Updates on Ruth's Fiction Archives - Page 6 of 7

National Novel Writing Month

November is National Novel Writing Month, known as NaNoWriMo. It began in 1999 and has grown wildly popular. Back in 1999 my friend Becky told me about it. We were seniors in high school at the time. I thought it sounded interesting, but didn’t act on it. The idea is that you can have plans and outlines ahead of November, but no writing until the first of the month. The goal is to get to 50,000 words by the end of the month. If you do that, you are a winner and can get a certificate. It’s just for fun and personal motivation. Now, I’m a writer and that means that there isn’t just one month of the year for writing. I’m always writing. Almost every day. So why should I do NaNo? Basically, it can be a nice kick in the pants to...

Posted by RuthMadison on Nov 1, 2011 in Updates on Ruth's Fiction | 4 comments

Design a Book Cover

I am participating in a fun cover designing contest at A Writer’s Journey Go on over and take a look at all the fun covers and vote starting August 31st and ending September 7th. Back in the old days I had ClarisWorks on my Mac computer and I would spend hours manipulating clip art pictures, painstakingly cutting and moving and creating. As I’ve become more and more fixated on writing, I’ve been forgetting how much fun working with images can be. Recently I downloaded Gimp and I’ve been teaching myself how to use it. I’m learning to use stock images and manipulating things on Picnic through Flickr. I’ve also been learning to make videos. So much fun! I love using various media to put out a message of some kind. This is a...

Posted by RuthMadison on Aug 30, 2011 in Blog, Updates on Ruth's Fiction | 24 comments

Hello, Blogger Ball

I belong to a few different groups for writers, which is a great way to learn what other people are writing and how they are marketing and growing their careers. One group is at shewrites.com, which as you might surmise from that title, is a place for female writers to congregate. Meg Clayton is hosting a little get-to-know-you this week, so click below to meet other women writers… For those coming through on the tour, welcome! I use my little corner of the Internet here to do writing exercises, share tid-bits from my latest projects, and discuss issues important to both disability and sexuality. I explore those themes in many media. Mostly, though, I write. I write opinion blog essays and romantic short stories. I write romance books and books...

Posted by RuthMadison on Aug 16, 2011 in Updates on Ruth's Fiction | 24 comments

Need Your Help

I’m trying to come up with a better title for my sequel to (W)hole. I love that title so much and I’ve painted myself into a corner because I can’t find something to match it! I want to do something with the same touch of word play, but that might be a lost cause. Right now the working title is Accept/Except, but I think that’s too clunky. Maybe just “Accept”? That sounds too much like a command, though. The plot is very focused on Elizabeth’s relationship with her parents and how they hold her back while she tries to explore her devness and understand herself better. The central conflict is Elizabeth’s desire to be understood, fully seen, loved, and accepted as she is by her mother in particular. I am quite...

Posted by RuthMadison on Aug 8, 2011 in Updates on Ruth's Fiction | 0 comments

Remember Your First Love?

I didn’t know at the time how little I was, how fresh-faced and innocent. Eighteen was a grown up, I was ready for college in a new state. I, who had never been kissed, never gone on a date, and never lived away from my parents and little brother. I was confident I would make a success of it. I was so ready to make new friends and get started on life that I hardly noticed when my dad reluctantly drove away and left me hundreds of miles from home. I was there to learn, but also to fall in love. I had been waiting (not entirely patiently) for years for someone to notice me, to like me, to pick me out of the crowd. College was where it would happen. In my romantic brain, every man I met might sweep me off my feet, there was limitless potential. Then I...

Posted by RuthMadison on Jun 24, 2011 in Updates on Ruth's Fiction | 13 comments

Now in Video!

I haven’t been posting as much lately because I’m putting all my energy into finishing the first volume of my short stories. It should be ready to go to the printers very, very soon! It’s a wonderfully exciting time to be so close to having something completed. I’ve been working on spreading my brand and doing new things to connect with people who will benefit from and enjoy my writing. I’ve started a YouTube channel and I’m putting up some videos of me talking about my writing. So, if you’re curious what I look like and sound like, this is me! (I’m making that face because I’m trying to figure out where the off button on the video camera is!) More at my YouTube channel:...

Posted by RuthMadison on Jun 21, 2011 in Updates on Ruth's Fiction | 7 comments