Hey my friends! 
This month's challenge was definitely different for me. I've tried similar stuff before, but I thought that instead of the writer of the letter actually telling a story I'd try to do it with the letters themselves actually telling the story. Or actually, I kind of did it more like emails/texts.... Modern era, haha!
I'm not sure how I did, and I have to admit it wasn't my favorite challenge, but it was good practice. 

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Dear Joe

July 18th
Dear Joe,
The note says that you're not coming back, and that you don't want to ever see me or Mom and Dad again. I don't believe it. I'm waiting for you, and I expect you to be ready this fall for football. Please reply, or just come home.
Your best friend and brother,
Adam

July 27th
Dear Joe,
You really need to wake up to reality and get back here. Football season is coming closer, and you need to get in shape! Besides, it's boring playing by myself. And I know you've seen the message, because it says it was "read". 
Adam

August 3rd
Joe,
I really mean it. You can't just stay away forever. There's things to do, places to go! Mom and Dad need you back, and I'm tired of not having my best friend around. 
Adam

August 20th
joe,
you gotta come back you can't just keep away so long i need you youre my best friend come back come back come back!!!
adam

August 24th
i'm sorry if i said mean things to you before. really. It's my fualt you left because i wouldn't give you my bank savings i know btu maybe you can give me another chance. i'm not a goody two shoes i just didn't want you to leave, and stealing dad's money in place of me giving you mine was the worst. but I just want you back, i don't care what you did. and Mom and dad will give you another chance too.
A.

September 1st
To Joe,
Sometimes you almost can't believe the things that happen. You actually wrote me back this last time! But it wasn't what I wanted to hear. I don't think you really are that much in love with your new life as you say. And I certainly don't believe that you're actually living it up as much as you say. I don't think you stole even enough money for that. 
Adam

September 15
J.,
I'm so tired of everything you're doing. The dog ran away last night so I was out looking for him late, and found you--working night shift flipping burgers. You looked homeless. When are you going to stop acting so foolish and just give up that run-away business. My patience with you is almost running out. But Dad and Mom's hasn't so you better come back now while they still are ready to forgive you. 
A. 

September 30,
So you came back. And what did Dad do? Took you to get a haircut, some new clothes, a good job, and is letting you borrow the car--we had lasagna and ice cream in celebration of your return. But nobody ever makes my favorite food like Mom did for you and I never even made her cry like you did when you ran away! It's not fair! I wanted you to come back, but you failed me. You didn't come early enough for football. I've had to work so hard to make Mom and Dad as happy as possible while they worried their heads off over you. You treated me like dirt instead of your brother. 
Your (previous) best friend,
Adam

October 2nd
Dear Joe,
I have been thoroughly humiliated and want to ask you to delete the last message. Apparently I forgot the prodigal son story. The fatted calf was your lasagna, but I've decided that I can't hold grudges against you. I'm sorry. Welcome home. 
Your brother and best friend,
Adam

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Well, that's that! I don't think I like it a whole lot this month, but you know, those kind of stories you don't care for are bound to happen at some point or another and they're still good practice! :) 

Hope you have a lovely day! 
<3
​Victoria

​Lately I've gotten back into writing letters, and I'm very glad for that decision to make it a priority again. I remember when I was younger and handwritten letters were the only way to communicate except for very rare phone calls and I still get super excited when I get a letter in the mail. Recently I decided that I was going to make it a point to write letters frequently. I restocked my stationery supply, and as soon as I take my first couple of letters to the post office, I'm going to buy stamps so I can just cross the street to drop my letter off instead of heading into the post office. 😃

So here are 3 reasons writers should send letters! 😃

1. Hand-writing is good for you Studies show that writing by hand has lots of benefits! It's relaxing, personal, and has a certain beauty that only handwritten letters can have. 
2. It's a tradition that needs to be kept alive Writing letters is never going to go completely out of style, I think, but it certainly is done a lot less than it used to be. Think of all the classic books--letters almost always play a part somewhere in it! People have been writing letters for hundreds of years, it would be a shame to stop. And who better to keep the tradition alive than us writers? 
3. It'll be special down the road Whether you reread letters yourself down the road, or your children or friends, it's a story in of itself. Can you imagine how cool it would be to have a pack of letters just like the old times to look through later?

