One Lovely Award

Published on November 16, 2014 by Jean M. Cogdell9 Comments

I’ve been nominated by the sensual Elsa Holland for the One Lovely Blog Award. She has humbled me with the honor and her words of encouragement.

Thank you Elsa!

one_lovely_blog_award

This is my 4th Blog Award nominated by my peers. I’m overwhelmed with gratitude. No words can properly thank my readers. This award requires I tell you 7 things about myself, so here goes.

I’m an optimist, believing things will get better.
Living with chronic pain, I’ve learned to live.
I love Peanut M&M’s. (best with a glass of red wine)
Enjoy curling up by the fire with a good book. (can’t wait until it’s mine)
Love to travel, wish I could do more of it.
Love, love, love an afternoon nap.
As an introvert, I still find people fascinating. (must be the writer in me)

Now for the second requirement, link back to blogs I enjoy reading. You must check out, in addition to the amazing romance writer and blogger Elsa Holland, the following:

If it’s not fun, why bother – Cassie Newell
Sheila Good at Cow Pastures Chronicles
The Bloggings of Jez Farmer – the lunatic, the lover and the poet.
Ryan Lanz on A writers Path
Lets Cut the Crap over at How the Cookie Crumbles
David Allen over at Allen Fiction
Practice your Flash Fiction with Jeremy Farmer

I could probably fill up this page with many more deserving blogs, but I’ll save some for later.

Take a moment and check what these great writers have to offer. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Thank you again Elsa for thinking of me!

How does your writing grow?

Published on November 6, 2014November 6, 2014 by Jean M. Cogdell3 Comments

How do you write?

In peace and quiet?

With lots of noise?

From kids and toys?

A minute here a minute there?

Or sit all day and merely stare?

Do your fingers type for hours on end?

Or peck out a word every now and then?

How do you write?

Me? I prefer peace and quiet. When doing dishes give me a Country Music song to get the job done, but as for writing, I need quiet to hear my characters speak. I wish I could write for hours on end, but my life is probably much like yours, so I write when I can. A line here and a line there.

Does the love of words inspire you?

Poetry is one of the most beautiful forms of writing, but as you can see, not my talent. I wish it were. However, words do inspire me. Whether a limerick, headline in a newspaper, spoken by a child or written in a good thriller, I love them all.

Words inspire me when appearing on a blank page, as if by magic, one letter at a time they form a sentence. The sentences soon become paragraphs and before long a story fills the page.

What else would you call it but magic?

Not the magic of secret spells or potions but of stories produced from thin air and plucked from my crowded mind.

The fun part is grasping the words and throwing them at the page. The hard part is rearranging them into an interesting work worthy of a reader’s time. So that’s my goal. To write something worth reading.

Thanks for listening to my rambles today. I need to find some order for all the words floating around in my gray matter. Sometimes a little rambling helps.

Talk to me.

Leave a comment about how you manage to capture words, producing your stories, finding inspiration and keeping the magic alive.

Write your best Horror in 2 Sentences and Win

Published on October 29, 2014 by Jean M. Cogdell31 Comments

On The Porch

The attack came out of nowhere. Fear strangled my scream as claws raked over my skin.

Now your turn!

My inspiration came from a great meeting with my fellow SWAG (Sachse-Wylie Authors Group) members last week. So, in my last post I linked to the original Two Sentence Horror Story thread hoping to inspire my readers.

Ruth Glover ran with it, click and read her Halloween 2 Sentence Stories.

I’ve decided to go a step further.

Write and win!

The Challenge!

Submit:

Submit, in comments, your best original Horror story in 2 sentences with a link back to your website.

Vote:

Vote on your favorite!

WIN:

A $10 Amazon gift card.

Rules:

Submit an Original 2 sentence horror story
Link to your website (that’s how I’ll contact winner) and
Vote on someone else’s story by comment.

Winner:

One writer with the best ORIGINAL 2 Sentence Horror Story will be selected by the votes received.

Myself excluded. Get writing – and submit.

Challenge ends.

5pm Central Time October 30th, when the spooks come out!

Need more inspiration? Check out…

Two Sentence Horror Story

Blog 2 Book in Minutes

Published on September 12, 2014 by Jean M. Cogdell4 Comments

Do you want to make a book?

Do you want to preserve your blogs?

Maybe I’m slower than molasses, because I’m sure everyone and their dog already knows how to do this, but I’m still super stoked. Today I discovered a great website. Blog2print!

For $7.95 I downloaded my blog in a digital book format. Does it look professional and ready to sell on Amazon? No, but now I have this little eBook of all my posts and writings tucked away safe. I mean who knows anything could happen. My blog could get deleted or God forbid the internet could disintegrate.

Their website has several options for soft and hardback books for a little more. You can upload pictures to put on the covers and select which posts to keep.

Check it out, Blog2Print works for WordPress, Blogspot, Tumblr and Typepad. Let me know what you think.