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Pressing Pause:Taking Time to Make a Plan

You’ve done it. You’ve accomplished your dream and are published. Now what? The first answer is to keep writing. But what? Another book? A short story for an anthology? Promotional materials? Everyone who offers career advice has different opinions. My suggestion is to pause, take some time to write up a plan. Notice I said write a plan. Put it on paper. Take some time to think about it. What do you want to accomplish? Where do you want to be next year? How many books a year do you want to submit, or if you are an independent author do you want to produce? It doesn’t have to be … Read more

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Embracing Diversity in Fiction

Diversity image - Sharita Lira

Good afternoon. With so much chatter going about the need for diversity in books, I had to speak on it again. First let’s start off with a question for authors. Since I’m an author too, I figured I’d begin here. You’re an author and you have an idea for a story which features a character of a race other than your own. Say it’s a black male and you as a white female or male aren’t sure what to write. Do you scrap this idea, even though it could be one of your best books or do you try doing it yourself and using what you’ve seen on TV as … Read more

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Writing Book Series

Immortality's Gift - Michael Mandrake - Immortals

Greetings all. Occasionally I’ll allow the head, Sharita to speak. Here’s one of those times. Let’s talk about book series, shall we? Thanks to everyone for joining me. Today, I’m talking about book series and why they’re a double edged sword. Why you say? Well, for the reader they’re great! You create a world with multiple characters, focusing on them, what they do, and in romance, how they interact with one another to fall in love. I’ve heard it all. Readers love series because they want to feel like they know the characters personally as well as their stories. And they have to be long! YES, the longer the better. … Read more

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Writing Paranormal By the Seat of my Pants

Demons Be Mine - Michael Mandrake - Immortals

*Michael Mandrake is the male muse of author Sharita Lira* Greetings readers. Thanks you Scott at QRI for letting me share my thoughts with you about…well everything. Okay, not quite. While I do enjoy some trivial things like celebrity gossip, movies, and the occasional Facebook or Twitter rants, I will mostly talk about things related to books and writing. I am an author after all, and really, who wants to hear my thoughts on politics, hmm? *blinks* No, you do not. So instead, we’ll stick to author things, such as plotting…. Or not. The topic of today’s post is writing paranormal by the seat of my pants. Now for those … Read more