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Happy 4th of July, everyone! To my American followers: have fun with the fireworks and try not to take anyone's eye out. To my non-American followers: Happy Monday! May it be short and painless.

I hope July has been treating you well. We're halfway through the year! If you haven't gotten as much writing done as you'd like, never fear. I have something that might help with that. 
Why you need to stop comparing yourself to other writers.

Recommended books of the month:

  • The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller - currently my favorite Batman comic book. If you want to learn how to use imagery and symbolism in the best possible way, then read this.
  • Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - incredibly written classic that delves into the idea of the Superman and nihilism. While dark and difficult to read at points, this novel is very thought-provoking. One of my favorites. 
  • The Princess Bride by William Goldman - Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passions. You know the movie (hopefully). But have you read the book? It's one of the more clever novels I've encountered. Inconceivable! 
  • Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling - If you've never read the story of The Boy Who Lived, then you really should. The amount of character development that takes place is mind-boggling, as is the world-building. Such a great series! 
  • Lord of the Flies by William Golding - a novel that raises the interesting question: Is society and it's rules what divide humans from animals, or is it something we carry inside of us? 
If you have questions about the age appropriateness of any of these books, feel free to get in touch with me. I'd be more than happy to give a brief overview. 

Writing Tip of the Month: Schedule Your Writing Sessions



Ah. Here it is again. That weird feeling every writer experiences at some point or another. It's not a fear of writing, a lack of ideas, or a shortage of time. It's not that we don't want to write. It's just that...well, we're not writing.

I'm not sure what causes this lack of motivation when it comes to writing, but it can get pretty annoying. The solution? Just do it.

Now that I've succeeded in both annoying you and ripping off Nike, allow me to explain: That "not-writing" feeling? It's one that people with practically any hobby or job experience. You may like working out, but you wake up in the morning and don't really want to drag yourself to the gym. You love reading, but you don't actually take the time to sit down and actually crack open a novel. The solution to all of these problems is exactly the same.

You have to schedule a time to sit down and write each day. Sound fun? No, of course it doesn't. But believe me, it works. In fact, it's actually very enjoyable.

When you sit down every day at exactly the same time to write, you train your brain to immediately switch over to creative mode. For example, I've chosen around 8 every night to write. So when I go into my room each night and sit on my bed with Pages open and Pandora on, my brain immediately knows: Okay, time to write.

The amount of writing (and the quality of writing) that scheduled writing allows you to achieve is amazing. I know this sounds like some kind of gimmick, but it's not. It works.

If you're struggling with getting any writing done, then you'll want to give scheduled writing a shot. I wrote an article to help you get started. You can read it here.

So what do you say? Will you try this out? I dare you to finding a writing productivity tool that is better and easier than this one. 

Last Month:

 
June was fairly uneventful, but in a good way. I got a lot of rewriting done for The Stump of the Terebinth Tree. As it turns out, my main character has decided to run off in an entirely different direction from what I had planned. Generally, I'd be annoyed, but this time he seems to have chosen a path that is better than what I had in mind. So, because his name is Wanderer, I'll trust that his wanderings will end up beneficial in the long run. I'm just hoping he doesn't lead us both off of a cliff. I'll let you know how it goes. 
 
 

This Month:


July 1st was my blog's 2-year anniversary! How awesome is that? I created a survey to help me figure out what changes I should make in the future. So far I've received a total of 52 responses. Crazy! The amount of support is overwhelming. So for those of you who took the time to fill out the form: Thanks! May you live long and prosper! And if you haven't filled it out but would still like to, just click here.

I'll be writing a post sometime this week, giving an overview of the responses I received and telling you all what this means for my blog. So far, it looks like I'll be keeping things just about the same, though I'll be making a few minor (and probably unnoticeable) tweaks to formatting. I'll also be widening my nerd reference repertoire. That seemed to be everyone's main request. Surprise! 

This month I'm also planning on supporting a bunch of indie authors who I've been following (or who have been following me). This is mostly in the shape of reading and reviewing their stories.

Currently, I'm reading Ashes by the very talented Grace Crandall. It's a beautifully written story with so much emotion packed into such a small amount of space. I can't wait to finish!

I also plan on reading Little One by Nate Philbrick, Starscape by Benita J. Prins, and I'm excitedly waiting for S. Alex Martin to release his next novel.

These are all very talented authors who are worth reading, so check out their websites or stories whenever you get the chance! If you have any suggestions as to other indie authors I may like, please let me know! And yes, you are more than welcome to recommend yourself. I won't judge. 
 
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Hannah Heath · 626 Earth Way · Coruscant, Florin 394 · USA

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