You posted writing tips – what made you choose that theme?
I post writing tips all the time on my blog, so I decided to stick with that theme for my first A to Z Challenge, but I used topics I wasn’t planning on blogging about anytime soon.
Which letter was the most difficult?
Surprisingly enough, it was letter “S”. At first I planned on blogging about song writing, but came to realize that topic is vast and that not many writers may want to know about song writing. I chose the supernatural genre as the topic for “S” a few days before it was to go live.
The hardest tip for me to learn actually had nothing to do with grammar or how to make my writing better. It was about having patience. I was so ready to publish my first book—at a young age—that I was rushing toward that goal before I was really ready. Then when I was in the querying process, desperately trying to get anything published, my impatience doubled. I soon learned that it’ll happen when it is meant to happen.
Which one do you think most writers miss or ignore?
I always say a writer should do A LOT of research about their story, and about publishing. Many aspiring writers ask me what they should do to get published, but that’s a hard question to answer because the process differs from person to person. There are some things that all writers should know to do, such as the importance of building credentials, how to write query letters, and where to look for agents. Except countless aspiring writers don’t know they need to do those things, because they didn’t do any research before diving into their dream.
That really is a great question though, Alex. I would be interested to hear what everyone else thinks.
In regard to the number of shares, that’s a tie between my posts Quotes about Writing and “Z” Words to Add to Your Writing, which also received the highest number of comments. All of my posts got wonderful comments, though.
I love all of them, but the one that is most special to me is the one I wrote about my mom, Inheriting the Writing Gene. I truly believe she is the reason why I am a writer today.
Are there a lot of vegetarian writers out there?
There are certainly more than I thought there were! I was amazed at how many bloggers commented on my “V” post to tell me they are also vegetarian or vegan.
If you participate in the Challenge next year, do you have a theme in mind?
I am definitely planning on participating next year, and I do have a theme in mind. I don’t want to spoil it just yet, but I will say I’m borrowing the theme from my (future) Disaster Crime series. ;)
Disasters would be cool! Hopefully not disasters in writing. Thanks again, Chrys!
Co-host Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh is the author of Amazon Best-sellers CassaStar, CassaFire, and CassaStorm, and his blog can be found HERE
