copies of the text we’ll use, also written by yours truly, are available at Amazon and (for signed copies) at my Etsy page. Write on!

"Have You Seen These Characters?" Cool Project Sneak Peek

The ever-talented Jessie Carty , Instructional Designer and Content Developer and fellow writer, has been working her magic on developing an initial idea sparked from Writing It Real: Creating an Online Course for Fun and Profit into an interactive educational activity for writers, teachers, and readers to explore and learn about giving quality writing feedback.

Excited to offer a sneak peek of “Have You Seen These Characters? Taking the Scary Out of Giving Writing Feedback.”

I highly recommend Jessie for taking a concept and developing it into an imaginative and meaningful project that combines her fabulous tech skills with content in an engaging and fun way. Whether you’re in writing, education, or both, if you’re interested in developing an idea in a new direction for online media, Jessie Carty has got so much to offer to make your project shine! Contact her via LinkedIn or Facebook.

Awesome Interview Ahead! 🎉

Less than 3 days until my next book releases on Tuesday!

To celebrate the exciting occasion, I was thrilled to be featured on talented writer Kate Bradley-Ferrall’s blog. Check it out: clickety-click!