What am I Gonna to Do? Ima Write About It!

As a writer, have you noticed that emotion... any emotion... makes you wanna run straight to the computer and write about it?

Take this morning, for instance.  Since I was looking forward to the "thick cut" bacon I had purchased at the store the day before, can you imagine my distress when rather than the beautiful, hammy cuts of bacon I had anticipated, I instead ended up with anemic little pieces of fat held together by a stringy piece of fat in the middle!?!

I mean, I wasn't furious or anything.  Just a little disappointed.  But even that was enough emotion to make me hop on my online soapbox and write about it.

So I wrote the manufacturer first, in hopes of receiving several coupons in the mail for free thick cut bacon;).

Then I realized a "Bacon Reviews" section would fit perfectly within "My Big Redneck Website"!  (Not to mention how awesome it would be to make my bacon obsession tax deductible!)

Finally, I realized the absurdity of feeling compelled to write so much about bacon and began to analyze why that is.  Which led me to this blog.

Because when you're a writer, your entire being is to write.  It's not voluntary.  It's compulsory.  You MUST write or you'll explode.  Or at the very least, you'll be gumpy and unfit for polite company.

The upside is you never run out of things to write about, since your whole life tends to go on paper (which is why I have so many blogs and websites).

What can I say?  I love writing!  Now if I could just learn to make a living from it, I'd be golden:)

Learning to Write in Different Voices

I just finished a post for my blog, My Big Redneck Husband.

So now that I'm writing a blog for Indie Writer, I am having a bit of a difficult time reverting back to my "normal" voice.

When I write for My Big Redneck Husband, I write in my "redneck" voice, the dialect of my childhood that I still tend to revert to in my everyday life when my emotions are raw.  Since my redneck voice comes almost naturally for me, it is the one I have a hard time shaking when I'm ready to write in a different voice. 

Living away from the mountains so many years changed my voice.  So now when I write for y'all... er... I mean, you all... I write in my normal voice, the one I learned to use while living in the city, away from the rednecks and the mountain folk.  It is now the way I speak every day.

I love dialect and accents and pick them up easily.  I find it is an advantage for me when I need to "flavor" my work with a certain voice.  In the course of my writing I have learned to use many voices.

I have a "professional" voice that I use when I write medical teaching materials for work.

I have a "medieval" voice that is so prevalent when I am writing historical fiction, it sometimes comes out in my everyday dialogue.  (People tend to look at you a little bit funny when you tell them "'tis a lovely day," or ask, "Prithee, might I borrow a cup of sugar?")

I have developed a number of voices to flavor other work... like a very ancient voice, along with some made up words loosely based on etymology, to go with my short story about Adam and Eve, and a different way of putting words together for a futuristic romance that I have in the works.

You do have to be careful not to use too much dialect.  Like too much salt, you can ruin the whole story if your flavoring becomes anything but subtle.  However, a few words sprinkled here and there, along with a unique voice for each of your characters, goes a long way toward giving your readers the experience they are searching for.

I Apologize...

I'd like to apologize.  I've not been working very much on the Indie Writer Website as of late because I've realized I have to focus on my Bible Treasure Hunt Website if I am to have it up and running before the holidays arrive.  Even though Bible Treasure Hunt doesn't contain very much content as far as writing is concerned, I feel like it has good potential as an income stream.

The good news is that www.bibletreasurehunt.com is #1 in the Google Search Rankings using the keywords "bible treasure hunt!"

Furthermore, www.indiewriter.net is #1 in the Google Search Rankings for the keywords "indie writer" and is on the first page using the keywords "indie author!"

My other new website, www.mybigredneckwebsite.com is also on the first page of the Google Search Rankings using the keywords "big redneck," but I would like to be #1 using the lone keyword, "redneck."  Still working on that one, but as I said earlier, been working too hard on Bible Treasure Hunt to be of much use to anything else.

Hopefully Bible Treasure Hunt will be complete soon and I can get back to Indie Writer.  I have other ideas brewing, as well.  I think there's GREAT potential for making a living online through multiple website income streams.

Hope you all are having a fabulous weekend!

Finding Time to Write

When do you find time to write?

Between a full-time job and keeping a house, it is difficult for me to carve out time to put words on paper.

I create all day long in my head, but much of it is lost due to lack of time:(

So for the past month or so, I have been getting out of bed at 5:30am to give myself an hour and a half every morning to write.

If I don't carve out a special time to write, it will never get done.  All my creativity and ideas will just flow in and out of my head as if they never existed.  I can't let that happen.  Something inside of me INSISTS that I write.

5:30 am isn't so bad when you think of it like that.

Hello!

Hello All!

My name is Katherine and I am an Indie Writer, a self-published/freelance author, dreaming and working toward making a full-time living doing what I love...writing!

I am the owner of www.indiewriter.net, though I have only just started working to get the site in order.  (If you are a visitor to the site, please excuse the mess until my construction is complete.)

So far, I feel I have been fairly successful in the self-publishing arena.  I have written eight books which I have listed as e-books on Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble PubIt, Lulu, and Smashwords.  From these eight books, I receive between $1,200.00 and $1,500.00 a month.  I also make around $80 a month from print-on-demand books listed on Amazon's CreateSpace.

I feel there is so much more potential in the Indie Writer arena, not only from e-books, but from websites, blogs, paid articles, and much more.  With a little imagination, I hope to be able to retire on residual income stemming from my freelance writing.

Through this blog I hope to share a little bit of my journey...my successes and failures and everything in between.  I also hope to hear from you, dear readers, so that we may learn from each other and further our dreams of living to write.

Until next time... I wish you happiness and success.

Blessings & Joy!
Katherine