I hope you'll try writing some letters to someone soon! I have a list of various people I want to write and I'm going to work through it. There's plenty of people who would love to get a letter, so let's bring smiles to people's faces. 😃 

You all have a lovely day! 
<3
Victoria

Hey my friends!
Today I'm here with a fun blog-post round up on creativity! Sometimes it's hard to keep the creative streak, especially when life gets busy. So here are a few ways to keep the creativity level going strong! :) 

1. How to Bring Playfulness back into our Writing Lives This post by Lucy Flint has four fun prompts for boosting your creativity. 

2. 15 Ways to Find Writing Inspiration This post by Jody Hedlund has a great list of fifteen ways to find writing inspiration. They're really good! 

3. How to Beat Negativity and Be More Creative This post is by Kayla Dean and is very encouraging! Sometimes you can get discouraged and your creativity levels go down to about 0.5. Ever wonder what to do when that happens? 

4. 39 Ways to Stay Creative Do you all remember this post from last year? It's a list of thirty-nine ways to stay creative, so it'll be easier to find something that works for you! 

That's all for today! Hope you all have a lovely day! :) 
<3
​Victoria

​Woot, woot, characterization! I have to admit that building up my characters is probably my favorite part about writing. I think it's because I look at it as I'm telling someone's story. Even plot-driven books are a hundred times better with realistic, deep, and unique characters. But I know it's easy to fall in the trap of cliched characters or using the same type over and over. We writers certainly don't want all our characters looking the same after a while. But what do you do to make sure this doesn't happen? 

There are numerous ways I go about creating richer characters. I fill out questionnaires, mind-map more to figure out their history/what happens to them, and consciously try to flip cliches on their head. But the tool that I use the most and that has helped me by far the best is the Myer's Brigg Typing System. This is a personality type indicator that many use for their own personal growth, but believe me, it's wonderful at learning to understand your character better. 

Basically there are sixteen personality types, each consisting of four letters. Now I'll just stop right here and say--of course there are variations within a type! Everyone is different, as we have different cultures, childhoods, intelligence, religions etc. Then some people are a mix between two types, some might be a "turbulent" version of the type or a calmer version. But these sixteen personality types are a really good starting point. 

It works like this. You figure out whether the character/person is extroverted vs. introverted, then whether they are a sensor vs. an intuitive person, then a thinker vs. a feeler, and lastly, a judger vs. a perceiver. I've made up a little chart to explain these different points a little better: 

I'll use myself as an example. I'm a total ENFP. This means that I'm extroverted, intuitive, a feeler, and a perceiver. My sister is ISFJ--introverted, a sensor, a feeler, and a judger. Albert Einstein is an INTP. (Introverted, Intuitive, Thinker, Perceiver). 

If you can't figure out out your character's personality by just deciding between the different aspects, there are free tests online. They're not always accurate, as it's easy to fall into answering it unconsciously from your point of view, but they can get you going in the right direction. https://www.16personalities.com/personality-types is my favorite site for referral on the personality types. It has a quiz to take, and gives a basic understanding of each type. Once I know what my character's personality type is, I research that personality further. I read various articles for specific character aspects. It's a lot of fun learning about different personalities and I enjoy "getting to know" my characters while I study it out! :)

I'd like to go back to my point above--just because you might have two INTJ characters doesn't mean they'll be exactly the same. In my book Jonas and Olivia both the main characters are INFP. (Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving). But that doesn't mean they like the same things, think the same way, or act just like each other. Not at all! That's why it's good to get to know your character on other levels, too. But I will say that knowing their personality types definitely helps me! Olivia especially was jarring me--something just seemed off. And as I was editing I realized it was because sometimes she was acting out of character. Sometimes I was writing her like an extrovert, (like me, lol) or the way she handled her grief over her father's passing just seemed wrong. Once I recognized why, it was easy to fix and she became a much stronger, deeper character. Knowing that both Jonas and Olivia are INFPs also helped me in writing how their relationship works throughout the book. 

Well that's all for today! What's your favorite method for characterization? Have you ever tried the MBTI method? Let me know in the comments below. ;)

Have a lovely day!
<3
Victoria

Howdy my friends!

There's lots of advice out there for introverted authors. How to market your book, how to navigate social media, etc, etc. I think it's great that there are articles like that for the introverted side of us writers. I know that it is definitely the thing people expect writers to be--I mean, we spend countless hours in our own little worlds, so we HAVE to be introverts, right? 

