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There's plenty of reason to be thankful...

Never carry things on from the past. The past is gone. Every moment be rid of it, solved or unsolved. Drop it - and don’t carry parts because those parts won’t allow you to solve new problems that live in this moment. Live in this moment as totally as possible, and suddenly you will come to realized, that if you live it totally, it is solved. There is no need to solve it. Life is not a problem to be solved, it’s a mystery to be lived.

Rajneesh

(via

spiritualgateway

)

For women of color, being marginalized, dismissed, and othered comes with the territory. Being involved in Mormon Feminism is often the same thing on a different day. We sigh deeply at the criticism and soldier on, doing what we must. We claim ourselves, we drive ourselves to succeed, and we derive our value from something greater than an institution.

Trine Thomas Nelson. Quote taken from Mormon Feminism, edited by Joanna Brooks, Rachel Hunt Steenblik, and Hannah Wheelwright. (via oupacademic)

Guide: Choosing a Love Interest

Lots of us have been there: you're merrily plotting or writing along, thinking you know who your character's love interest is, and suddenly there's another possibility. Maybe even a few possibilities, and now you have to choose. Here are some exercises to help you narrow it down...

1) Do a Chemistry Summary

For each potential love interest, summarize the chemistry they have with your character. What are their similarities and differences? What do they have in common? What do they like about each other? What is it about them that just... works?

2) Look at Plot-Relevant Decisions

Make a list of plot-relevant decisions your character will make throughout the story. For example, let's say your character goes to dinner at a steakhouse and bump into someone who inadvertently offers a clue to a mystery your character is trying to solve. Deciding to go to dinner--and to that particular restaurant--is a plot-relevant decision.

Now, once you have your list of plot-relevant decisions made, look at how each potential love interest might affect that decision. For example, if Love Interest #3 happens to be vegan and that's an important part of his character, how does that impact your character's choice to go to a steakhouse on that fateful night? If you were planning to have them at the steakhouse because they're on a first date with the love interest, Love Interest #3 being vegan would certainly impact that choice. And not to say it doesn't work... steakhouses serve salads and vegetables after all... but it's still something worth considering.

3) Consider Your Character's Internal Journey

If you're writing a story that is partly or fully character-driven, you know that your character's internal conflict and character arc are an important part of your story. Since your character must go on an internal journey, changing as a result of the story's events, it's worth considering how each love interest might positively or negatively impact that change.

4) Do a Romantic Scene List

You may not yet know all the scenes that will be in your story, but you should have some idea of the romantic scenes that will need to happen. First meeting, first realizing their mutual interest, bonding, first time touching in a loving way, first date, first kiss... these kinds of scenes are important to developing a relationship in a story. So, list the scenes you know you'll want to have (like: first kiss), then for each one, consider what that moment might look like with each potential love interest.

5) Do a Pros and Cons List

This may sound obvious, but if you haven't done it yet, try doing a physical pros and cons list for each relationship, especially taking the previous exercises into account. Think about everything from the pros and cons of them actually being together (as people), to the pros and cons of them being together in terms of how it affects the story.

Try these exercises, and hopefully you can at least narrow it down. If not, or if you still find no one stands out as the better option, try drawing a name out of a hat. Truly!

Have fun with your story!

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Leadership

Leadership is a very exciting course because it has taught me to see the groups’ perspective, and how perfectly communicating ideas may influence people to achieve the goals of the group or company. As Maxwell stated, “the three components of this triangle are communication, recognition, and influence. You start to communicate effectively. This leads to recognition and recognition in turn to influence.”

 Personally, I have always worked with groups and have agreed to work with them because it is necessary to go through the experience with them in order to win their heart and have a common ground that allows us to work together. At this point, I see two principles of Maxwell, the first one relates to the “Pareto Principle” which states, (referring to counseling) “20% of people take up to 80% of your time.” The second principle states, “The leader must develop trust with people” as Maxwell puts it. “The more people trust the leader, the more willing they will be to accept the leader’s proposal changes.”

 In addition, working with groups is all about ideas. It is about achieving each goal in life, as a supporting cast, and not a staff position working for a personal benefit. In that regard, I agree with Maxwell when he states, “Am I building people, or am I building my dream and using people to do it?” Maxwell says it pretty clear, “Manipulation is moving together for my advantage, and Motivation is moving together for mutual advantage.”

