Category: Guest Post

Guest Author Alyssa Maxwell Muses on the Holidays

Posted on by Maggie Toussaint

The holidays are almost over and I’ll be sad to see them go. Because I love it all: the music, the lights, the food, people being a little nicer to each other . . . But there’s a good chance I’ll soon be getting a lot more writing done than I have in the past few weeks. Between shopping, preparing, wrapping, socializing, etc., it’s been hard to be productive. Whether you’re a writer or you devote your time to anything else on a regular basis, I’m sure you know exactly what I mean. But sometimes I wonder if the distraction… […]

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Inhale. Exhale. Repeat.

Posted on by Maggie Toussaint

Is life stressing you out? Take a breath and relax. Or so we’re told. Some days, it’s not so simple. I’ve learned how to breathe four times in my life. Once, with that first, lifegiving gasp. The second time, when I was five and learning how to swim. Third time, in acting class, with lessons on voice projection and breath control. The most important breathing lesson came a decade later. As a young adult I was introduced to biofeedback, a kind of visualization technique used to control some of our body functions like heart rate, breath, muscle response, and brain waves. It can help relax muscles, decrease heart rate, and slow and deepen breathing. It has been clinically proven to help with a myriad of ailments. […]

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Black Pearl

Calisthenics for Characters

Posted on by Lois Winston

Recently, I came across a question from a new writer who asked, “Is it okay to use a real person to create a character?” That’s a tricky question because writers get their ideas from so many areas. A vacation we take might stir a potential setting. A newspaper article may influence a plot. But basing a character on a real person, especially if the person isn’t a public figure, can be detrimental to an author’s career. Lawsuits have been filed (and won) when a person recognizes themselves in a book. […]

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