Well, I'm here to say that based on my scientific (ahem) research there is a good population of us extroverted writers, too. Now, with the lack of articles geared toward us, one might arrive at the idea that we extroverted writers get off easy, especially as far as marketing our book goes. We LOVE people, so it all works out great! 

*cough* Actually, as a fellow extroverted writer, I can vouch for the fact that we have our own set of drawbacks. Things like... jumping into too many things at once, struggling alone through things and just wanting someone to talk to who understands, not being able to focus on writing because you want to chat with a friend (or do something completely random), finding it really hard to say no to a lot of things, wondering if there's anyone out there like us, wanting to talk to people... oh wait, did I already mention that one? lol.

It's definitely been an adventure being an extroverted writer, and I've learned a lot. So, for my fellow-extroverts, here are 5 practical tips for the writing life!

1. Find a writing friend. Or two, or three. Sometimes it's hard, especially if you don't have any friends who write or know where to look. But when you do have someone with whom you can pour out all your book-related woes, ask questions, and do word sprints with, it makes things so much more fun! And if you can't think of anybody to chat bookish things with, I'm always here for you. :) 

2. Don't feel like you have to write in a solitary place. I understand that even among extroverted writers there will be different tastes, but you should try this at least a couple times. I work SO much better when I'm with people, even if we're not really interacting. Writing as a group is always a blast, and writing in coffee shops, the kitchen table of your house (if you live with family), in libraries, or on road trips always helps me write WAY more than if I was by myself. And I might as well mention that when I am completely and utterly alone, I usually have music and typewriter sounds, along with either rain ambiance, nature sounds, or cafe ambiance. :P I collect background sounds, lol! If everything was silent it would distract me like crazy, and its truly so much easier to concentrate when there's more noise. 

3. Don't jump into too many things at once. Whether its book ideas, marketing ventures, or writing + extra activities, be wise with what you do. It's exciting and all, but starting Twitter, a Facebook page, a Blog, Pinterest, and Instagram at the same time is just going to be stressful and you'll end up burning out. You don't have to do everything that everyone recommends! :) When it comes to things with a learning curve--learn it before starting something else. If you're launching a book, create a plan of action with different steps so you're not overwhelmed (or just happily screaming along the ride in roller-coaster fashion). If four friends are asking you to beta-read their book, guest post, compile an epic blog tour for them, and participate in a book vlog all in the same two days... you may have to say no to some things. I know it's hard to do! I get sad just thinking about it. But sometimes you have to. 

4. Discover what you're good at in writing and hone in on that skill. You don't need to despair over your lack of poeticness if you're great at building amazing characters. Or whatever it is in your situation. I used to feel like I wasn't a "real" writer because I couldn't write beautiful descriptions. I tried my hardest, but it felt forced. When I wrote without thinking too hard about it, I found my stories leaning on the comedic or realistic side of things and I was a little embarrassed. But after a while, I just stopped worrying. I decided that I'd just write like me, and try to polish up my own style to be the best it could be. Of course, you want to work on all points of writing, but what I'm trying to say is--you have your own unique voice, so be excited to polish up your strong points! :) 

5. Sit Down and Write. I go all the time to my computer and open my document... and then a million things pop in my head and the next thing I know I'm creating a packing list for a hypothetical trip to Germany or swapping funny comments with my friend. It can be hard to focus sometimes, especially when you're thinking of a lot of other things. (I just stared at the screen for about a minute after this sentence thinking about the tingling in my arm. That is live proof that it's a real challenge, lol!) It's so easy to get caught up in so many other different directions. So when you sit down to write--write. Fight the urge to research the life cycle of the platypus even if you think you might use it in another book someday. If you have to, scribble a memo down in a notebook and if you still think it's important later, you can take care of it. I do this and it helps immensely. Use a Pomodoro timer if that helps. Or do a word sprint-- say 1,000 words in fifteen minutes. When you have a specific goal other than "write" it often helps. ;)


So those are my five practical tips for extroverted writers! Let me know in the comments below if you're an extroverted writer, and if you have any tips or tricks you've learned. Also, what is your favorite flavor of ice cream? I have no idea on mine. I like them all. :P I'd love to hear from you all! :) 

You all have a lovely day! 
<3
Victoria