 Personally I like the Maxwell leadership style because it is positive, open, and democratic. The object of his leadership plan is to form an organization that believes in the benefit of every person in the group. Working with clear, defined, and objective rules in which we can all learn to work together for a better future within the company or society.

The Maxwell leadership style applies to my style of working with groups. Unconsciously, I have applied many of its concepts, not perfectly, but I have in some ways applied it to my style of work. I obviously have a lot to learn from Maxwell, but I believe I am striving to apply these concepts in my workplace, with coworkers, and in my family. 

Five Mystery and Suspense Tools to Drive Your NaNoWriMo Novel Forward

Every year, we’re lucky to have great sponsors for our nonprofit events. Today, Sisters in Crime—a community platform for mystery, thriller, and crime writers—shares some tips for writing suspenseful storylines (even for non-mystery novels!). Sisters in Crime is a NaNoWriMo 2020 sponsor.

In the crime fiction genre—including suspense novels, mysteries, and thrillers—there’s nothing better than the reader review that says “I stayed up all night to get to the end.” The propellant writers construct to push readers through to the final page is known as “narrative drive,” something our genre relies on to get readers hooked and turning pages. But it’s not only genre fiction that needs to suspend readers’ attention for the length of a story. Any story needs to catch fire in the reader’s mind to be successful.

And anyone writing 50K in 30 days needs a few ideas for generating tension in their story—without slowing down. As you #NaNoPrep this year, consider these five tools from Sisters in Crime, the international, inclusive organization for writers and readers of crime fiction, mysteries, thrillers, and suspense.

What’s in the mystery and suspense writer’s tool box for you?

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I made it to the top! Resumes are not always written in fancy diplomas or degrees, but in knowing how, when, where and why. It's a mixture between knowledge and experience.

I made it to the top

I think that if you want relationships depicted in your fiction – whether primary media or fan-work – to be emotionally compelling, there's really no getting around the fact that one of the most compelling relationship dynamics in fiction is "hey, wouldn't it be fucked up if".

5 Tips for Writing Best Friends

Friendships can make books more engaging for readers than romantic or family relationships. The trick is writing best friends in ways that feel real.

It’s why we love Gideon and Nico in The Atlas Six or Bree and Alice in the Legendborn series.

Here are a few tips to get you on the path to writing an incredible friendship that’s the backbone of your character’s arcs.

1. Make the Friendship Serve Both Characters

We’ve all read books where the protagonist has a best friend who seems to only exist when the protagonist needs something. They’re the main character’s source of stress relief and support, but real-world relationships serve both people.

Make sure you write scenes where the best friend also benefits from the relationship. They might come to the main character for support or call the protagonist when they need cheering up. The most minor moments can mean the most to readers.

2. Give the Friendship a Why

Why is the friendship so important to each of your characters? Maybe they met while experiencing a unique life event or a tragedy. Maybe one helped the other through a difficult time and later vice versa.

The why behind the relationship is key to making readers fall in love with the bond between your characters. Why they met might be the only thing holding them together when times get tough. Establish a clear motive to their solid connection and everything that happens afterward will be more impactful for the reader.

3. Create a Life for the Best Friend Too

Best friends need personality traits like protagonists. As you draft their persona during your planning or writing phases, remember to give them traits like:

Likes

Dislikes

Goals

Dreams

A history

These details shape who people are. They can also be the things that pull your protagonist and best friend together. 

4. Set Up the Occasional Clash

Friendships are stronger when they survive the ups and downs. Turbulent times also make friendships realistic because friends never stay in just happy periods of their lives.

Make your two characters clash to learn through their arguments or mistakes, especially if they’re disagreeing about how to solve/accomplish your plot’s main goal. How they work through their differences and move past them demonstrates each character’s core values and how much they value their friendship.

5. Establish Honesty Early On

Best friends are honest with each other. Setting that up early on establishes a foundation of trust. It also sets up stakes when one character decides to lie to the other for a specific goal or purpose, even if they don’t like it. Without honesty, there’s no reason for the two characters to trust each other or remain best friends.

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Develop your best friends as separate individuals before merging them in your plotlines. You’ll create stronger relationships that pull readers in and keep them thinking about your story well after they turn the final page.